My Map Pins (16): Tanjung Puting, Borneo (Posted March 2021)

 

The orang utan in the photo is wild. Or semi wild. This is the Tanjung Puting national park on the island of Borneo where orangs are well protected, and where captive apes are re-introduced into the forest, so some of the orangs here are more relaxed around people than others. All the same, they aren’t always easy to spot in the trees, so it was a magical, heart-stopping moment when this mother and her child swung down towards us and reached out her arm. I think Sue’s face in the photo fairly accurately reflects the way she felt.

I have blogged about this before I know, so apologies if you feel you've read this all twice - but I do want to plug this as a tourist experience. It is almost incomparable. And orang utans need the visitors. The more people who visit, the more incentive there is for countries like Indonesia and Malaysia to keep the parks. You don’t need a swanky travel company. You can find little tour-boat companies in Candi on the Kumai River if you search online. Which is how we did it. This is how it works. You fly to Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan, and you hire a klotok, and a crew. A klotok is an Indonesian river boat. Your crew is a captain, an engineer, a cook and a guide. You have the boat to yourselves. You set off into the Tanjung Puting reserve up the Sekonyer River which is the only way you can get there. The river winds languidly through the jungle. It is a three day trip. You spend both nights on the top deck, underneath a mosquito net, listening to the sounds of the forest. You’ll see hundreds of proboscis monkeys. You’ll see flocks of fruit bats. All manner of birds. You’ll see orangs and gibbons. It is blissfully peaceful. You rarely see another boat – except at Camp Leakey where all the boats park up to let you go off exploring on foot. There seem to be around twenty boats on the river. But it is a big river. Wildlife watching trips don’t get much better than this.  

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The Indonesia Blog Part 3: Borneo and Orangs

Orang

A village on the Sekonyer river

A Klotok 

Proboscis Monkeys

Enough of books and book prizes and the stresses and strains of publishing. It's time for another blog from Indonesia. This will be the final posting of our vacation blog. It's the story of Borneo and the Sekonyer River and Tanjung Puting, and orang utans. 

This was the most conventional episode of our trip. Way Kambas park had been curiously empty of tourists. There were two bird watchers, and there were the two of us (and in a future blog I'll relate the strange coincidence that attends this story - but not right now.) In Ujung Kulon there was us and a researcher. That's all. But in Tanjung Puting there were dozens of tourists - well twenty at least. Possibly thirty. It felt like the Masai Mara.

You fly to a little town called Pangkalan Bun. Your tour guide meets you and takes you to your boat, and within an hour of landing you're on the river. You're on your own on a Klotok - a traditional wooden boat - with your own crew - a captain, his mate, a guide and a cook. It's really quite surreal. You sail down the mile-wide Kumai river and up the Sekonyer, and already it's wild. This is Tanjung Puting, a sprawling jungle wilderness, and you're on a three day / two night voyage. It's the African Queen (except, of course, that it's Borneo.) When night falls, the crew make up your bed on the deck - a thin mattress and a mozzie net - and you lie under the stars, listening to the noises of the forest. The call of gibbons The distant cry of an orang utan. Unfamiliar, exotic noises. And it's wonderful.

You do encounter the other tourists though. That happens when you stop at a range of field stations and you trek out to see the orangs. But it's okay. There is a jolly cameraderie. The orangs are semi wild. Some of them are domesticated apes that have been returned to the wild. Others are the offspring of the rehabilitated orangs. And others still, are truly wild. It doesn't seem to matter. Once a day each field station puts out food (bananas and sugar cane). Some orangs come and feed. Others don't. But it's still an experience. A good one.

At dusk you're on your own again on the boat. We played cards and ate well. There's no alcohol - of course. Our cook was excellent, and our guide, Hani, was good company. She's one of only four female guides in the park. There are fifty six men. Sue and Hani talked about feminism and Islam and marriage and divorce. These aren't the conversations you usually have with a guide.

At dusk proboscis monkeys climb into the trees overhanging the river. This is the safest place for them. If a clouded leopard should prowl, the monkeys can drop into the river to escape. There are thousands of proboscis monkeys, but they're endlessly fascinating.  

And that's it really. If ever you're looking for a relaxing encounter with wildlife, I would recommend a Klotok trip up the Sekonyer river. It's wild.