I remember planning a trip to Borneo to see the Orangutans back on our first time through this area all those years ago, but I don’t remember now why we didn’t do it. So, when we reached this part of the planning stage again this time, we were sure to make it happen.
Our tour guide company, Sisters (I never post links like this, but the Sisters were so great I feel like it’s worth sharing), arrived early the next morning to drop off the diesel we’d ordered up the day before. One of their boats broke down tied up alongside of us, but they had another, and soon we were loading up and heading out. Included in the tour price was a person to stay onboard the boat, in the cockpit to keep an eye on things while we were away. Obviously, there is always the threat of petty theft, especially when everyone can see that you are gone on a tour, which is what everyone comes to Kumai to do. But the bigger threat to boats here in the river are the floating islands that can come through on the currents. Huge balls of vines, grasses, and tree branches float down the river in currents reaching at least three knots. These can tangle up at the bow or in your anchor chain, and dislodge the boat. It’s especially easy for a cat to have this happen. Knowing this, Sisters has a guy stay on the boat and sleep in the cockpit while we are away. We put some drinks in the cockpit fridge and left the boat without a worry.
We climbed aboard the river boat at the dock in town, had a nice breakfast, and were soon underway. The kids made themselves comfortable and were playing cards before we’d gone anywhere.
Just downriver from Kumai is the branch off for the river that would take us upstream to the orangutans.
In no time at all we the boat was stopping to show us different monkeys in the trees. This would be one of the most impressive things about the tour—the captain and his mate were constantly on the lookout and would stop every time they spotted something. There were also two guides onboard, so I found it impressive that the captain cared enough that he would do this on his own. It would have been pretty easy for him to sit down there at the wheel smoking cigarettes and not really care if we saw another monkey, but more often than not he was the first to spot the wildlife for us.
Our first stop of the afternoon was at the Tanjung Harapan Camp. The camps along the river were originally started as rehab facilities for rescued captive orangutans. The area was already full of wild orangutans, so the captives would slowly be reintegrated into their society. Today, there are over 5,000 orangutans in the park, and each day the camps put out a few bushels of bananas at a viewing station like this. Some days the orangutans come and eat, other times they don’t. They are all wild now.
It was fascinating to watch them come through the trees and then to watch their hierarchies play out.
I’m not going to go into detail about the lives of orangutans, but wow, the job of a mother is an incredible feat. That baby will be clinging to her like this for two years, and will be close by her side for up to ten years.
Being sure to stay out of trouble, this one loaded up on bananas and then retreated back up a tree to eat when the alpha male of the area arrived. “Roger” had his back to us the whole time and I didn’t get a picture of his impressiveness, but it was clear who was boss on this day.
We got a little rain, but really hardly any. We were told that there aren’t many tours at this time of year because it is usually raining pretty non-stop. Apparently we were quite lucky.
Stopping mid-river to watch some proboscis monkeys fly around.
Watching these monkeys fly around the trees left you sort of holding your breath. They just didn’t seem made for it, though obviously they are. They were sort of fat and the branches seemed too small for them. They would go out on a narrow limb, then rock it back and forth like a kid on a swingset, eventually launching themselves through the air to snag a branch on the other side that seemed equally small. With their huge nose, permanent erections, and pot bellies, these are some of the strangest looking monkeys out there. They are also under heavy pressure from loss of habitat thanks to the palm oil plantations, so seeing them out here in the wild like this was a pretty special experience. Their numbers in the park (all the land to our right as we traveled up the river) seemed quite good, and we’d see quite a few of them over the next couple days.
Evening stop was at another camp further up the river where we would go on a night hike.
It’s true. As we sat on the boat having lunch we watched as a crocodile swam past, riding the current at an alarming speed without a ripple on the water. Apparently monkeys are a favorite snack.
The night hike was fun. The guides pointed out poisonous vipers lingering underneath tree leaves, then adorable fluffy yellow birds sleeping underneath similar leaves. Someone should really warn those yellow birds. We saw ants the size of a thumb, carnivorous plants, and spiders that would surely leave you with either very special powers or death. We then returned to the boat for dinner. Oh man it would be easy to get used to this sort of service. Our chef, an unseen lady who worked non-stop to keep us well fed during our stay, was our hero.
While we ate dinner the crew converted out daytime family room into our nighttime bedroom. I went to bed that night thinking, “I could ride up and down this river like this forever.” I’d likely be alone, but… in theory, I could.
