Bukit Kelam is a very large solid granite rock outcrop surrounded by a small area of secondary forest near Sintang on the Kapuas River in West Kalimantan.
The Bukit Kelam forest reserve is approx. 250 ha in size and the actual rock is 1,002m in height. Ladders have been attached to the steep sides and Bukit Kelam has become a popular tourist site.
Bukit Kelam is known to host some interesting plants including 5 species of Nepenthes pitcher plants including the Kelam endemic N. clipeata.
In early 1894, German botanist J. G. Hallier made 5 visits to Bukit Kelam to collect plants including a rare fig, Ficus subfulva.
A photograph of Hallier’s F. subfulva collection is shown at the end of this post.
More recently in December 2024, Bukit Kelam was visited by Indonesian botanist Ripin who found F. subfulva was still growing in the forest around the base of Bukit Kelam. Ripin’s photographs are shown below;
