Borneo

The island of Borneo the Indonesian state Kalimantan, we have come here to see the orangutans in the wild at the national park. We head up the river 15 nautical miles, which takes us three hours, the colour of the water isn't blue anymore it's the colour of iced coffee as we make our way to Kumai the river is very wide and we pass all sorts of ships, passenger boats and fishing boats, the town is busy with people doing their thing on a Friday afternoon, we anchor in the river with 25 other yachts.

On Saturday the next town up the river is celebrating its birthday and the cruisers are invited to join in the festivities, we are picked up in an air conditioned car, we get a tee shirt to wear and some morning tea before walking to the Main Street to watch the parade. As we waved to the people in the parade they waved and were excited to see us in the crowd. Then we were led into the parade, as we approached the official area we were introduced as the "tourists" after about two hours it was over and we were exhausted from smiling saying hello and waving, it was very hot as well, only three degrees from the equator here, the humidity is up there.

Down to the river to go for a ride in their put put boats up past the stilt houses, fish farms and boat building sheds, very interesting, we saw men wash and clean their teeth in the water and they have their out houses built on the walkways that go straight down into the river, Ken tried one out....no flushing involved.

Next stop the traditional markets which sell everything from horse fat to fruit, grains, rice, vegetables, clothing, shoes etc. We had a delicious lunch at a busy warung, our hosts ordered for us and we ate like the locals, with our fingers. 

After lunch we drove to the Yellow Palace, a large timber traditional looking building, we had a look at the old hunting spears, china and bronze urns and portraits of the past Sultans. We then went to the house next door to meet the Prince, the Sultans brother, he performed a small ceremony with the Kris, a wavey sword and threw yellow rice over us to protect us and return to Kalimantan one day, he was a very down to earth sort of man and a pleasure to meet.

One last stop before going home was to the new shopping centre, very westernised so we made the most of it and bought things we haven't had for a while like ice creams. Wow what a day so many new experiences, new places and very friendly people.

Sandy,Phil, Ken and I went on a klotok a timber boat 15 m long with two decks, us upstairs and the crew down we had captain, crew, cook and a guide to show us around, we headed to the national park to see the orangutans. The trip up river to camp three took three hours so we sat back relaxed and had a snack then lunch, fish, noodles, rice, fried soybean, water spinach stir fry and a fruit plate, yum!
There are wild orangutans in the park as well as tame ones that come to the feeding platform for their daily meal of bananas. There are no fences and we were told to keep five meters away from the animals if they come toward you, as we approached the feeding platform quite a few people had stopped to watch Tom the king orang, he climbed up a tree then pushed over a dead tree close to where we were standing, he was showing his dominance, it was a little scary, they are so strong. About six orangutans came to feed some of them with their babies, they were great to watch, so much like us! Tom picked out one of the females and dragged her off into the bushes to have his way with her, he came back about half an hour later for more bananas then he lay down for a stretch and snooze on the ground, very contented.

Back on the klotok we motored down river and tied to a small jetty for the night listening to the insect and birds as the sun set. Dinner was delicious, soup, chicken, stir fry and fruit plate. We slept on mattresses under a mossie net listening to jungle sounds.

We started down the river at sunrise and saw lots of kingfishes, some hornbills and proboscis monkeys. We stopped at camp two and walked to the feeding platform just as the orangutans were coming down the trees for their morning feed, we watched their antics for two hours and took some good photos. We got our first storm of the season, it dumped heaps of rain as we motored down river. 
Back on Watusi late in the afternoon we put fuel on, then next morning we motored down to the river mouth for the night then two nights and two days sailing to arrive at Belitung Island. We are now 350 miles from Singapore/Malaysia.



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