The wild man of Borneo!

Wednesday 15th October

As Blue Moon slowly wound her way up the chocolate brown waters of kumai river we sat back and took a moment to breath in the sights and sounds of a real life Rain Forest. We were heading deep into the heart of Kalimantan, the southern part of Borneo island belonging to Indonesia, to visit our closest living relatives the Orangutans. Seven years ago I made this same trip and it was an experience that I was really excited to repeat.

Our ultimate destination is Camp Leaky; in 1971 a young woman called Birute Galdikas persuaded Dr Louis Leaky, along with help from the National Geographic Society, to fund a research camp in Borneo so that she could study the illusive Orangutans. Dr Leaky who is famous for discovering fossils of early humans in Africa was also supporting Diane Fossey in her studies of Mountain Gorillas and Jane Goodall with the behaviour of Chimpanzees. Galdikas set herself what many scientists claimed to be an impossible task, tracking wild Orangutans through some of the most inhospitable jungle in the world. Nevertheless she succeeded and would spend days living and following these amazing animals through the canopies while she wallowed in leech filled swamps and fell ill to malaria numerous times.

As night fell over the jungle we motored up river and dropped anchor off the town of Kumai, the base for organizing our trip into the Tanjung Putting National Park. We'd just missed the Indonesian Rally's official stop here so there were still a lot of cruising yachts anchored in the river which was great as we were able to catch up with a lot of friends who we hadn't seen since Lembata nearly two months ago.

The following morning we set straight to work finding a Klotok (wooden river boat) and river captain who could take nine of us on a two day trip up to Camp Leaky. Brenda and Brian on Galliano had just come back from a trip and recommended their boat to us and for just $80 per person for two days including all our food and drink so we organised the trip for the following day. In the afternoon we jumped into a bemo (minibus taxi) for a 40 minute ride to find an ATM in the bigger town of Pangkalanbun. Pangkalanbun is a really interesting bustling town with the river at it's heart, the people live on it's banks and use it for transport, washing clothes, bathing and just about everything else you can think of!!


At 7 am the next morning we were picked up by the klotok from our boats and a guy dropped off who would stay on the boat while we were gone for security...we just hoped it wouldn't rain as he had to sleep in the cockpit! Our Klotok was probably the nicest on the river with teak furniture and a covered toilet and Separate shower. This may not sound surprising but many a time we pulled up to another boat and had a clear view of someone in the shower! We slowly wound our way up the Sekonyer River and as cruisers sat back to enjoy being passengers on boat for a change. The scenery was beautiful and constantly changing with pampas grass and swampy forest becoming thick secondary forest...more green than we've seen in a very long time.

With our eyes peeled for fresh water crocodiles, Dugongs, leopards, all kinds of monkeys and of course the Orangutans themselves. We enjoyed a lunch of local delights that our cook produced from the tiny gally below decks. Our first stop was Camp Leaky itself, after four hours on the boat it was great to finally get to walk into the jungle to explore. There are three camps in total but camp leaky is where we were to find most of the Orangutans. After walking down the long wooden board walk we visited the Information center to meet Tom the current king Orangutan.

Orangutans live most of their lives alone only coming together to mate or by accident...here at the camp it's slightly different as many of these were rescued from captivity by Galdikas as babies. One of the greatest threats to the Orangutans is illegal logging and the destruction of lowland forests. Often the young orangutans are taken from their parents by the loggers and sold as pets. Galdikas would hear of a house keeping a wild Orangutan and with the help of local officials would rescue them and reintroduce them back into the wild. Each day the foundation provides a feeding for the orangutans consisting of bananas and milk for those who are not yet fully self sufficient.

While waiting to be taken to the feeding station we were blessed with a visit by a young male who came to have a look at everyone and grab hold of whatever he could! Jimmy had a close encounter with a rather large adult male on his way out of the toilet (Jimmy on his way out of the toilet not the orangutan!). The assistants employed by the Orangutan Foundation are mostly men from the local Dayak tribe, once known as head hunters they now enjoy working to preserve the wildlife around them.

At the feeding station we didn't have to wait long before the trees were crashing down around us and a group of female orangutans carrying babies came to feed. They have very little fear of humans and were a lot less interested in us than we were of them. Orangutans share 98% of our genetic make up and are our closest living relations and it's easy to see when they walk standing up. They're hair is a beautiful Auburn colour that curls in the rain and makes the babies look adorable! We sat and watched them for over an hour and then were escorted back to the camp by a mother and baby out for a stroll. Astrid had a fright when the mother grabbed hold of her arm but the ranger quickly told her to hand over the water bottle she was carrying and the orangutan unscrewed the lid, drank the contents, put the lid back on and handed it back!

Camp leaky was our only stop the first day so we had time to wander around the camp watching the gibbons playing in the trees and hoping to catch a glimpse of 'Princess' the female orangutan made famous by national geographic and the fact that she can use sign language to communicate with the rangers...but no such luck. So it was back on the boat to move back down the river to anchor up for the night in a spot all on our own. As night fell we watched DVD's of documentaries made by Julia Roberts and Joanna Lumley who both visited the camps. Our captain took them both up the river and shared stories of the filming and some close encounters they both had with the orangutans. That night we fell asleep under our mosquito nets listening to the Proboscis Monkeys playing in the trees and the chorus of sounds coming from the jungle!

Our second day we visited two more camps and hiked into the jungle to the feeding stations, at these the Orangutans are more wild and so we were really lucky to get a glimpse of more mother and babies and one very large male. The Orangutan population may have fallen by 50% in the last ten years and with 50,000 to 60,000 remaining in Borneo and Sumatra. It's important that they do not become to familiar with humans as we are their greatest threat so its good to see that fewer are coming to the feeding stations and are supporting themselves instead.

The jungle itself was beautiful with Birds of Paradise and wild orchids hanging in the trees and such a diverse amount of vegetation, great to know that someone is out here trying to preserve it for future generations. We arrived back at our boats by night fall and had an amazing trip, if we could do it again we'd probably do the three day trip but I guess that gives us a reason to come back!!

If you want to know more about the Orangutan Foundation just go to www.orangutan.org

Bali

1st October 2008

We're currently in Bali the cultural center of Indonesia, life has been good, we're tied up to the Marina in benoa harbour and are finally getting a chance to sit still and relax! Hinduism is the largest practicing religion on the island and it really shows. With temples on every corner and offerings lining the streets it makes for a really colourful setting.

The marina is a ten minute taxi ride from the town of Kuta and bali's most touristy area...an absolutely crazy place to be after the peaceful islands of Lombok and Sumbawa. Legian Street is the central area for shopping and boy is there a lot of shopping to be done here! For $20 dollars you could fill a suitcase with clothes and housewares and still have change left over.

We took a side trip up to the artisan town of Ubud up in the hills and for the first time in years we spent a night off the boat. Our hotel was slap bang in the middle of town but we still had great views of the surrounding rice paddy fields and a beautiful pool to chill out in. Again we shopped till we dropped finding the best prices in the local market and then checked out the monkey Jungle at the end of the main street. We hired a driver to take us up to the volcano where we had lunch overlooking it's crater and of course more beautiful paddy fields. The driver insisted that we stopped at a couple of temples and it was well worth it with beautiful carved rock figurines and more importantly the chance to see Jimmy wearing a skirt!

It's something you can't say about many countries in the world but we can honestly say that we haven't met an unfriendly person since arriving in Indonesia and Bali is no exception. Smiling faces greet us everywhere we go and even though they're hard bargainers, buying an item of clothing can take 30 minutes to get to a price you can both agree on, you still come away with a feeling that their having as much fun as you! So it's hard to believe that in 2001 something happened here to rock the foundations of every ones lives when the Sari club on kuta's main street was bombed and over 200 people were killed causing complete devastation.
In August 2001 I celebrated my 21st birthday in the Sari club and to see now what locally is called 'ground zero' is extremely moving knowing it could so easily have been us. Across the street a beautiful memorial has been erected with the names of all those that lost their lives and is particularly moving. Tourism was hit hard at the time but things are starting to get back to the way it was, locals stop us in the street to let us know how happy they are that we're here and not to worry as it will never happen again...strong words!

We've loved our time here in Bali and my recommendations are:
~ Having as many cheap massages as possible.
~ Hiring your own moped so you can avoid expensive taxi fees.
~ A trip to Ubud for more shopping.
~ Getting out into the countryside for the amazing views.
~ And most importantly trying all the great food that's on offer!

Komodo...The Land of Dragons!

Wednesday 27th August.

After leaving Kupang in Western Timor we headed north to Kawula and the main chain of Indonesian Islands that run in a straight line from East to West. We passed pods of Dolphins and Whales and sailed up in between the high volcanic islands dropping anchor off the town of Lembata. These Eastern islands are really dry and parched compared to the lusher Bali and Lombok but they’re still extremely beautiful. With huge volcanic mountains towering above the anchorages and small wooden hut villages fringed with white sandy beaches the scenery is breathtaking. We restocked with fruit and veg from the local market in Lembata and headed west to avoid the rally crowds which by now we were happy to escape and try to stay ahead!

On the north side of the larger island of Flores we stopped at some great little anchorages, most of which were only big enough for three or four boats as they’re really deep all the way to the beach. The diving is supposed to be good around this area but we'd heard from some locals that the tsunami ruined a lot of the reef so we decided to wait until Bali...especially as we found out one of Jimmy's tanks had a whole in it and had to leave it on the dock.

We hit civilisation again in Labuan Bajo which is a largish town on the North West point of Flores and the tourist gateway to the Komodo Islands. It was a huge shock for us to see white faces again but it was also nice not to be the center of attention all the time. Anchored right off town we re-stocked the boat with water and fuel, had some great meals out for a couple of dollars and went a little crazy buying wooden carvings of Komodo dragons! Two days later we upped anchor and headed for the ranger station on Rinca island, you can find the dragons both here and on Komodo island but we'd heard Rinca was has much more variety of wildlife and the prettier of the two.

Monitor lizards are known the world out as Komodo Dragons, they're the largest species of lizard and actually quite aggressive when they're on the look for food. They hunt alone biting their prey once and then waiting for the animal to die from blood poisoning caused by the bacteria in the Komodo's saliva. Their usual pray ranges from monkeys, deer, wild boar, water buffalo...and of course the occasional Japanese tourist!!

Arriving at the ranger station a little too late to get the guided tour we were lucky to see up close, four huge Dragons, attracted by the smells from the kitchen. One of the guides grabbed a six foot forked stick and stood between us 'just in case', I have to admit seeing them lounging around on their belly's didn't really give me the sense that these are dangerous creatures, however, sitting in the bar listening to the rangers tell stories of how they'd all been attacked at various times gave us a much greater appreciation! Later we got the chance to go Dragon hunting on our own in a bay further south with the help of a Komodo Island fisherman and I have to say seeing the worried look on his face when we did find them was pretty scary!

Landfall in western Timor, Indonesia

3rd August 2008

Well we've made it to Indonesia and all is well. It took 4 nights to Reach the city of Kupang in Western Timor from Darwin - the wind died off the very first evening and never came back until the last... We had to motor almost the entire way.... I spent many hours with the calculator trying to determine if we were going to make it...Happy to say we found a little wind and it all worked out in the end. In an emergency Gunner and Ingvil on S/v Helen Kate were planning to drop us a couple of cans of fuel!

It was an ok trip all in all as the autopilot did its job and steered us on course so we were comfortable... Unfortunately we were one of the slowest boats so that sucked to say the least. We just couldn't figure out why... I ended up jumping over mid ocean to clear the prop and was successful in stripping off some heavy seaweed... It seemed to improve our speed but it was mostly a mental fix, without enough wind old Blue Moon is too heavy to make way efficiently - the concerning part was that friends on s/v Antares caught a 2 meter shark a little later just behind their boat about a mile from us... Yikes!

Kupang has been great- it's like India meets South America, Lots of noise and craziness. We spent most of the time trying to get cleared/checked in... It started out smooth but as always became tangled in typical third world bureaucracy. Lucky for us we had several over 60 cruisers maintaining a round the clock watch and kept the pressure on the rally staff and local government rep's... In the end everyone was able to get cleared - but not until they impounded all the vessels in the fleet - not physically but by writ - and everyone had a very large seizure sticker affixed to the hull... This again was resolved by a little extra money and more forms and stamps to be collected...

Things here are much cheaper than OZ - Fuel is under a dollar a liter but dirty... Worst fuel I have taken since I departed Florida -or Ever! I had to dump and clean out the baha fuel filter three times - what a mess but at least we're topped with fuel and bottled water now..

We took a tour of the island as part of the rally - they provided 11 buses, a police captain with land cruiser to lead us and an ambulance to follow not to mention several military and civilian escorts... It was quite a sight...Visited a few mountain villages including 'Soe' and 'Boti'- traditional & very isolated - really interesting but the bus ride - Wow ! My kidneys are still sore - they used an old WWII Japanese built road to get us out into the highlands - we took off at 7 am and got back at 10 pm... Long day but worth every minute and all free with the rally.

Caroline & Eli were asked to visit a school - middle and high school combo - they were the first white people many of the kids had ever met... They had seen some on TV or in a mag but never in person! Interesting ... The Indonesian's are really nice people - funny, warm and always love to try to communicate. Kupang is a mix of Muslim and Christian; most people are quick to tell us that they have a problem with the radical Muslim element as well... We were able to get a sim card for Caroline's phone for 5 bucks so we have a mobile phone again!

The Kupang anchorage was very windy and dirty with all sorts Of garbage - mainly plastic and junk floating around... Several boats broke free and went drifting on the second day as the wind picked up... It took ten of us with dinghy's four hours to rope then all in and re anchor the boats as the owners were off on tours... This inspired everyone to get a cell phone working. We had an incident as well; someone slipped down and hit Bluemoon... Lucky for us not hard and no visual damage - he was onboard at the time and apparently the radio was ablaze with everyone yelling to get people over to help and he was able to start his engine and get away in time... What a pain especially since I had already asked him twice to move and he wouldn't - needless to say he has been hard to find since...

We've now moved on from Kupang to the smaller island of Roti 20nm south with s/v Helen Kate, Antares and Silene. There are about 6 other boats here- mostly the younger cruisers. The remainder of the fleet has gone north to Alor; I needed a break from the crowds. So many people and 'Pushy'... Some are really unaware of themselves, at one of the villages the King handed out hand woven 'Ikat' scarves to each person. With a 100 or so people around some started to shove their way in front of each other to get theirs first...I was pushed out of the line several times.... It was all to do for me to not yank them back by the collar... This selfish "me first" attitude highlighted itself later that day when I was in line for lunch...Lets just say that I was glad they only handed out spoons with our food! The Indonesians are so calm and generous at times it was embarrassing to be associated with such rude white people.

However, we're enjoying being back in another culture and one that is a heck of a lot more affordable... Everyone in the rally have been very helpful and the locals are great - many of them understand English which makes it a little easier although it's like learning Spanish again - start with the numbers and thank you then work your way up.