Berau Regency

Berau Regency is the most northern of the seven regencies in East Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The capital is the town of Tanjung Redeb. The regency has an area of 36,962.37 km² and had a population of 179,079 at the 2010 census and 248,035 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 299,005.
Berau was formerly the name of a local sultanate that existed during the Dutch colonial period. In the early 19th century, it was divided into two separate sultanates: Gunung Tabur and Sambaliung.

Administrative districts

Berau Regency is divided into thirteen districts, tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 census and the 2020 census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2024. The table also includes the location of the district headquarters, the number of administrative villages in each district, and of offshore islands in each district, and its postal codes.

Kode Wilayah	Name of District	Area in km²	Pop'n census 2010	Pop'n census 2020	Pop'n Estimate mid 2024	Admin centre	No. of villages	No. of islands	Post codes
64.03.01	Kelay	6,556.54	4,493	8,958	8,122	Sido Bangen	14	-	77362
64.03.02	Talisayan	1,621.57	10,061	14,614	18,316	Talisayan	10	1	77375
64.03.10	Tabalar	1,837.34	5,151	6,843	8,470	Tubaan	6	2	77374
64.03.07	Pulau Derawan	4,423.99	8,372	11,341	15,197	Tanjung Batu	5	12	77380
64.03.08	Biduk-Biduk	2,429.97	5,342	6,609	8,140	Biduk-Biduk	6	6	77373
64.03.11	Maratua	5,616.26	3,076	3,664	4,035	Maratua Teluk Harapan	4	25	77381
64.03.03	Sambaliung	2,163.37	24,174	36,784	47,473	Sambaliung	14	-	77371
63.03.04	Segah	5,241.29	8,396	14,368	19,866	Tepian Buah	13	-	77361
64.03.05	Tanjung Redeb	24.42	62,725	71,231	78,230	Tanjung Redeb	6	-	77315
64.03.06	Gunung Tabur	1,963.32	14,938	25,012	33,512	Gunung Tabur	11	15	77352
64.03.09	Teluk Bayur	316.98	20,596	31,135	37,232	Teluk Bayur	6	-	77352
64.03.12	Batu Putih	3,575.30	6,691	8,840	10,310	Batu Putih	7	5	77373
64.03.13	Biatan	1,192.03	5,064	8,636	10,102	Biatan Lempake	8	-	77372
	Totals	36,962.37	53,671	248,035	299,005	Tanjung Redeb	110	66

Notes: while the name of this district literally means "Derawan Island", in practice the district includes a dozen large islands together with part of the 'mainland' of Kalimantan.
includes one kelurahan - the town of Sambaliung. all six are kelurahan - Bugis, Gayam, Gunung Panjang, Karang Ambun, Sungai Bedungun and Tanjung Redeb.
except the towns of Gunung Panjang and Bugis includes one kelurahan - the town of Gunung Tabur. includes two kelurahan - the towns of Teluk Bayur and Rinding.
except the towns of Rinding and Teluk Bayur and the village of Tumbit Melayu.
except the villages of Tembudan, Kayu Indah and Sumber Agung.

Berau Marine Conservation Area

Konservasi Kawasan Laut Berau was formed in 2005 and has an area of 1.321 million hectares, which includes Pulau Panjang, Karangtigau Cape, and Baliktaba Reef. The area has the second highest coral reef biodiversity in Indonesia after Raja Ampat Islands and third highest in the world. The ecosystem covers coral reef, mangrove forest and sea grass.

Literary significance

The novelist Joseph Conrad made four visits to Berau, stopping at Tanjung Redeb, while employed as the first mate of the merchant vessel S.S. Vidar in 1887–1888. The geographical setting and the lives of the small number of European traders based in Berau made a profound impression on him, and the setting for three of his novels is loosely based on Berau. Conrad sometimes refers to the Berau river as Pantai and uses the fictional name Sambir to refer to Tanjung Redeb.