The Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali Tour

Unveiling Extraordinary Indonesia Destinations

The Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali Tour

15 days / 14 Nights

About this Tour

This itinerary includes visits to the Indonesian island of Kalimantan and the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. It is one of only two places in the world where you can see orangutans in the wild. The only other place is on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where it is more difficult to do so. (In Malaysian Borneo, the orangutans are in a game sanctuary.) By the way, the word ‘orangutan’ is one of the few words in English that come from the Indonesian/Malay language. Its literal meaning is ‘man of the jungle’.

We suggest that if you want to have a better look at what the Borneo/Orangutan/houseboat part of the itinerary is like, there are many videos on YouTube that you can watch.

Here is a link to see what’s available:

Each site to be visited on every part of this itinerary has at least several YouTube videos that you can watch on your own. We advise you to take advantage of this before you decide whether or not you want to go.

This itinerary also includes in-depth visits to the two most important islands of Indonesia from the point of view of tourism: Java and Bali. You will be staying in top-range accommodations in each place you visit.

There is a lot to see on this itinerary, but it concludes with 3 nights at a 5-star luxury beach resort in Bali, where you can sit on the beach or lounge by the pool and rest up before your flight home.

As with all our tours, these are private, tailor-made trips that can be changed to meet your particular needs. You can have more touring and less downtime, or less touring and more downtime. The choice is yours.

The Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali Tour Prices*

2-person private tour
$5,295 per person
(2 people sharing 1 room)

4-person private tour
$4,995 per person
2 rooms (2 people per room)

6-person private small group tour
$4,695 per person
3 rooms (2 people per room)

8-person private small group tour
$4,395 per person
4 rooms (2 people per room)

* Single room supplement for all tours is $595. For example, if two people travel together but each person has his or her own room, the cost is an additional $595.

Included in the tour price:

• Jeep/4WD for Bromo Tour

• Train tickets

• 3 In-Country Flights

• Meals as mentioned in the itinerary below

• English-speaking guide and private vehicle

• Assistance in getting a visa, but not the cost of a visa

• Entrance fees for all museums and tourist attractions

Not included in the tour price:

• Tipping

• Extra beverages

• Mini Bar at hotels

• Personal services such as laundry, etc.

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 1

Arrival in Jakarta

Upon your arrival at Jakarta International Airport and clearing customs, you will head over to the Anara Airport Hotel, which is right at the airport.

Indonesia is an archipelagic country in between the Indian and Pacific oceans.

It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Bali, Java, and parts of Borneo that you will be visiting.

• Overnight at the Anara Airport Hotel

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 2

Jakarta – Pangkalan Bun – Tanjung Puting National Park

After breakfast at the airport hotel, you will board a domestic flight to Pangkalan Bun Airport on the island of Borneo. The flight takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Upon arrival, you’ll be met at the airport and driven to Kumai, which is around 20 minutes away. There you will board your deluxe klotok, your home for the next 3 nights.

A klotok is a traditional wooden Indonesian riverboat used along narrow waterways. Your private boat has sleeping quarters, a galley, and such comforts as air conditioning and a Western-style toilet.

The crew includes a chef who will be preparing all your meals on board. The boat has an open upper deck where you can sit and watch the jungle and its varied wildlife as you sail by.

It will take around 2 hours to reach Tanjung Puting National Park. In the National Park, approximately 5,000 orangutans are completely free to roam. You can also observe them at various feeding stations, where they show up to get more nourishment.

Journeying along the Sekonyer River is your way of getting close to orangutans and other wildlife drawn to the riverbanks. The feeding stations are in clearings near the water, and your klotok will stop at a pontoon so you can make the short walk to wait for the orangutans to show up.

Along the riverbanks, you can observe proboscis monkeys, which are endemic to Borneo and can only be seen there.

You will also be able to see macaques as well as many interesting birds.

• Overnight on a Klotok Riverboat

• Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 3

Pondok Tanggui Orangutan Rehabilitation – Camp Leakey

After breakfast, we will proceed upriver to the Pasalat Camp, where there will be a short hike on a boardwalk. Here, you will be able to plant endemic fruit trees for the orangutans. This is part of a carbon offset program.

Return to the houseboat to cruise to Camp Leakey, which is a famed orangutan research center started in 1971. Lunch will be provided on board.

On arrival at Camp Leakey, you will visit the information center, which dates from 1971. Here, you will be able to observe orangutan behavior up close. Camp Leakey has a rehabilitation center for orphaned and abused animals.

In the afternoon, there will be a trek into the forest to see orangutans feeding.

If the time permits and you are not too tired, you can also do a trek into the jungle with your guide to see some nocturnal animals such as tarsiers and tarantulas.

• Overnight on a Klotok Riverboat

• Meals: Breakfast, and Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 4

Tanjung Puting National Park

After breakfast, sail down the river to reach Pondok Tanggui, a second orangutan rehabilitation center. You will get there in time for the morning orangutan feeding session. Then return to the houseboat to cruise downriver to Tanjung Harapan village, which has been designated a Unesco Biosphere Reserve and where, in addition to orangutans, you will be able to observe several other species of monkeys.

Lunch will be provided on board. There will be one more orangutan feeding session in the afternoon. Back to the boat and sail to the Nipa Palm area to see thousands of synchronous fireflies.

• Overnight on a Klotok Riverboat

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 5

Yogyakarta and Borobudur Temple

After breakfast, you will sail back to Kumai and transfer to the airport for a domestic flight to Yogyakarta. Upon arrival, your guide will meet you at the airport, and you’ll drive directly to what is arguably the most famous single site of your tour, the Unesco World Heritage Site of Borobudur. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the world and dates back to the 9th century.

You will be able to climb up through all nine levels of Borobudur if you decide to do so. Leaving Borobudur, there will be a tour of nearby Candirejo, a traditional Javanese village. You can travel by bicycle or horse-drawn cart along small lanes lined with typical Javanese houses, stopping to see village activities.

By this time, you will certainly be ready to relax and enjoy some luxury. Returning to Yogyakarta after visiting Borobudur, you will have time to rest up at your hotel, which is the beautiful Melia Purosani, an urban resort-style hotel with lush tropical gardens and a lagoon-style swimming pool.

• Overnight at the Melia Purosani Hotel

• Meals: Breakfast, and Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 6

Yogyakarta

Today will be a full day of sightseeing and activities. The first site you will be visiting today is The Kraton, the former home of the Sultan of Yogyakarta, built in the mid-1700s.

From Kraton, it is only a short distance to the batik market. Yogyakarta is a center of batik production, and you can learn something about the process, including the difference between the more commercial ‘stamp’ batik and the more exclusive ‘tulis, or hand-drawn batik.

After some time at the batik market and perhaps some shopping there, it will be time to leave for the major experience of the day, a trip to the Prambanan Temple Complex.

Prambanan Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the second-largest Hindu temple in Southeast Asia (next to Angkor Wat). It dates back to the 9th century.

Your Yogyakarta tour is structured in such a way that you are able to visit Prambanan and Borobudur on separate days. The two famous sites are each around a 1-hour drive from Yogyakarta but in completely opposite directions. Seeing them all in one day would be tourist overload.

Returning to town after visiting Prambanan, you will have time to rest up at your hotel. Following a traditional Ramayana Ballet performance in the evening, a full Indonesian buffet dinner will cap off this full day.

• Overnight at the Melia Purosani Hotel

• Meals: Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 7

Yogyakarta – Surabaya/Mojokerto By Train

After an early breakfast, transfer to the train station and board the morning train for Mojokerto. You will enjoy the volcanic landscape of East Java from your executive-class seat on the train.

Upon arrival, you will be picked up at the station and driven to the Bromo area. You will be spending the night at the beautiful Jiwa Jawa Resort, over 6,500 feet above sea level on the slopes of Mt. Bromo.

• Overnight at the Jiwa Jawa Resort

• Meals: Breakfast

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 8

Bromo – Surabaya – Bali

You will have to rise very early today if you want to view the sunset at one of the most spectacular volcanic landscapes in the world. Leaving your hotel in the early hours, you will travel by jeep and pony cart to the slopes of Mt. Bromo for, we hope, a great sunrise. The view from Penanjakan Hill is otherworldly.

Then it’s time to return to the hotel for breakfast and check out. The next step will be to drive to the Surabaya airport for your flight to the resort island of Bali. You will be met at the airport, which is on the Indian Ocean coast, and driven around 1 hour inland to the renowned art center of Ubud in Central Bali.

• Overnight at the beautiful Komaneka Bisma Resort/Bisma Suite

• Meals: Breakfast

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 9

Exploring Bali

Today will be devoted to seeing some of the most interesting parts of the island of Bali. This will be a very full day with a lot to see. A string of 8,000-foot mountains and volcanoes (some of which are active) cut through Bali from east to west. The scenery is spectacular. The terraced rice fields, using every inch of available space and watered by bamboo pipes, are a particular favorite of ours.

After breakfast, the tour will begin with a visit to a beautiful traditional Balinese village, Penglipuran.

Our next stop is the 11th-century temple complex of Gunung Kawi, where 10 niched shrines are cut into the sheer face of a cliff. (‘Gunung’ means ‘mountain’ in the Indonesian language.)

We then drive to the Tirta Empul water temple. Tirta Empul is a Hindu-Balise water temple. The temple compound consists of a bathing structure, famous for its holy spring water, where Balinese Hindus go for ritual purification. The temple is very active, so you will be able to observe the worshippers as they perform their rituals.

Our next visit will be to the town of Kintamani, up in the mountains and situated inside the huge caldera of Lake Batur.

On your way down the mountain and back to Ubud, we will stop to see the Tegalalang Rice Terrace, a huge, lush rice terrace where you will be able to walk among the rice fields and get a close-up view of the ancient traditional Balinese system of irrigation (subak).

Dinner will be at Café Lotus, a very nice local restaurant in Ubud.

• Overnight at the Komaneka Bisma Resort

• Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 10

Exploring Bali

After breakfast, we continue our tour of Bali, starting with a drive to the village of Bedugul, which is situated on a high mountain lake.

Bedugul is famous for being the home of the Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, one of the most famous and striking temples in Bali. It is located on the shores of Lake Bratan.

Next, there will be a visit to the Jatiluwih Rice Terrace, the oldest rice terrace in Bali and one that is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The last stop of the day will be at Tanah Lot, a famous water temple built on a rock formation out in the ocean. It is an important place of Hindu pilgrimage.

• Overnight at the Komaneka Bisma Resort

• Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 11

Bali Tour Continued

After breakfast, our first stop today is the Besakih Temple, known as the mother temple, the largest and most important religious site of Balinese Hinduism.

Our second stop today will be at the Tirta Gangga Water Palace, the former palace of the local king. Its waters are considered sacred and are used for both recreation and irrigation.

Upon returning to Ubud but before going back to your hotel, we’ll stop at the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, which is in Ubud not too far from your hotel. This temple is devoted to and essentially owned by monkeys. They are not in cages; they just wander around, trying to get food from the many tourists.

The monkeys are very tame, but don’t be surprised if they jump on your shoulder or even put their hands in your pockets looking for food. You can buy food to feed the monkeys yourself. But be careful about keeping anything of value in your pockets (seriously).

• Overnight at the Komaneka Bisma Resort

• Meals: Breakfast, and Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 12

Nusa Dua Beach

After breakfast, your itinerary will take you to Nusa Dua (the Two Islands) on the south side of Bali. You will be checking into your new hotel, the luxurious Melia Bali Resort, where you will enjoy a premier garden-view room.

Nusa Dua is a luxury resort area. Formerly fairly isolated, it has become more built-up and “touristy” in the past 20 years after becoming world-famous in 1986 as the area where Ronald Reagan stayed on his visit to Indonesia.

The Melia Bali Resort features five restaurants, a large lagoon swimming pool, and a landscaped tropical garden. It is located along the shores of Nusa Dua Beach. The hotel features complimentary resort activities ranging from canoeing, paddle surfing, bicycling, archery, and various daily kid activities.

• Overnight at the Melia Bali Resort

• Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 13

Nusa Dua Beach Resort

You have the whole day free to enjoy all the available activities at your resort hotel. You can also just relax on the beach or by the pool. But if you feel that you need more sightseeing, it will be possible to arrange some excursions.

• Overnight at the Melia Bali Resort

• Meals: Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 14

Nusa Dua Beach Resort

You have one more day free to enjoy all the available activities at your resort hotel. You can also just relax on the beach or by the pool. But if you feel that you need more sightseeing, it will be possible to arrange some excursions.

• Overnight at the Melia Bali Resort

• Meals: Dinner

Java, Borneo, Orangutan & Bali – Day 15

End of Tour & Departure

The tour ends after breakfast at the hotel. You will be transported back to the airport today for your return flight home.

If you have time you might be able to get in some quick gift shopping.

If this itinerary feels like the kind of journey you are looking for, contact us today⁠ and let’s start planning.