The bamboo raft dips and sways with the current of the Amandit River, steered by a Loksado guide who works a single long pole with feet that know every submerged rock by feel. In April 2025, while UNESCO's executive board was making an announcement from Paris, most of the passengers on rafts like this one had no idea that the forest and river they had known their whole lives had just acquired a new name on the world map: Meratus Geopark, a UNESCO Global Geopark stretching from the ancient interior mountains of South Kalimantan (South Borneo) down to the winding river mouths that empty into the Java Sea.
A Global Geopark, Freshly Minted
The designation came during the 221st session of UNESCO's Executive Board in Paris in April 2025. Alongside Kebumen Geopark in Central Java, Meratus was named a UNESCO Global Geopark, bringing Indonesia's total to 12. What makes it notable is that Meratus is the first geopark on the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) to earn the status — a milestone that has gone almost unnoticed internationally, in part because South Kalimantan rarely comes up in conversations about visiting Indonesia at all.
The geopark's footprint is substantial: roughly 3,645 square kilometers across six regencies and cities — Banjarbaru, Banjarmasin, Hulu Sungai Selatan, Tapin, Barito Kuala, and Banjar. Within that area sit 54 designated geosites organized into four travel routes — north, east, south, and west. This is not a single mountain or valley being showcased; it's an entire landscape system linking an ancient mountain interior to river cities and coastal mangroves. Management going forward is built around UNESCO's three pillars — conservation, education, and sustainable economic development — with the next revalidation review scheduled for 2028.
Rock That Remembers Deep Time
The geology behind the recognition is genuinely striking if you're the type drawn to deep-time stories. The Meratus Mountains preserve a record of tectonic evolution beginning in the Jurassic period, 201 to 145 million years ago, and the range holds one of Indonesia's oldest ophiolite sequences — sections of oceanic crust and upper mantle rock forced upward and exposed by plate collision. In plainer terms: the stone under your boots on a Meratus trekking trail was once ocean floor, shoved skyward long before anyone walked on Borneo.
That same geological history also produced one of South Kalimantan's most famous exports: diamonds. The alluvial fields around Cempaka, near Martapura in Banjar Regency, formed from ancient Martapura River sediments reworked as the Meratus range was uplifted roughly one to five million years ago. Mining here dates back to the seventeenth century, when the Banjar Sultanate controlled the trade and Bornean stones reached royal courts across Java and the Malay Peninsula. The field's most famous moment came on 26 August 1965, when Cempaka miners unearthed a 166.75-carat rough diamond, later named "Trisakti" by President Sukarno. Cut by the Asscher diamond house in Amsterdam, its largest piece became a 50.53-carat pink diamond — still, to this day, the largest pink diamond ever found anywhere in the world. Traditional panning-style mining continues at Cempaka and can still be watched in person.
A Forest Still Being Catalogued
Meratus's biodiversity is also only partly documented. The range is rich in orchids, including Dendrobium stuartii, Bulbophyllum lobbii, and Trichoglottis bipenicillata, alongside two rarer species: the giant "sugarcane" orchid Grammatophyllum speciosum and the spoon orchid Spathoglottis urea. An orchid conservation house at Tahura Sultan Adam now maintains around 110 species, 58 of them native to South Kalimantan.
At the opposite end of the geopark, along the coastal Barito Kuala side, a different conservation story is playing out. Curiak Island is habitat for the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) — known locally as bekantan, South Kalimantan's mascot species — a long-nosed primate found only on Borneo. Its habitat is being restored through the planting of rambai mangrove (Sonneratia caseolaris), the monkey's primary food source, on land that has been degraded by conversion. Visitors can join a boat trip through the mangroves to spot wild bekantan and take part in mangrove planting alongside the local conservation group Sahabat Bekantan Indonesia.
The Dayak Meratus and the Balai Adat
Behind the geology and the wildlife are the people who have looked after this landscape for generations: the Dayak Meratus (also called Dayak Bukit), an indigenous community living across the mountain slopes, concentrated especially around Loksado. Their traditional communal dwelling is called a balai adat — a large timber stilt house, some running dozens of meters long, historically built to hold a dozen or more families in small rooms (bilik) arranged around a shared central hall (laras). At least 43 of these structures still stand across nine villages in the Loksado area; one of the best known is Balai Adat Malaris, in Loklahung village.
Most families have since built private homes and no longer live in the balai full-time, but the buildings are still maintained and used for customary ceremonies and community deliberations — this is not a frozen heritage site kept for display, but a space still in active use. Visiting one is best done with a local guide who can mediate the visit respectfully, especially if a ceremony happens to be underway.
What There Is to Do Around Loksado
Loksado, a small subdistrict at the foot of the Meratus range in Hulu Sungai Selatan Regency, is the main gateway to the geopark's adventure side. The signature activity is bamboo rafting — locally called balanting paring — a roughly 14-kilometer, two-to-three-hour float down the Amandit River. The bamboo raft itself isn't just a tourist prop: it was historically how Dayak Meratus families hauled forest and farm produce downriver to sell in town. An annual Bamboo Rafting Festival still celebrates the tradition.
After getting wet, the Tanuhi hot springs in Hulu Banyu village — about 31 kilometers from Kandangan — make a natural stop. The heat here isn't volcanic; it comes from natural radioactive decay within the 95–135-million-year-old granite of the Batanglai/Belawaian Granite Group. The site is simple: an entrance fee of roughly Rp5,000 (a few cents), soaking pools, and a handful of cottages for those staying overnight.
For travelers wanting more legwork, the Riam Hanai and Riam Barajang waterfalls in Loklahung village are reachable on a short forest walk and pair naturally with a stop at Balai Adat Malaris, which sits in the same cluster.
Getting There and Around
The main gateway is Syamsudin Noor International Airport in Banjarbaru, about 22 minutes' drive from downtown Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan's provincial capital. From Banjarmasin, the drive to Kandangan — the regency town closest to Loksado — takes roughly an hour and forty minutes; travelers then continue on by shared L300 van or rental car to Loksado itself, making the full overland trip from Banjarmasin to Loksado somewhere around four to five hours in total.
A Rough Three-Day Plan
Day 1 — Banjarmasin. Start before dawn, around 4:30 a.m., with a boat ride out to Lok Baintan floating market in Sungai Tabuk district, Banjar Regency, about an hour from the city. Women paddling wooden jukung canoes sell garden produce here from sunrise until roughly 8 a.m. — one of Banjarmasin's oldest floating markets. In the afternoon, head toward Martapura to see the traditional Cempaka diamond fields, then continue on to Kandangan to stay the night.
Day 2 — Loksado. Drive onward to Loksado in the morning, check into a homestay, and go straight into bamboo rafting on the Amandit. In the afternoon, soak at Tanuhi hot springs to unwind, capped with a home-cooked dinner with your host family.
Day 3 — Trek and return. A short morning trek to Riam Hanai and Riam Barajang, with a stop at Balai Adat Malaris if there's a chance to talk with residents, before heading back to Banjarmasin for an afternoon or evening flight.
Practical Notes
The best season to visit is May through September, when the weather is relatively dry and sunny; a light rain shortly beforehand is actually considered ideal, since it lifts the Amandit's water level for rafting. Homestays in Loksado are generally inexpensive, starting from around Rp150,000 (roughly USD $9–10) a night, and hosts can usually arrange a local guide for trekking or rafting — well worth doing, given the terrain and river conditions. Phone signal is patchy in parts of Loksado, so pack a power bank and a torch, along with sturdy sandals or shoes that can handle wet, rocky ground.
Visiting Respectfully
Because Meratus Geopark is home to a living indigenous community, not an empty scenic backdrop, a few small courtesies go a long way. Always ask before photographing residents or the inside of a balai adat, especially if a communal activity is underway. Dress modestly when entering a village, and follow your local guide's lead on which areas are open to visitors and which aren't — some stretches of forest and river carry spiritual significance for the Dayak Meratus and aren't simply scenic stops. Buying handicrafts or farm produce directly from villagers, rather than from souvenir shops back in the city, is a simple way to make sure the UNESCO designation actually benefits the community that has looked after this landscape, rather than only outside tour operators.
Pack out any plastic waste, since waste management in mountain villages like these is still limited. On the bamboo raft, follow your guide's instructions on life vests and seating position — the Amandit's current can shift quickly after rain upstream, and a local guide who has read this river since childhood is a far better safety resource than a weather app.
Why Go Now
A fresh UNESCO listing tends to trigger the same sequence everywhere: global attention first, then — sooner or later — busier roads, heavier marketing, and rising prices. Meratus Geopark is still squarely in that first phase. The recognition has arrived, but international visitor numbers haven't caught up yet, homestays are still family-run, and a guide on the Amandit still has time to talk at length rather than rushing off to the next group. For travelers who want to experience this geopark the way the Dayak Meratus themselves know it — not as an attraction repackaged for mass tourism — that window is open right now, and it won't stay open indefinitely.