Surfing Kampar River's Stunning Bono Tidal Bore

Kampar is a long river that rushes down from the Bukit Barisan mountain range that forms the spine of the island of Sumatra along its west coast. The river then meanders through the Riau province, to finally pour out in the Malacca Straits, on the east coast of Sumatra. Along its long course the river divides itself into two large branches known as the Kampar Kanan (the right branch of Kampar) and Kampar Kiri (its left branch).

They then converge at Langgar in the district of Pelalawan at Kampar’s estuary. Here they are joined by many other rivers causing Kampar to funnel out into a wide river mouth. At each high tide, high waves from the sea flow in and meet the down stream current of the Kampar. Where the two opposing energies meet, and furthermore, caused by the funnel shape of the river, Kampar’s phenomenal tidal bores emerge, rushing deep inland reaching to over 60 km upriver.

These tidal bores are known locally as “Bono”, which rush in with loud roaring sound at a speed of 40 km an hour. The surf on the river can rise as high as 4 to 6 meters, at times creating barrels, the darling of surfers.

Best site to surf by the village of Teluk Meranti, although there are other spots like Tanjung Sebayang, Tanjung Pungai, and Pulau Muda, all in the district of Pelalawan. Although quite used to the phenomenon, local inhabitants are mostly scared when the Bono appears, which they believe are spirits of the Seven Ghosts. Many boats have sunk in this river when caught in the bore.

Get There

To get to Teluk Meranti one must travel through Pekanbaru, capital of the province of Riau.  As a busy business airport, Pekanbaru is served from most major cities in Indonesia, most often from Jakarta, Medan and Batam.

Internationally, Pekanbaru is served from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by Air Asia. It takes some 4-7 hours by car from Pekanbaru north to Teluk Meranti. There are car rental companies in Pekanbaru.

The ride from Pekanbaru to Pangkalan Kerinci lasts 1.5 hours, then from here to Teluk Meranti takes another 4 hours. Alternatively you can take a speedboat from Pangkalan Kerinci to Pulau Muda or Teluk Meranti, which takes around 4.5 hours.

Whereas, when you travel from or through Singapore, the journey to Teluk Meranti is by sea through a rather arduous route. From Singapore’s Ferry Terminal take a boat to Sekupang in Batam, then connect with a ferry to Tanjung Batu, in the Karimun islands, where you can find ferries to take you to Teluk Meranti.