Sebangau National Park

Sebangau covers about five and a half thousand square kilometres of peat swamp forest between the Katingan and Sebangau rivers, gazetted in 2004 after decades of logging, and its importance is double. It holds one of the largest remaining wild orangutan populations, estimated in the thousands - unhabituated animals in genuine forest rather than at feeding platforms. And the peat beneath it is metres deep and stores an enormous quantity of carbon, which is why the fires that burn in drained peat here in bad El Niño years are a global rather than a local problem; the 2015 fires produced haze across Southeast Asia and emissions comparable to a mid-sized country's annual output. Restoration work blocks old logging canals to re-wet the peat. Access is by boat from Kereng Bangkirai.

What you'll find

• Wild unhabituated orangutans - one of the largest remaining populations.
• Deep peat forest - metres of peat storing carbon on a globally significant scale.
• Canal blocking - the restoration dams re-wetting drained peat.
• Blackwater rivers - tannin-stained water reflecting the forest edge.

When to go

June to September, though this is also fire season in bad years. Two days.

What to expect

Orangutans here are wild and sightings are genuinely uncertain. Haze from peat fires can make visiting impossible in bad years. Facilities are minimal and boats are the only access.

Nearby

Palangkaraya is the city; Tanjung Puting is far to the west.

Key facts