We woke the next morning to a quiet foggy river. While we ate our way through a big breakfast, the crew picked the boat up and got us ready to get back underway. We had spent the night tucked into the trees along the side of the river just a short distance from the camp we’d be visiting first that morning.

Seriously wish this boat could just keep going like this for a few thousand miles.

We’d seen a lot of monkeys in the trees right along the river, but this was the first orangutan.

The staff put out a couple baskets of bananas and started calling. They’d make loud whooping calls to alert anyone in the vicinity that breakfast had been served. If the orangutans were hungry they were free to come and eat.

Mama got down when this one showed up. She kept an eye on him for a while, then seemed to decide they could coexist and she went back up.

Eventually a small crowd gathered to eat together. There was no alpha male to clear them out today.

This one wasn’t so sure, though.

The mama’s are so caring. It’s really amazing to watch.

Another mama arrives with her young one.

We spent about an hour with the orangutans before making our way back to the boat to cruise further upriver.

You can’t really see it in the picture, but as we walked along we were told that this water had just filled in a couple of days earlier, and apparently the monkeys were thrilled by it. Back in the trees we could see them climb up and then jump in again, just a bunch of kids having fun.

The peace just envelops you as the diesel quietly thrums along underneath.

We got seriously lucky with the weather.

Our wrinkly jungle crew.

Every so often you get a slap across the face reminder of just how fortunate you are to be sitting on a boat enjoying the river for pleasure, versus working it for survival. Nothing more than an accident of birth.

Camp Leakey was the first orangutan rehabilitation site here in Kalimantan. About 200 ex-captive orangutans were rehabilitated and released into the wild here between 1971 and 1995. Since then this camp hasn’t been used for rehab and release any longer, yet most of the orangutans that still come here are relatives of those OGs. The camp is now used for orangutan research only.

While we waited patiently for orangutans to show up, this Gibbon came flying in from out of nowhere. We watched him cover 100 yards in just a matter of seconds.

He looked like a cartoon character as he snuck around, grabbed a handful of bananas and zoomed off again.

About the time we thought nobody was going to show up to Camp Leakey today (they sometimes go weeks without a visitor when food is plentiful) the alpha male of the area came strolling in.

His giant cheekpads only develop once he becomes the alpha male of the area. The ladies love those flanged big boys.

It wasn’t until the male finally moved off that this mama and baby could come in.

Headed home.

The incredibly strange looking proboscis monkey sitting in a tree.

We motored into the darkness, and as we merged back into the river where Bumfuzzle sat the rain began to pound down as if it had held off long enough for us. They brought a covered speedboat out to meet us in the river and zip us back to our boats. At Bumfuzzle our boat watcher and his son helped us get onboard and then zoomed off on their own boat. And just like that, our whirlwind orangutan adventure was over. I was a little sad about it ending, actually. That trip will easily live on in my mind forever. We saw a lot, we learned a lot, and we laughed a lot. Great memories, shared with great friends.