A Treasure Waiting to be discovered: Those Orange Hairy Apes!

Jumping into a Kalstar plane heading for Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan located on the island of Borneo, I got the brilliant idea of doing The Cross-Borneo trek. It was listed as one of the top activities to do in the Lonely Planet.  The description of this trek explains that it is done in three stages which includes accessing two of Indonesian’s longest rivers, the Sungai Mahakam River, and the Sungai Kapuas River as well as crossing the Muller Mountain Range.   It is known to be an experience exclusively for those adventure-travel-seekers who are living on the edge of life. Realistically I know I don’t fit into this category but I still had visions of being one of those explorers who would manage to find my way into the very heart of Borneo by doing this adventure.

The first stage of this trek begins at Balikpapan where you travel overland to the exotic town of Samarinda known for its great Mosque. The Sungai Mahakam River flows some 930 km from its source where it ends at the east coast. You have to take a succession of boats from here until you arrive at Tiong Ohang. The journey takes a full week and there you see lakes, marshes, river towns, and wildlife.

The second stage is actually where the problem begins. The Muller Mountain range divides east Kalimantan from the west and you have to use guides in order to cross these treacherous slopes which are supposed to be filled with leeches and snakes among other undesirable wildlife like Malaria-carrying-Mosquitos. It entails walking eight hours a day in a forbidden jungle where you follow a guide while carrying a machete and all your food and water on your back.  The humidity is about 97% while at the same time, the rain comes and goes, creating a swampy mud like environment in which you have to survive until the end of this trek; because unlike the river trips there’s no turning back.  So this is the do or die part of the trip!

The third part of this trek begins with a boat ride taking one day along the upper Kapuas and then connecting to Sungai Bungan which is the most thrilling part of the journey. Then one has to fly from Putussibau to Pontianak since the boat which travels to the lower part of Kapuas is never running on a set schedule and can take weeks until the end the journey is in sight.  Luckily, my fantasy was quickly shattered by Frank’s realism since he not only reminded me of our trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake which crippled me for a few days but he also brought to my attention that this is rainy season and most likely everything is flooded and it would literally be impossible to do this trek.

 This was a trip that needed precise planning with the right equipment. So naturally he was right! What was I thinking? How quickly I had forgotten my pain from the last trek.

 We later realized how outrageously expensive this trek would cost. We thought we could at least do stage 1 of the trek with boats and fights to Balikpapan. For a three day boat trip it would cost us over 1000.00 dollars (6,8M IRP) per person and flying around this country is practically impossible since they have a limited number of flights per day and they are often sold out making it even more difficult to know when the trip will end.  We also looked at the limited time we had left on our Visa and decided not to risk it.

Instead we opted for a three day/two night Klotok boat trip which follows the Sekonyer River leaving from the port of Kumai at Pangkalan bun. We had contacted The King River Tour agent Harry (081 2500 0508);harnavia@yahoo.com, price 240 dollars = 3M IRP pp). He was very efficient and even met us at the plane to make sure we knew our tour would take place and everything had been already arranged.  We would start first thing the next morning.  We had booked The Swiss Bin Hotel which is a business class hotel. The hotel, food, bathroom was great but about three o’clock in the morning the mosque started its prayer announcements at full volume.

Oh my, what a way to start the day! We then asked Harry where we could stay after the trip because the prayer which is projected by loud speakers at full volume was very annoying and this hotel is far from the city center.  We booked the Grand Kecubung Hotel and met our new guide Dedy. Frank and I were so happy to find that Dedy could speak English perfectly and was an animal/photographer enthusiast just like we are.  He has an English wife and had lived in the U.K. and was currently back home for a period of time which coincided perfectly with our trip.

  As we drove through the town I noticed that there were several cement bunkers within the town. I had noticed them from the plane and thought that this town must have been in a major war at some point in time since they are reminiscent of the bunkers in Germany. The answer is no. Dedy replied that rich merchants build these concrete skyscrapers for the black swifts, a bird that builds a nest from their salvia and the Chinese are willing to pay a lot of money for these nest which they incorporate in their Bird nest soup.  In order to attract the birds the owner uses artificial bird sound recordings to attract them to his buildings.  The entire operation cost very little and generates a lot of money if the birds pick your building. The owner is usually the one who looks after the nests and they usually incorporate a shop at the bottom of the building which adds to their income.

We finally arrived at the docks, met our crew, the captain, his son who was the assistant and the cook, Paul and then came the offer of a life time.  “Frank, do you want to have some beers on this cruise?” asked Dedy.  Frank’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Sure, how about ten bottles of Bintang, having in mine that he could share them with the crew!” Of course it never occurred to him that they had to buy these beers on the black market since beer is forbidden in Pangkalan Bun.  They arrived back with a case telling him got two extra beers included since he bought so many.  When they told him the price, his jaw dropped. (600,000 IDR=36 Euros) for the case beer making it the expensive beer Frank has ever bought.  In the end it was a very wise decision since the crew took extremely good care of us.

We then headed up the river and were amazed at the beauty of the jungle and how thick it was.  On the right side was the Tanjung Putting National park and the other side was a fishing village and palm oil plantation but this could not be seen by the river.  We also noticed the muddy waters and assumed it was from the rainy season.  But Dedy had worked as a park ranger/ conservationist and quickly informed us that the muddy waters were coming from a gold mine just outside the reach of the national park area.  We ate a fantastic lunch which included a fish that we were unsure of how to eat.  It reappeared at dinnertime and I finally asked for help.  As we approached the first feeding station in the jungle it was raining like crazy and Dedy was not sure the rangers would feed them when the weather was so intense. Eventually it stopped and we went to check out the Orangutans which was a bit of o problem since we did not have any food with us.  We saw three gorillas who were waiting in the trees for food.

 We then decided to return and an aggressive male showed up coming out from the jungle. We hurried past but he continue to pursue us.  Dedy used some little rubber bands to deter him which worked only for a moment.  He continued on.  He was very close to us and won’t let up.  We finally crossed a bridge with water and he then vanished into the jungle. I was the most worried since my rain gear was the color of the bananas and I noticed he had is eyes on me! So my question is this what colors does an Orangutan see? Is there anyone out there who can help me with that answer? Unfortunately no one on this trip could.  The good news is that I don’t smell like a banana.

 The rain came and went but it always came down in vast waves of sheets which drenched everything it touched.  As we continued to cruise upriver we saw the Proboscis monkey, the long-tailed macaque, and the silver leaf monkey monkeys and numerous birds such as the Rhinoceros hornbill, the Oriental Hornbill and the Blue ear Kingfisher before we settled in for the night.  That night a wonder appeared. We could actually see a sky full of stars.

 Dedy was always prepared with different applications on his mobile phone where we could check out the different star constellations. Our bed for the night consisted of two mattresses side by side and the essential mosquito net. Sometime in the middle of the night it rained hard but our boat assistant was in position closing up the boat with plastic blinds which keep us safe from the water. Unfortunately the mosquitos manage to get it on my side and were attacking Frank the entire night, despite the msquito net. 

Early in the morning we swallowed our Malaria tablets enthusiastically now that we were deep in the jungle and the mosquitos were following us like mad dogs every minute of the day. We then headed to the smaller tributary which would take us up to Camp Leakey. At some point the river changed from its muddy color to deep black waters. 

Our adventure was just about to become more challenging.  First I have to say that our boat left the last tourist boat to take off that morning. So as four or five boats took off we were wondering why they were taking their time.  It never occurred to us that we were on board o race horse.  Within 20 minutes we had passed all the boats and had taken the lead by quite a distance.  This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we soon came upon an impasse in the river which required a powerful engine.  Three boats were facing us and between us were several fallen trees which needed to either be cut or dragged away in order to allow the boats to pass. Dedy informed us that this was a common occurrence which is why they take care of where they park their boats for the night.

 The scene before us was chaotic and wild. Four guys were swimming in the crocodile infested river trying to remove the branches that several other guides were cutting with machetes.  Our crew used ropes that then were attached to the cut trees and then our captain reversed the boat with its mighty engine to pull the logs out of the way. It took a good forty minutes to create a free passage for the returning boats.

 We then continued upriver celebrating our victory. We passed the second feeding camp and arrived at Camp Leakey greeted by an elderly gentleman who smoked a cigarette on a long winding stick which served as a holder.   Dedy informed us that this man was his uncle and had worked here for twenty years. He also informed us to take care since there is a female Orangutan Sesery who was also known to be aggressive.  But as we crossed the boardwalk, we saw no signs of wildlife. Camp Leakey was created by a Canadian woman in the 1970s. At the information center we learned that not only forest clearing was a threat to the habitat but also gold mining, and the palm oil plantations.  More and more people are moving from Java to Borneo.

We then ate lunch and by that time we were done five other boats appeared out of nowhere and the tourist piled out and vanished into the jungle to visit the center and then to the next feeding.  We followed them a bit later which was to our advantage, we saw the King of Camp Leakey!  There he was drinking milk out of a bowl like a pussy cat.  King Tom took us by surprised and we laughed and he then turn and started at us which shut us fast enough quicker than you could spit.  He was a magnificent creature with kind eyes.  Dedy told us that when he wants to go into the food storage they simple open it for him because he has enough strength to tear it apart.  We also saw Sesery who looked as docile as a kitten and found it hard to believe that she was also an aggressive Orangutan.  We then went to the feeding grounds where we literally saw mothers with babies, young males and other individual swinging from the trees waiting patiently for their turn. 

  Here it was clear to see the hierarchy that rains over this species.  We then continued our next destination which was the fishing village which is across from the second feeding ground.  The village here housed maybe two hundred people.  Many of the buildings were no longer occupied since people had stopped fishing and had gone to work for the palm plantations.  It was not a wonder to see why when you looked at the poverty which was clearly present.  There was a mosque off to one side and a few little souvenir stands but not much was going on in this village.  The people we met were neither friendly nor hostile.  They simply accepted their day to day circumstances. We then proceeded to feeding station two where we were lucky and saw yet another king. King B has the reputation of being a kind king and we then saw members of his group moving in grabbing bananas in bunches and then disappearing into the forest. Here we saw four types of squirrels, the Prevost squirrel, the slender squirrel and the western stripped squirrel and the pygmy rat squirrel. This night we found our place to sleep and the clouds loomed over head and we would indeed have another rainy night ahead of us.  Dedy had organized three short films for us to watch while we waited for dinner which gave us further information into the lives of these wondrous creatures.

We finally back to the first feeding station and saw the third king with several of his group.  We never seem to tire of them.

 Dedy was a perfect guide always giving us plenty of time to do as we pleased while at the same time making sure we were safe.  We then returned to Pangkalan Bun were we slept at our new hotel The Grand Kecubung Hotel which we preferred since it gave us access to the town which has a population of 213,000.  The next day we set off to explore it landing at the waterfront.  We were amazed how friendly the people were and wanting to have their picture taken.  It was quite a different feeling to those we had in Africa.  I met several kids and had great conversations with their broken English.  We realized that most of the tourist never see the town.  We were the only ones there those two days.  Even at the western style café Iduna Bakery and Café, we were the only ones.  The woman working there spoke perfect English said seeing tourist is rarer than seeing the Orangutans!  We very much enjoyed the city but had to watch out for the spontaneous rainfall which would leave you drenched with no way of drying your clothes.  We also tried to get use to the artificial bird sound which continuous roared in our ears trying to attract those black swifts.  

 There was only one negative image I have from the town and that was that along the docks where the fishermen and their families live was highly polluted.  The people have little outhouses along the water where they take a dump, wash their clothes and themselves all in the same space.  As I talked to some boys they asked me what my hobbies were. I made the mistake of saying swimming and all their eyes brighten and tried to encourage me to go swimming in that river.  I faked a cough and told them maybe next time.  The trash between the buildings were also appalling, but the town itself was very clean and had won awards for being one of the cleanest towns in Indonesia.  That certainly made me think about Indonesia in general and how serious their pollution really is.  I just read an article in Spiegel describing the Komodo trip with diving tour which was describing the same places we had been to but not once describing the water and trash pollution which is clearly in this region.  It is a shame that the environmental issues are always put on the back burner while people want only to present a pretty picture of their vacation in order to sell it.