We arrived in Kumai, Borneo on October 10th, after an overnight passage from the island of Bawean. Many other rally boats had decided to also visit this area and were already there. I had made arrangements for a three day two night tour to the Tanjung Putin National Park with OrangutangApplause.com after reading on-line reviews.
The kelotok Borneo Alase we had chartered for our eco-tour started by picking up Colin and Izzi from Endorphin B,followed by Paul and Andi from Talulah Ruby III before getting to Lady.
We had previously met Dessy (business manager) and Arif (biologist guide) when they stopped by the day before to answer questions. We were introduced to Captain Sunny, cook Tarmi and deckhand Jay. The tour also included a guard for the three yachts left at anchor.
We were no sooner underway when breakfast, the first of many amazing meals was served.
As we slowly motored up the river, Arif discussed the things we were seeing. We learnt how orangutans like to build a new nest each night high up in a tree, we saw our first proboscis monkeys, we saw other kelotoks and locals enjoying a Sunday off.
The river has National Park on one side, but privately owned tribal land on the other.
It was wonderfully relaxing. All we had to do was enjoy each other's company and take pictures.
After lunch we arrived at our first stop. A hike through the jungle brought us to a feeding station for orangutans. Rangers place bananas, sugar cane, other fruit and sometimes milk at a certain time each day on a platform, and the orangutans come down one by one from the trees. The alpha male eats first, then he may let his favorite female and her baby eat next. The others all have to wait their turn. It was amazing to watch them as they swung through the trees. I had mis-placed my camera (thought it was lost), so had to rely on a phone to take pictures.
We anchored for the night near a proboscis monkey family. After a wonderful dinner on the roof-top of the Borneo Alase, (we brought out own adult beverages for the trip) we descended to find the main deck occupied by three double mattresses made up for us, each with a mosquito net. We fell asleep listening to the sounds of the jungle, mostly cicadas.
Next day we traveled deeper into the jungle. We stopped and hiked to another feeding station in the morning, where there were quite a few other tourists (30-40 or so showed up for the 0900-1100 feeding). More of these wonderful red people of the forest showed up.
Arif also pointed out interesting botanical items. Here's a pitcher plant.
We traveled further. Another delicious lunch. Past a local fishing camp. We disembarked at the dock for Camp Leakey, the main research station of the park. We hiked along boardwalks and trails to get to the feeding area. More wonderful animals came by.
We watched them for an hour or more...Charlie, Izzi and Colin left before the rest of us and were surprised when they got to the dock to see an orangutan climbing up onto the dock. We had been instructed to stay five meters away from the animals, but there was no way to get that far. Izzi hid behind Charlie while Colin took pictures of "Percy" as he moved past them. How exciting for all of them!
Meanwhile, Arif was escorting Andi, Paul and I back to the dock. At one point, the trail was blocked by a mother and baby orangutan. "Difficult to stay further away than five meters", I murmured as Arif directed me to climb the bank. The beautiful animals passed us unconcerned.
That was quite exciting!
As we approach the dock..there's another one! Blocking our way!
Turns out that this was "Percy" and Colin got some good pictures as he and I gave each other as much space as we could as we passed.
The kelotok came over to the dock to pick us all up...there were cheeky macaque monkeys climbing around there.
Our ship's gear box had failed, but just like at sea, all the tour boats' crews help each other out, and we were given a tow to our next stop. We docked and some of us went for a night hike, seeing tarantulas, scorpions and other spiders. The boat was repaired, and we anchored overnight near where a proboscis monkey family was also enjoying the night..
When awake next morning, another proboscis male had approached the family and witnessing the troop's alpha male fight and chase off the intruder was more excitement!
The dry season ended, and it was a foggy wet morning. Arif and crew modified the plan so that we would not be going ashore in a thunderstorm, and we went back down river and eventually stopped at a place where we could plant trees.
We saw different birds - the greater coucal, the hornbill and a number of stork-billed kingfishers, a crocodile, a couple of otters. we also saw another monkey - the Sundiac silver langur.
We haven't done many "crewed charters", but if any friends are looking for an interesting eco-tour. We highly recommend Afir, Dessy and all the crew from Orangoutan Applause. What a GREAT trip!
Thanks for that Jenny, a great summary of a very memorable trip.
Posted by: Paul | November 11, 2019 at 06:34 PM