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South Kalimantan is full of colourful and distinctive
traditional arts and cultures which can be seen in its people's
ways of life, art, dance, music, ancestral dress, games and ceremonies.
Exquisite traditional and commercial handicrafts are all made from
local raw materials which include a variety of precious and semiprecious
stones, gold, silver, brass, iron and a wide variety of wood including
bamboo and rattan. South Kalimantan, is one of the largest wood
producers in Indonesia. Extensive forests with a wide variety of
trees such as iron wood, meranti, pinus and rubber have helped to
make the province a unique and rich natural resource.
The southern section of the province,
however, is much flatter and is characterized by large and powerful
rivers, meandering through lowlands and depositing enormous of silt,
at vast mangrove swamps all along the coast helping to make South
Kalimantan an exceptionally fertile land. Many villages and settlements
hove been built along these rivers, particularly the Barito river,
by the indigenous majority, the Banjar.
The Meratus mountains stride through the center of the
province, effectively dividing South Kalimantan into two distinct
regions. the eastern part of the province is mountainous and lush
with dense tropical rain forests and is home to the "Orang
Gunung" or Mountain People. Collectively called Dayak, they
form the minority of the region's population.
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