During the second half of our October break we went on an adventure to Kalimantan on Borneo. The Tanjung Puting National Park is famous for its orangutan conservation efforts, and is a spectacular place to see these apes in the wild. The park is also home to a diverse array of plants and animals. While there we were treated to sightings of hornbills, eagles, kingfishers, macaque monkeys, langur monkeys, and proboscis monkeys, plus a huge variety of insect life.
We flew into Pangkalan Bun with our friends Carla and Joyce and were met at the airport by the Orangutan Applause tour company representative. They took us by taxi to the port, and we got on the boat where we’d stay for the next 2 nights. Our boat crew consisted of an English-speaking guide, a captain and his helper, plus a cook.
One of the best things about this trip was cruising on the boat. When the boat was moving there was a little breeze, and sitting up at the front in a beanbag chair or a hammock was heavenly. As the boat motors upriver away from civilization you’re surrounded by green.
The big attraction of this trip is the orangutans. The park is known for reintroducing orangutans that have been illegally trafficked back into the wild. To support these released animals, they have feeding stations in various locations to supplement the apes’ own harvest from the forest. Feeding takes place at set times of day, and there are areas nearby where tourists can gather to watch the orangutans come down out of the trees to eat. We went to three feeding stations, and saw well over 30 orangutans in total. It was pretty cool. Mostly there were moms with babies, but we also saw a number of teenagers, plus a couple of the “kings” as our guide called them. Those are the dominant males.
To get to the feeding station in each location we had to walk a bit through the forest, which was an opportunity to see other wildlife on the way. Sometimes, getting to the feeding station was an adventure. One of the areas was flooded, so we ended up piling into a narrow canoe and then a local person towed the boat through the water.
One of the funniest things about watching the orangutans at the feeding station was the mannerisms of the individual apes. Often, one of them would come down to the feeding station and eat for a while, but then it would pick up as many fruits or sweet potatoes as it could carry in its hands, feet, and mouth, and climb back up into the trees to eat. It was so funny watching them struggle to climb up with bunches of sweet potatoes sticking out of their mouths and falling from their fingers and toes!
On the first night we did a night hike. It was an opportunity to see things that aren’t out and about during the day. The best part of the hike, though, was probably the sleeping birds. They would just sit there, frozen, even though we were shining our lights right on them! We saw a few cute little birds, including several beautiful kingfishers.
My proudest moment of the trip was that I spotted a flying lemur! I saw it on a tree trunk and called the guide over to see what it was. He had never seen one before, so he asked the boat captain, who identified it. Turns out these are pretty special creatures, though they neither fly, nor are they actually lemurs. There are only two species of them, and they are camouflaged and nocturnal. They glide like flying squirrels. For some reason this one decided to sleep low down on the tree trunk that day. It was lucky for us, or we’d never have seen it!
Adam’s birthday was the last day of the trip, so the crew decided to throw a party for him during lunch the day before. They harvested a giant shoot of a type of large grass or palm growing along the river, and used strips of it to make crowns for us all, and garlands for the table. The plant they got the shoot from also produces a fruit that is kind of like coconut. They split it open and we got to try the milk and fruit which was, indeed, similar to cocount!
One of our last stops on the way back downriver was at a local village. It is rainy season, so the village was flooded. It was interesting to see life carry on despite most people’s houses being surrounded by water.
It was a fantastic three day trip, and I’d gladly do it again! How special it is that Indonesia has this treasure just a short plane ride away from Jakarta. From the restful boat ride to the amazing animal sightings, this is a trip to remember.
