Dec 04 2009 – Pontiak Kalamantan Indonesia Part 2 – Another in the Borneo Series

This evening we had a short informal briefing about the route across Borneo.  Surprise, it’s closer to 2000 Km than the 1500Km we had been told for months.

The Indonesian Offroad Federation sent a three vehicle recon team into the jungle to scout the route.  After 38 days they emerged with the news that the route they expected to take simply did not exist and could not be created.

Maybe this is a good time to point out that Borneo is truly a wild place.  The interior of this island is very seldom visited by anyone.  Logging companies have cut roads into the jungle but generally they go nowhere.  These kinds of roads simply end as the clearing where trees were harvested.  There are many such roads and they are not on any maps.  Speaking of maps there is no topo map of Borneo.  As far as we can tell it has only been surveyed by the military and they are not sharing.  Imagine a map that shows the entire western US on your typical fold up highway map.  Oh and there are no roads marked on it.  That’s where we start on this expedition.  Luckily, the recon team is pretty handy with a GPS and we will be able to track their trip backwards.

As we went over the hand marked map we discussed a few base camps (where we will spend the night) that are only 20-30Km apart.  These are extremely difficult sections that will likely be winched entirely.  Now right here I have to admit that compared to that, I have no winching experience.  In the US if I need my winch, which is seldom, it is to clear an obstacle, 200 feet at most.  Then we put it away for months before it’s used again.  20 Km of winching just seems insane.  The organizers and other drivers are very concerned that I am alone, without a winch helper.  Hopefully I can enlist a rider when the nasty stuff is on us. A few vehicles have three on the crew.

One of these 20Km sections is across a mountain range where no vehicle has ever traveled.   A logging road made the approach possible, but it has not seen any traffic since 1991.  That is a VERY long time in a jungle where the vegetation grows fast. But that only get us about a third of the distance.  After that there is no path at all except far the one hacked through by the recon team.  Apparently another expedition made an attempt at this area in 1999 and were forced to abandon the route and travel 900Km south around the range.  Beam me up Scotty.

At least five rivers will require that we hire local boatmen to basically build us a ferry.  We are told our ferry fees will be around 750,000 Rupiyah for the five rivers.  At some point in the trip we will apparently be traversing someone’s garden.  Yes their garden, as in vegetables.  So the plan is to collect a pot of cash to pay off the owner for our destruction.

We are also informed that we must take two motorcycle drive chains with us.  This will be our contribution to the bridge we must build at some point.  Apparently this particular bridge building technique uses motorcycle chain to lash the timbers together.  If we each have two, my math says it takes around sixty chains to build a bridge.  I wonder if they teach this at Indonesian civil engineering class?  The chains should be easy to find.  This country has almost as many scooters zipping around as mosquitoes.

Speaking of which, malaria pills are nauseating.

Tags: Borneo, Polaris RZR S

Category: Borneo Excursion, Polaris