The Mahakam River is One of The Longest Rivers in Indonesia

Mahakam was the name a biggest river in the East Kalimantan province that flowed into the Makassar Strait. The river crossed the West Kutai Regency in the upstream part, through to the Kutai Kertanegara Regency and the Samarinda City in the lower part.

The Mahakam river is one of the longest rivers in Indonesia (ie 920 km). It is located in east Kalimantan and receives water from its 77,700 km2 catchment area. Surrounding the middle Mahakam region there are at least 32 (total 76 according to Bappeda I Kaltim, 1982) lakes, their sizes ranging from around 1.2 ha up to the biggest such as Jempang (15,000 ha), Melintang (13.000 ha) and Semayang (11.000). From the total area of Indonesia’s natural lakes (estimated at over 500,000 ha), about 18% (89,719 ha) are located in the district of Kutai, east Kalimantan, almost 10% (48,000 ha) are located in the middle Mahakam area alone.

The Mahakam river since long ago till at this time had had the important role in the life of the community around it as the source of water, the potential for fisheries and as the infrastructure of the transport

Your Ad Here

The Mahakam river are very rich in biodiversity. A recent study by Wetlands International – Indonesia Programme of the 11 Mahakam lakes located in the southern part of the Mahakam river (e.g. Lake Wis, Perian, Tempatung, Aloh, Grege kecil, Batubumbun, etc) has found about 86 fish species, 125 bird species, 25 mammals, 12 large reptiles, 4 amphibians, and 300 tree species. Some of these animals are listed as endangered within the IUCN red data book (such as the Storm’s Stork Ciconia stormi), listed under Appendix I and II of CITES (eg. Leptoptilos javanensis, Citra indica, Callagur borneoensis) and also protected under the Indonesian regulations (Act number 7/1999) such as lesser mouse deer (Tragulus javanicus) and Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor). Source: Livinglakes

East Kalimantan is The Widest Province in Indonesia

East Kalimantan (Indonesian: Kalimantan Timur, abbrv. Kaltim) is Indonesian province on the east Borneo island. East Kalimantan is the widest province in Indonesia, broadly region is about 245,237.80 km2 or about one half point of Java Island and Madura or 11% from Indonesia region wide total. This province consisted of the area of the mainland 20,039,500 ha (81.71 %) and the area of sea waters 4,484,280 ha (18.29 %).

This province abuts on direct with neighboring state, that is Sabah and Serawak, East Malaysia. The eastern part was faced with the Makasar strait, the western part shared a border with Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan, whereas south shared a border with South Kalimantan.

Samarinda is the capital city of this province and center for timber product in East Kalimantan. Apart from Samarinda, also had the other city, that is Balikpapan as the centre of oil refinery in East Kalimantan.

East Kalimantan resident in 2004 amount to 2,750,369 men. It is compared to region wide, East Kalimantan province has low density, that is mean about 11.22 men per km2. The population is a mixture of people from the Indonesian archipelago with Dayaks and Kutai as indigenous ethnic groups living in rural areas. Prominent other migrant ethnic groups include Javanese, Chinese, Banjarese, Bugis, and Malays, of which mostly live in coastal areas.

The main result of this province is mining product like oil, natural gas, and stone smoldered. Several developing efforts fields in this area were the plantation, agriculture, the food crop, livestock breeding, fisheries, and tourism.

Borneo is Kalimantan

Borneo is the third largest island in the world, after Greenland and New Guinea. It has an area of 743,330 km² (287,000 square miles). Borneo is a large island in Southeast Asia that comprises Malaysia, Indonesia, and the sultanate of Brunei. The Indonesian part of Borneo comprises the southern two-thirds of the island's area and is divided into the four provinces of West, Central, South and East Kalimantan. The Malaysian part comprises the northern coast and is divided into the states of Sarawak and Sabah. The tiny nation of Brunei is wedged between these two Malaysian states.

Borneo was the name of the alternative for Kalimantan. Often this term was used to reconcile the "Borneo" island or "Kalimantan" on the whole. So Borneo is only a western eference; the term is rarely used locally. The name Borneo was only given by the Dutch during their colonial period.

Whereas "Kalimantan" words that most of them was second-hand the royal territory of the Series was only used to refer to the Indonesian part. Whereas the whole part was along with Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei acknowledged as "Borneo".

"Borneo" words etymologically came from Bruneian words, the kingdom that had governed most north territories this island (Sabah, Sarawak), despite now only controlled the area was very just small.