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| The Patriot Crew |
The adventure to see the orangutans starts out on a flight from Jakarta to Pangkalan Bun, Kalimantan. Elena was seated in the row just ahead of me and I observed as she chatted up the two Indonesians sitting next to her for the entire flight. By the time we got off the plane, the two Indonesians, Melly (a young civil engineer), and her boss, Pak Hercules (the head of a popular contracting company), invited us to stay with them at their office just outside of Kumai. Note that by this point they not only knew we were destined for Kumai and the orangutans, but probably had a good idea of our entire life stories thanks to Miss Elena. I say that somewhat sarcastically but I do sincerely mean thank you to Elena because without her unbridled friendliness and inquisitive nature this amazing opportunity would have never materialized. So off to camp Patriot we went. Patriot is the name of Pak Hercules’ contracting company, which usually specializes in building and improving roadways to mining sites, and their office was anything but what you would call a standard or normal office. Camp Patriot is a chunk of land that boasts cows, deer, ducks, geese, farmland, and a budding botanical sanctuary for local species that are becoming endangered due to logging by palm oil companies throughout the area. When we asked Pak Hercules why his office was so out of the ordinary he said he just likes it that way. Melly agreed that Pak Hercules is a “sweet boss”; the profit from the crops farmed at camp Patriot go entirely to its employees, and the cows are bred so that the young may be given away to local families. We also met Fery, an employee of Pak Hercules and an all-around extremely intelligent and caring individual, who helped us arrange our orangutan tour and basically took care of us for the two days we stayed with them. If any of the Patriot crew ever ends up reading this, Elena and I are forever indebted to your kindness and meeting you has been a most rewarding experience; we hope to stay in touch with you and maybe through our collaboration more rewarding things can come for the Kumai area.
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| View of the river from the boat |
Thanks to the help of Fery, we met with our guide, Danny, and his crew that would take us on the cruise for three days and two nights throughout Tanjung Puting National Park to view orangutans that have been rehabilitated throughout the area. Tanjung Putting National Park is home to both wild and semi-wild orangutans that are the subjects of ongoing scientific research and preservation efforts for the flora and fauna residing in this area. So, we met the crew and set off on our adventure!
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| The word Orangutan comes from the Indonesian words Orang Hutan, which means “Forest Person.” |
Throughout the boat trip we would stop at feeding stations for the orangutans that have been rehabilitated. Although they have been re-released into their natural habitat, some have been so domesticated that they may never live entirely on their own and therefore are fed a hefty serving of bananas once a day at various feeding stations throughout the park. Our guide, Dedy, told us there are about 5,000 total orangutans in the park and the feedings stations we visited were home to anywhere from 30-700 individuals. As you can see from the picture above, we weren’t disappointed at any of the sites and the orangutans we saw were quite tame and accustomed to people, so getting close wasn’t at all difficult. We walked through the forest a ways to get to every feeding station, which usually consisted of an elevated wood platform upon which bananas were scattered by someone working and/or residing in the national park.
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| Two Orangutans dine in the trees above the feeding station |
Seeing the orangutans up close was nothing short of breathtaking and magical. Yes, as cliché as it sounds, that phrase was just used. As anyone who has interacted with an orangutan on a personal level will tell you, it is just like looking into the eyes of another human. The biologist in me was screaming with joy, wonder, and a mountain of questions. Dedy told us the approximate ages of all the orangutans, all of their names and who was the boss of the camp (the dominate male and female, that is). We learned that orangutans are actually the least social of primates and males and females only unite for breeding purposes. Afterwards, a baby orangutan will be completely dependent on its mother for 5-8 years and a female orangutan can often be seen travelling in a group with one or two offspring. Orangutans have the longest reproductive interval of all primates, usually about 8 or 9 years between infants, which means that they are not by any means reproducing quickly enough to make up for the rate at which they are dying due to habitat loss. Orangutans are found only throughout the jungles of Southeast Asia and have suffered immense habitat losses, mainly due to the efforts of logging companies.
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| Elena and I observe a female orangutan and her baby |
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| A mother and baby scope out the feeding station |
On top of the orangutan cruise being wildly stimulating, informative and inspirational, Elena and I travelled in the utmost comfort thanks to the Mama 1 crew. We dined like kings and were truly in the best of company at all times. Dedy serenaded us with his guitar one night and all of the crew members entertained us and our minimal Bahasa skills with interesting and friendly conversation. On the last day, the propeller on our boat broke and all of the crew members were in the cold, crocodile infested water in the pouring rain fixing it- the process of which mainly took place under the boat, under water. I have no idea how they finally ended up fixing the prop, but I do know there were several tools including about six spoons involved. I honestly believe we couldn’t have had a better crew and I would recommend them to anyone interested in doing the trip. Terima Kasih to the crew of Mama 1!
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| The Mama 1 Crew |
After our cruise we had a few hours to explore the neighboring town of Pangkalan Bun where the airport is located. Elena and I walked around and chatted with the locals a bit, then attempted to walk all the way to the airport. We were (thankfully) eventually picked up by a car also headed to the airport, who thought we were quite sweaty and quite insane for attempting such a hike.
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| A young school girl in Pangkalan Bun |
As anyone can surmise, overall the trip was amazing. Meeting our distant cousins face to face has awakened my biologists’ soul and has inspired me in inexplicable ways; I hope to do something in the future as relevant as preserving such an amazing species. Meeting my not-so distant cousins in Kumai has also restored my faith in humanity. The people in Kalimantan were perhaps the nicest, most intelligent, hard-working and caring people I have ever met and they truly capture the spirit of Indonesia. Lately I had been thinking too much about returning to the U.S. and I fear it was at the expense of living in the moment here in Indonesia. My new friends in Kumai brought me back to the moment, the here and the now in Indonesia, where I have realized a huge piece of my heart will forever remain. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to be here, and I will officially be the luckiest person in the world if I get the chance to return some day and work with these people.
