Palangka Raya is situated between the cacies also come from the neighbour- and founded and managed
ded and managed by Lone named Baju Sangkaurut and tra-
Kayahan and the Sabangau rivers. The
closest airport serving the city is Tjilik
Riwut. In the local Dayak language,
Palangkaraya means a holy container.
Palangkaraya can easily reached from
Jakarta, Banjarmasin, Samarinda,
Balikpapan and other points of the is-
land by air.
History
Kalimantan Tengah (Central Kali-
mantan) province was established on
23 May 1957. It was Sukarno, the pro-
claimer of Indonesian independence,
who initiated construction of the city
of Palangkaraya, the capital of the new
province. Initially, Palangkaraya was
prepared as a new capital of Indonesia
to replace Jakarta and this was, until
recently, still discussed. To support this
idea, many iconic building were built to
reflect the Greater Indonesia. For ex-
ample, Bundaran Besar in downtown
Palangkaraya consists of eight cross-
roads that symbolize the eight great
islands of Indonesia, namely Java,
Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Bali,
Nusa Tenggara, and Papua. This makes
Palangkaraya one of the most well con-
structed, planned cities in Indonesia.
Markets and Agriculture
The city is famous with its local dish of
Patin bakar (Grilled River Fish), Nasi
kuning (Yellow Rice), sop rotan(Rattan
Soup). Some famous and popular deli-
ing province of South Kalimantan. Soto
Banjar and Ketupat Kandangan are
the two famous food from South Kali-
mantan. Two main traditional markets
are available in Palangka Raya. Better
known as 'Pasar Besar' or big market
and Pasar Kahayan offer many types of
goods. These markets are the place to
go for people to get their food supplies
such as rice, meats, fishes, vegetables,
spices etc. There are also abundant
mini markets as well as super markets.
The growing city also have a shopping
mall named Palangka Raya Mall or
PALMA. The shopping mall is located
right at the heart of the city which is at
the Bundaran Besar.
Languages
Many people in Palangkaraya speak
the Indonesian language as well as the
local dialects such as Dayak Ngaju,
Dayak Maanyan etc. However, the us-
age or Banjar Language is more observ-
able than the local Dayak dialects.
Geography
Close by the city, within the boundar-
ies of the Nyaru Menteng Arboretum,
a 62,5 hectare lowland peat swamp for-
est ecosystem, founded in 1988 by the
Ministry of Forestry Regional office
of Central Kalimantan, is the Nyaru
Mentang Orangutan Rescue and Reha-
bilitation Centre, operated by the Bor-
neo Orangutan Survival Foundation,
Drøscher Nielsen. The centre featured
on Animal Planet's award-winning
series Orangutan Island, the BBC's
Orangutan diary, Saving Planet Earth
and Growing Up... Orangutan (BBC/
Discovery Channel), and in the 2008
Australian documentary-drama, The
Burning Season.
New Capital of Indonesia
Since Soeharto leadership era, this
city is proposed to be the new admin-
istration centre of Indonesia (capital)
[2], considering that Jakarta will be
focused only for business and financial
centre and its location in the centre of
Indonesian archipelago.
Tourism Destinations
• Garden Tourism Tangkiling Hill
- Tangkiling Hill is a group of eight
Batu hills that have beautiful scenery
and very attractive to be visited. It is
about 43 km from Palangkaraya and
located in Banturung village admis-
sion in Batu hill region. One of way to
reach there, is use land transportation
about 30 minutes from Palangka-
raya, there is also a lake, 27 km from
Palangkaraya. The lake is hardly good
for family recreation and fishing.
• Culture Museum - The museum
that located in Central Kalimatan,
Raya Tjilik Riwut Street, 2 km
Palangkaraya, is collecting many
kinds of public culture. There is the
equipment of traditional fieldsman
named Mihing and traditional dress
ditional weapon of Dayak tribe like
Mandau, Duhung and the other tra-
ditional weapon. Besides that, it also
demonstrates goods as those types:
Ethnographical, Historical, Archeo-
logical, Numismatic / Heraldic foreign
ceramics and others.
• Arboretum - Arboretum is protec-
tion place name of forest. It located in
side of Tahai Lake. There are various
birch’s stepped, it suitable for a re-
search as well as place of various bird
types and other animal. You can find
a place in this location. Orang Utan
rehabilitation that is located in side
of the Arboretum, try to help to assist
the local animal returned and know
their annually habitat.
• Taha’i Lake - It is a nature lake
that accommodating the rainwater ef-
fusing and as a water recreation place,
suited for fishing devotee, can circle
the lake with boat that being rented.
The Adrift houses, place of karaoke
and some shelter to take a rest are
available for visitor.
• Kelinting - It is located in RTA.
Milono Street, about 8 km from the
downtown. This can go through land-
line. This is a beautiful building in
china design with typical ornaments
of Kalimantan Tengah.
• Bangkirai Lake Kereng - It is
an exquisite lake and located across
Sebangau River, in Kereng Bangki-
rai village 12 km from Palangkaraya
toward south. For towards to the loca-
tion we can apply vehicle of land only
15 minutes from common cab.
Welcome to Palangkaraya
Palangkaraya, kotamadya (munici-
pality), capital of Central Kalimantan
propinsi (province), south-central Bor-
neo, Indonesia. Palangkaraya lies west
of the Kahayan River. It was occupied
by the Japanese during World War II
and was the principal city of Great
Dayak, an autonomous state (one of
five) created in 1945 that became part
of Indonesia in 1950.

The population consists mainly of the

native Dayaks together with Chinese
and Japanese settlers. Most of the Day-
aks have retained traditional religious
beliefs, although some have been con-
verted to Christianity. The city’s house-
hold industries include wood carving,
plaiting, weaving, and beadwork.

Riverine transport connects the city

with Kualakurun and Banjarmasin. An
airport links it with Sampit, Balikpa-
pan, and Pangkalangbuun. Palangka-
raya University (founded 1963) is lo-
cated in the city. Pop. (2005) 170,761.