River · Indonesia
Kapuas
The Kapuas is the longest river in Indonesia and flows right across the island of Borneo. It ends in the South China Sea, west of the port city of Pontianak, after a journey through thick rainforest.
Picture credit: Achmad Rabin Taim (CC BY 2.0) · Achmad Rabin Taim (CC BY 2.0) · Achmad Rabin Taim (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Kapuas?
The river starts here: Müller Mountains, Borneo.
It ends in the South China Sea, west of Pontianak.
Countries on the river: Indonesia.
The story behind it
The Kapuas rises in the Müller Mountains in the middle of Borneo and then winds westwards through one of the largest rainforests on Earth. For many villages along its banks there is no road at all, so the river is the street: long narrow boats carry people, schoolbags, rice and building wood. Rare animals live nearby, including orangutans in the forest and shy Irrawaddy dolphins in the wide lower water. Hundreds of kinds of fish swim here, and some of the tiny colourful ones end up in aquariums around the world. In the rainy season the Kapuas swells and spreads into lakes and swampy floodplains, which is exactly when fishers catch the most. When forests are cut down, more mud washes into the water and the river turns brown. That worries the families who drink and wash from it every day.
Questions children ask
How long is the Kapuas?
The Kapuas is about 1 143 kilometres long. That makes it the longest river in Indonesia, and the whole of it lies on the island of Borneo.
Which country does the Kapuas flow through?
The Kapuas flows only through Indonesia, in the province of West Kalimantan. Its water never leaves the island of Borneo before reaching the sea.
Where does the Kapuas flow into?
The Kapuas flows into the South China Sea, just west of the city of Pontianak. There it splits into several arms and forms a wide delta.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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