Borneo orangutans Part 1 (2-1)

Saturday morning I flew to Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island where I began my four-day river boat trip to see the orangutans. The time of my flight had been changed to be two hours later, and then the flight was changed and to depart another two hours later. The flight was listed as “scheduled.” Then it was changed to “estimated,” which made me a little concerned because another flight that had had that change was then changed to “delayed.” So when it changed to “waiting area,” I was very happy. In the end I arrived on Borneo four hours later than originally planned. This meant that there wasn’t time to get to a feeding station that afternoon. So one less orangutan viewing opportunity, but I was just glad to have arrived and to be there.

I was met at the airport and taken to the boat where I met Dewa, my guide, and the three crew members—captain, assistant, and cook. Usually these trips have a minimum of two people; so I was very lucky that the agent had agreed to take me alone. The boat was smaller than the pictured boat, but I didn’t care. I was just happy to be on the trip and not to have to pay for two people, which I had decided I would do. 

The wooden boats are called klotoks after the sound the engine makes. 

The upper level has a mattress that became my bed at night. 

The front end has two chairs in which I could relax and watch the river go by. The lower level is where the crew stayed. It has a small kitchen where meals are prepared. And the captain has a small room where he steers the boat. The toilet/shower is at the back. It’s an open shower, meaning it doesn’t have a roof. This was fun when it was raining. There is a barrel of river water that is used for flushing. When I wanted to take a shower, they turned on the generator that brought river water to the shower. The boat has electricity, but if I wanted to recharge electronics, they turned on another generator for that purpose.

After waiting half an hour because the park ticket office was closed for lunch, we finally embarked on this adventure to Tanjung Puting National Park. On the big river, there were several barges. Dewa said these take supplies, such as gasoline and fertilizer, to the island and take palm oil out. This is a salt water river.

Lunch was served shortly after we started the journey, since it was already 2:00 and the others had eaten. All the food was delicious, which resulted in my eating too much. This introduction to meals on the boat was huge prawns, fried tofu, veggies, and watermelon. I dug into the veggies and ate them quickly, since I hadn’t had any for a while, which made them extra delicious.

We soon left the main river, turning into a branch that is mixed salt and fresh water. Later it becomes fresh water. After a while we stopped at a Dayak village to purchase supplies. Dewa suggested that we had time to walk in the village if I wanted to. Of course I did. About a hundred families live in the village. They fish or work at the national park. 

They collect rain water in large barrels for washing. Otherwise river water is used. 

Clothes are washed in the river. They use solar electricity, as there are no power lines. 

Most houses are basic wood, 

but some are a bit fancier and are painted bright colors. I noticed that some of the women had powder on their faces. Dewa said they believe it keeps them cool, which reminded me that Thais also use cooling powder. The elementary school is in the village. Students go by motorcycle to another village for middle and high school. There is one narrow path that is paved for motorcycles.

In the village we saw several palm oil palm trees. The woman who picked me up had told me that these are one of the causes of orangutan endangerment. People clear the jungle to make more room for palm oil trees, as they are a cash crop, thus destroying the orangutans’ homes. Also, the orangutans eat the fruit, which causes plantation owners to kill them. Park rangers are training the farmers to call the police when they see an orangutan so it can be safely removed.

When we returned to the boat, I was given a plate of fried bananas as a snack. This happened every afternoon. We passed two groups of proboscis monkeys in the tree tops. Dewa explained that they are sometimes called Dutch monkeys because some Dutch men have a big nose. I understood this better when I looked at photos taken with the telephoto lens.

At 5:45, it started to rain, and it continued raining heavily for about twelve hours. The men put down canvas window covers to protect the area from the water. 

Then they got my sleeping area ready by putting a sheet on the mattress, putting down the mosquito net around the bed, and putting down mosquito nets to enclose the whole area. Quite a cozy little room.

The main course for dinner was fish. The fish are from fish farms, not from the river. I enjoyed seeing local men fishing on the sides of the river, but their fish are not for our consumption.

There were three other boats docked with ours for the night. Since this was the quiet season, I asked how many would be there during the tourist season. About twenty.

Breakfast Saturday morning included an omelet with cucumber, something I wouldn’t have thought to do. At 8:00 Dewa and I started the 45-minute walk to the feeding station, which I later learned is Camp 2. (I thought it was the first camp, not realizing that we had missed Camp 1 on Friday.) 

On the way we saw a few varieties of pitcher plants, which are carnivorous. Insects are attracted to the water inside the pitcher, but they can’t get out because the sides are very smooth. Thus they become food for the plants. 

We went through an area where there are no trees. Dewa explained that this had been a Dutch farming area in the 1940s; so all the trees were cut down. They are getting ready to replant trees.

About 2000 orangutans live in this area, and 6000 to 7000 live in the whole park, all three camps. When we arrived at the feeding station, the ranger called to attract the orangutans. However, none came for about an hour. Then we saw two young ones playing in the trees. Dewa said they were being shy because their mother wasn’t there. 

The ranger enticed them to the platform by holding out fruit and then moving until they arrived at the platform. They grabbed the fruit and quickly escaped to the trees. 

Then a female came and sat on the platform. After a bit, I realized that she had a baby under her arm. Using the telephoto enabled me to see the baby much better. She stayed eating for about fifteen minutes. 

When she was there, the young ones stayed for a while, too. Since this is the rainy season, there are lots of fruits in the forest; so the orangutans have adequate food and don’t need to go to the feeding stations. During the dry season, many more eat there.

I learned at an information center that orangutans have their first baby when they are 14 years old. The baby stays with its mother until it is about six years old. The mother has a baby every eight years, having five or six total.

There were about a dozen people observing the orangutans. I met several of them at all of the stations I visited, as we were on the same basic tour. Others seemed to be going the other direction, as they talked about their experiences at other feeding stations.

When the walk back to the boat was much shorter than the walk to the feeding station, I learned that we had taken the “scenic route.” This was a pattern that was repeated on each trip to a feeding station. A good opportunity to explore and experience the jungle.

At 10:45, the boat took off down the river for two hours. The river was full of plant debris from the rainstorm during the night. At one point a pipe became clogged, and the mechanic/assistant had to clear it before we could continue.

As we turned onto the branch we would be following next, Dewa pointed out that the water color was different. In the larger river the water is brown because of illegal gold mining. They throw the mud into the river. It is hard to stop the illegal mining because the miners stop when the authorities come and then start again. Also because of bribery. I loved the reflections of trees and clouds in the clearer water.

In the afternoon, we went to Camp Leaky, which is Camp 3. The camp was established by Birute Galdikasand and her husband in 1971 under the mentorship of Louis Leaky, who also sponsored Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. Although the other two women are quite famous, I’d never heard of Galdikasand before. She now lives mostly in the U.S. but visits the camp sometimes, making this site the longest continuous study of a wild, non-human animal by primarily one person, as the sign states. There is a cabin she stays in when she is on site. She has written a few books that I am now interested in reading.

When we arrived at the feeding station after our 45-minute walk, a wild pig was also arriving. It stayed under the platform most of the time we were there, cleaning up fruit peelings dropped by the orangutans.

The first primate we saw was a gibbon. It jumped from tree to tree very rapidly. It also very quickly went to the platform, grabbed fruit, and quickly returned to a tree.

A mother orangutan and her child walked in. When she sat, I noticed that she had a baby under her arm. They ate a little but didn’t stay long. 

Then they returned and the father came through the trees. It was awesome watching him swing from tree to tree. They ate for a long time; so we had a good opportunity to watch them. 

When the mother and child tried to leave, the wild pig chased them; so they quickly returned to the safety of the platform. This happened a couple times. Then the father left, and the wild pig followed him. The mother and child then went the other direction.

When they all left, we walked fifteen minutes back to the boat and then rode for twenty minutes to our stopping place for the night. Dewa told me that the water for showering would be clear because the river water was now clear. Ten minutes after we returned at 4:00 the heavy rain started, a reminder that it was the rainy season. After the men put down the canvasses and set up my sleeping quarters, I decided to take a shower. Poor thinking on my part. Since the shower is open air, there was no way to keep a towel dry. But the shower water was fresh—that from the shower itself and the extra from the sky. In the morning, Dewa told me that it only rained till about midnight.