Lake Siran, the New Raja Ampat in East Kalimantan

TheIndonesia.id - Kutai Kartanegara in East Kalimantan has a number of famous tourist destinations, such as Kumala Island and Mulawarman Museum – to name a few. But lately, a village called Muara Siran is being talked about by many traveling enthusiasts for its breathtaking natural landscape.

Located in Muara Kaman subdistrict, the village is even compared to Raja Ampat in Papua.

The main interesting destination is Lake Siran, and even though it’s not easy to reach the place, tourists will experience an incredible trip.

Visitors can only rely to land transportation until Tebalai village in the same district. From there, they have to use water transportation to reach Muara Siran in 16 kilometers, and it will take about 30 minutes by longboat.

The total area of Lake Siran is around 9,000 ha, and it’s surrounded with peat forests. Dozens of different kinds of palm-like plants grow abundantly, forming small ‘islands’, and this is where the similarity with Raja Ampat came from.

“From above, it looks like island in Raja Ampat, but it’s different type of plants because it’s bigger and only grows in Lake Siran. It’s called resau malang,” head of Muara Siran tourism awareness group Rodi Hartono said on Saturday, December 18.

The locals gave that nickname because those plants grow crosswise, or malang in Bahasa Indonesia.

Meanwhile, during drought season, the view gets even more interesting as the river flow looks like a big animal. Hartono said there’s actually folklore about gigantic animal that made up the river flow and the lake itself.

Those who are already interested must continue to wait, unfortunately, because Lake Siran has yet to open to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After inauguration held by local government, the tourist destination is expected to start welcoming tourists in 2022.

The area has been equipped and furnished with various facilities to accommodate travelers during their stay. Tourists can enjoy sunrise and sunset from raft houses, and they can explore the lake by hopping to one of the 10 available canoes.