14 Days of Trekking and River Travel Through Thousands of Rapids
The trip out of Palangka Raya starts with a rented car winding toward Tumbang Lahung, a 7- to 8-hour ride that’s really just the warm-up. From there, the road runs out — literally. We switch to an engine powered boat, a perahu ces in the local tongue, tracing the Barito River four hours upstream to Tumbang Tuan (Ampar). Then the river becomes too wild for this kind of boat, and a 4×4 takes over for terrain no ordinary vehicle could survive, delivering us to Tumbang Tabulus — known simply as Camp B. Car, to boat, to boat, to 4×4. Each section of the journey only exists because of the one before it.
Camp B earns two nights of rest before the real test begins. From here, we trek into the forest toward Tingang Waterfall and set up camp beneath the canopy — because tomorrow, the river fights back.
Fourteen days – Thirteen nights. Hundreds of rapids upstream and downstream…
This is the very heart and demanding part of the expedition: navigating the Joloi River’s legendary rapids by inflatable canoe, through water that runs three to four steps deep in places and simply cannot be paddled at all in others. When the river refuses passage, we carry the canoes by hand across the rocks and big timber laying across the riverbed instead. One wrong line and you’re in the water — gear scattered downstream or pinned against a stone where the current runs hardest. This stretch is not forgiving, and it doesn’t ask permission. We sleep beneath the stars mid-river, wedged between rapid clusters, before pushing on to finish the descent over the “Joloi-Rapid-Stairs” the third day on a gentle slow flowing part to Muara Joloi.
From Muara Joloi we again join the Barito River. This time we head upstream. Either by small, motorized boat or by car on former logging and mining roads, we head out to Tumbang Olong, Kalasin and Tumbang Tujang. We stay overnight in villages or rest places or even in the forest, depending on the progress upriver.
And then, almost without warning, the river delivers us to Tumbang Topus — the last village on the Barito-river, and the edge of everything familiar. Beyond it rises a high mountain range. Cross it, and the ground beneath your feet quietly changes provinces: Central Kalimantan behind, East Kalimantan ahead. Again, we overnight the last time in the wild, high above the Barito River behind us and the Mahakam Valley ahead of us with this very well-known and legendary big stream in East Kalimantan. The way down to Long Bagun is steep, long and demands the very rest of our strength and resilience. And most of our guests are then reaching the point, where they just want to get out of the “green hell” of Borneo’s jungle. But, what a surprise, a small boat is waiting for us, so we do not need to walk all the way down to the little city of Long Bagun.
Back to civilization, you may then have the choice of relaxing on one of the legendary riverboats on the Mahakam River or going down to Samarinda or Balikpapan by car.
Fourteen days of cars, boats, rapids, and jungle — all leading to one ridgeline that marks where one world ends and another begins.
What This Journey Asks of You
Disclaimer
This is a serious expedition through genuinely remote territory, and nature sets the terms. River levels, rapid conditions, and trail access can shift quickly — sometimes altering the route, the schedule, or the length of the trip itself. Delays, reroutes, and early turnbacks for safety are all real possibilities.
Given how far this journey takes you from anywhere, emergency support is limited. We ask that you come physically prepared and mentally ready for an adventure that doesn’t run on a fixed script — because some parts of this crossing are simply up to the land and the water, not to us.
