Orangutans at home

I have long suspected it: my failure to ever capture a blur-free butterfly was a clue. Now, it is confirmed. I am a complete failure as a wildlife photographer. From now on I shall have to stick to gardens, scenery and other inanimate objects, and, given Onslow and Miss B are two of my very favourite subjects, continue to let sleeping dogs lie.

In all other respects, I am so privileged. Not only have I had the opportunity to spend nearly five months this year working in Indonesia, I have been able to visit some of its stunningly beautiful natural and historical sites.

One of my dreams for this visit was that I would have the chance to visit the jungles of Kalimantan (Borneo) and see orangutans in the wild, and finally, with only three weeks remaining of my time here, my friend Adri and I flew out of Jakarta last Saturday for Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan. Just over an hour later, we had arrived at the airport, met up with our guide, and were on our way to the riverside port of Kumai to board our klotok for our journey up the Sungai Sekonyer to Tanjung Puting National Park.

View of another klotok , very similar to ours, from the deck



 This was our first glimpse of an orangutan's evening nest.

In the  initial stages of our journey, palms bordered the riverbank. As we got deeper into the forest, this changed to pandanus.

A fisherman pulling in his nets

First sighting of a probiscus monkey

We had fabulous meals on board. This was lunch on Day One: spicy prawns, tofu, stir fried vegies, steamed rice, a nice hot chilli sambal on the side for me, and watermelon for afters.

Reclining in the boudoir after being woken by the birds and the eerie calls of the gibbon

At Camp One on Day One



Beautiful mosses on the forest floor



Our escort to the feeding area



Yani, the dominant male 

mmm...bananas!

Rattan

The upper reaches of the river were as clear and black as obsidian. Were it not for the crocodiles, it would have been lovely to just slide into the water for a quick dip.

Our crew

This native gardenia grew along the riverbanks.



One of the 'neighbours'

Our captain

Day Two we arrived at Camp Leakey. This is our guide Bain.

Siswe, the dominant female and my nemesis, or rather the nemesis of my beautiful Helen Kaminski sun hat.

She was determined to remodel it to suit her own fashion sensibilities. First, gently remove the cord around the crown, then tear out the label inside.  I must admit it did rather suit her!



There were a couple of wild boars under the feeding platform scrounging for any dropped bananas.

A gibbon dropped by to share in the bounty

Bracket fungus on the forest floor

Here I am with Adri and clutching firmly onto my retrieved hat

That face!

This is another beautiful fern, which emerges from flat brown sheaths

Definitely an adventure to remember for a lifetime, but it is also very sad to think how threatened these beautiful animals are by the loss of their habitat to illegal logging and palm oil plantations. If you are interested in seeing more, there is a great documentary 'Final chance to save the orangutans' with the wonderful Joanna Lumley, who actually traveled on the very same klotok as us on her visit.