Floating guesthouse for tourists

BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan: Foreign and domestic tourists wishing to see water buffaloes in the Danau Panggang subdistrict, South Kalimantan, will soon be able to stay in a floating guesthouse, Antara reported.

"The floating guesthouse will be built on a swamp in the heart of South Kalimantan," Hulu Sungai Utara Regent Suhailin Muchtar said here Wednesday.

The floating guesthouse will cost Rp200 million (US$ 86.956) to build. It will be paid for by the Ministry for Tourist, Post and Telecommunications and the local government.

Marshy Danau Panggang is an agrotourism center in the habitat of the endangered water buffalo.

Quoting recent data from the local administration, Muchtar said there were about 8,000 water buffalo, which only lived in the heart of South Kalimantan.