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We
traveled to Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo and sailed up the river to
the town of Kumai. There is not much of a town there but we did enjoy 
the
market. The main draw here is the Orangutan reserve.
This is only one of a couple places in the world to visit Orangutans in the
wild.
Harry had been recommended as the person to arrange for our trip up the river
to visit the Orangutan reserve. We were joined by Outlandish, Nighthawk
and Poppy1. Klotoks are the local boat used for transportation on the
river. These are barely a notch up from the African Queen with a single
cylinder diesel that is quite noisy and an outhouse at the stern. Harry
arranged 
for
two boats to take the 13 of us up the river. We all piled on one
boat. The other was used for backpacks and as a kitchen.
It is a pleasant 5 hour ride up the river through the
jungles to Camp Leakey. We saw a wide variety of monkeys, birds and plant
life and just relaxed with someone else doing the driving for a change.
During the five hours travel\ling up the river, Harry explained
orangutan behavior, what we needed to be careful of, and how to act around the
orangutan. They are very curious and extremely strong creatures. He warned
that they maybe interested in many things that we would be packing along 
with
us which could include anything from bug spray to cameras or even small
children. He told us to try and keep things hidden so they wouldn’t see
them and above all if they were to get hold of something they wanted to just let
them have it. The orangutan will often become very agitated if they
don’t get what they want. This female sat with Jeff and tried to get at
lense cap out of his pocket. The zipper and velcro frustrated her but she 
remained
friendly.
Harry treated us to some amusing stories of situations other tourists had
found themselves in minus their cameras. One orang grabbed the lens on a
35mm camera. The quick thinking tourist hit the release button and
twisted, saving the camera but the orang escaped with the lens and climbed a
tree. After banging the lens on the tree a few times, it dropped the lens
onto a rock. so, we were all being a bit cautious.
When
we arrived at the orangutan reserve’s landing, we were greeted with one of
those mischievous orangutans. She had just confiscated a bottle of bug spray
from someone and had bitten into it. Guess she didn’t like the taste.
Our guides distracted her so we could make our way past her and up the trail to
the feeding area. What a way to start.
Along the trail, we encountered some female orangutans and their babies.
It was getting more exciting by the minute. At the feeding area we watched and
waited as orangutans started swinging from trees and walking in to feast on the
bananas and sweet potatoes provided by the researchers. It was fascinating
to be so close to them 
and
able to watch them interact with each other. The behavior was so human.
Many walked right by us to get to the feeding area and some grabbed their food
and sat down right in the middle of our group. We watched in amazement as
one mother breast fed her baby and gently reached down to kiss it on the cheek.
We watched for hours as they ate, played or even argued with each other.
After a restful night under mosquito net, we awoke anxious to 
get
back to the reserve to see what a new day would bring. Not thinking that
we could in any way top the previous days experience we arrived back at the
reserve’s landing where a young male orangutan 
was
washing one of the guide's shirts with a bar of soap. Walking through the
researcher's area, we encountered a group of playful Gibbons. We were able
to hand feed one of them while the others entertained us with some wrestling,
play and swinging from roofs, antennas and solar panels. On our hike,
Harry pointed out the sound of another male orangutan echoing through the
forest. Upon hearing the call, Harry felt that this male might come in to
feed that day. We arrived at the feeding area 
and
waited with anticipation. The females and babies started coming in when
all of a sudden they were jumping up into the trees and acting strangely.
We turned around and out of the jungle came one of the big male orangutans. He
was so much bigger then the females and a bit intimidating. We all moved
back so we wouldn’t be between him and the food he was seeking. After a
few minutes of munching away on
sweet
potatoes he started acting funny and jumped up into one of the trees. The
king of the orangutans had arrived. An awesome creature! He must
have weighed at least four hundred pounds and it was all massive muscle.
As he climbed to the top of the platform, he looked over his shoulder and kicked
the ladder down as if to say, "I dare you to bother me."
It was wonderful watching all the different behaviors, enjoying
their antics, and although we hated to leave it was time to head back down the
river to Sea Witch. We had just had the experience of a lifetime and
couldn’t stop talking about it as we "klotocked" down the river
surrounded by thousands of fireflies twinkling in the mangroves which lined the
riverbanks.
We
traveled to Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo and sailed up the river to
the town of Kumai. There is not much of a town there but we did enjoy 
the
market. The main draw here is the Orangutan reserve.
This is only one of a couple places in the world to visit Orangutans in the
wild.
