Day 1-2
I spent layover time in Korea touring Incheon City, the second biggest port city in Korea. I got to see a Korean tradition market, China Town, and a fish market with tons of fish and seafood, including humongous flounder and octopus. The tour began on a ferry and then by bus, traveling on the Incheon Bridge, the fifth longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia late Tuesday evening.
Day 3
After a brief night’s rest I hopped on two more planes traveling to Banjarmasin, Pangkalan Bun in Borneo and finally to Kumai where we boarded a traditional Klotok wooden river boat called the Garuda Ratu. Our team included a boatman, cook and an expert guide. We enjoyed a peaceful afternoon as we explored the the quiet river to observe monkeys along the riverside in Tanjung Puting National Park. We enjoyed the long tail macaques, Proboscis monkeys and some beautifully colored birds. After about an hour and a half boat ride into the jungle we reached the Rimba Lodge where we would spend the next several days.
Day 4
The next morning we boarded the Garuda Ratu to head deeper into the jungle to see orangutans, gibbons, macaques, birds and other wildlife. We stopped at Pondok Tanguy, the rehabilitation station for new ex-captive orangutans. What a treat to be so close to these magnificent animals in their natural environment. They would suddenly appear from the dense rain forest responding to the calls of the guides who placed food at food stations in the forest. At the first station we saw a mother orangutan Rica, who is about 17 years old, with her baby, which is about 3-4 years old and has not been named yet. We also saw Siswa, a 23 year old female orangutan.
After leaving Pondok Tanguy we headed even deeper into the rain forest to Camp Leakey where visitors were greeted by a friendly orangutan called Sishwi. She was sitting on the boardwalk watching visitors pass by, some even stopped for a photo next to her. I couldn't wait to get off the boat to meet her. Shortly after finishing our lunch on board the boat, voices echoed from the jungle. Apparently we were in for a special surprise. The local alpha male orangutan called "Tom" who is the king of Camp Leakey, had been sighted. I grabbed my camera gear and ran passed Sishi, hoping I would meet her after meeting Tom. The guides directed us to Tom's location as he walked ahead of his followers who wanted to get photos of him. Every once in a while Tom responded to his name being called out by the guides and would stop and turn around. As if he knew we wanted a photo of him. When I finally caught up with Tom I was amazed at his size a nd weight (approximately 80 kilos-160 lbs). I was able to get some great photos and video of Tom who climbed up a tree to enjoy some Rambutan, a common fruit.
After Tom disappeared into the rain forest we attempted to photograph a gibbon who was an acrobat in the trees. About this time someone called my name to come see a mother orangutan and baby. As I turned the corner of the park ranger station I saw Unyuk and her baby Ursula. After getting some photos she wondered off into the jungle so I decided to stay behind to photograph an orangutan named "Siswi" who had her mind set on stealing a Duran fruit which was hanging just outside of the rangers station. The fruit smells like hell, but tastes like heaven, the guide stated. And boy did it stink. Duran is around green fruit, about the size of a cantaloupe, and is the orangutans favorite food. I was able to capture some entertaining video footage of the range, known as Umar, protecting his fruit from the Siswi. As he cut down the fruit and placed it into his residence, Siswi went after the second piece which Umar also cut down and placed into his residence. A bystander, who was laughing the entire time making this a comedy skit, spoke in his native language to the ranger in between laughing as Siswi tried to enter the rangers residence to get the fruit. It reminded me of a three stooges show.
As I trekked through the rain forest I photographed and video recorded the orangutans until they vanished into the dense jungle. I then met up with them at the different feeding stations throughout Camp Leakey. It was amazing to watch the guides call for the animals and within a short time the trees were rocking; it reminded me of a King Kong movie. The orangutans ate their food and when they finished some left the feeding station to interact with the visitors. What a privilege it was to sit next to a mother orangutan called Princess as her baby Putri tugged on the tail of my shirt ans poke at my pockets with great curiosity. The icing on the cake for this day is when Princess baby and son Persi followed us as we trekked back to our boat. Then I was amazed again when she reached out to hold hands with the visitors. We each took turns holding Princess' hand while her baby napped on her back. Her son Putrid followed a short distance behind and was reassured frequently as mom would stop, turn to look and him, and wait a few brief seconds for him to catch up. This day was certainly the highlight of my trip thus far. I am excited to share the videos and photos I took on this exciting adventure.
Day 5
We spent the entire morning trekking through the hot steamy jungle in search of snakes, bearded pigs and maybe even a rare glimpse of a sun bear but to no avail. We saw a mouse deer, wild orangutan and several birds. We spent most of the afternoon cruising the Seikonyer River searching for the endangered and elusive false gaviel, a member of the crocodilion family. I had spotted one the night before but it disappeared into to murky water before anyone was able to photograph it. We even spent an hour docked at crocodile lake where we enjoyed lunch and a short siesta on the boat before being awakened by a heavy downpour.
Later that afternoon we went back down the river to visit the local village of Tanjung Harapan. It was interesting to see how the villagers survived living in the rain forest of Borneo. Many of the villagers owned small speedboats or kayaks which are handy for navigating the narrow water ways. Much of their food is farmed on their community property. There were rice fields adjacent to the village. In addition there was livestock and many folks had small fish farms alongside of their residences which are on stilts due to the rising waters. People bathed and kids played in the local canal. They also did their laundry there. One young man used a bucket on a rope to lift water from the canal to wash his motor scooter. Motor scooters, AKA Sepedas, are very common amongst the villages, especially on the mainland. In this case there was on brick paved walkway used for walking and riding back and forth in the village.
Day 6
We got up early to enjoy breakfast on the boat as we said good bye to the Tanjung Puting Orangutan Reserve and headed to the Pangkalan Airport. We flew into Jogyakarta Airport via Semerang and arrived around 9:30 p.m. I spent the evening on my cellular phone calling family and friends, a luxury not available in the jungle.
Day 7
We are staying at the Udayana "Kingfisher" Eco Lodge in Bali, the sister lodge of the Rimba "Orangutan" Eco Lodge we previously stayed at in Borneo. The wildlife surrounding the lodge is quite different from the Rimba Lodge. Instead of macaques hanging around there are many geckos, butterflies and a few birds. The geckoes and frogs are quite loud at night. The plant species also are varied with many flowered species such as orchids and Birds of Paradise. It is a rather unique lodge, as the restroom/shower is located outside of the room. The restroom doors are secured by a small wooden stick which slides between the two door handles. Hello Mother Nature.
Our day consisted of visiting the Bali Bird and Reptile Park where I got to see many of the species of birds and reptiles native to Indonesia. For the first time in my life I had the privilege of holding the rare and endangered Black Palm Cockatoo. What a beautiful and friendly bird. The park staff asked for my participation in their free flight bird show which consisted of a large hornbill flying to me and landing on my arm. I’m such a ham.
The traffic in Bali is very congested. There are very few traffic lights and even fewer traffic signs. It is a free-for-all on the highway with numerous motor scooters, cars and SUV’s fighting for the same lane. Sidewalks and no helmets are acceptable for motor scooter drivers. We even saw young teenagers operating scooters (illegally) without helmets. It is amazing to see how many goods can be stacked onto a motor scooter. We saw everything you could imagine bungee corded to the rear of a motor scooter; two cases of Bintang beer, several folded mattresses and pillows, four people sharing a seat, huge bags of rice and many other goods stacked high and wide on each side of the scooter. Fuel is sold in glass containers and can be purchased at just about every market or corner store.
Day 8
Today we traveled around Bali to visit the different businesses which provide jobs and income for the local residents. We watched how the many different types of goods are handcrafted. This included wooden carvings and statutes, gold and silver jewelry, canvas paintings and clothing material. We also enjoyed a hand picked fresh seafood dinner at a fabulous restaurant on the beach as we watched the hand crafted wooden fisherman boats cruise by during the beautiful sunset. During the dinner we watched the Indonesian dancers dressed in exotic costumes as they performed to live music.
Day 9
Another great day in the beautiful country of Indonesia. This morning we left the lodge at Bali and boarded a plane to the island of Flores. After landing in Labuan Bajo we met our guide who transported us to our vessel, the Sea Star. After a three hour tour the weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was lost….(oops, wrong script), we traveled to Rinca Island which is part of Komodo National Park. There is much more to see and do in the park then observing the famous Komodo Dragon, the largest lizard in the world. The park is considered one of the best dive destinations on the planet. It harbors more than 1,000 species of fish, many species of corals, ten dolphin species, six whale species, sea turtles, sharks and manta rays. There are also many species of birds, bats, monkeys, buffalo, deer and boar.
Less than 2500 of these giant lizards, which can reach lengths of ten feet, inhabit the park’s dramatic landscape. These lizards, which harbor approximately 60 different types of bacteria in their saliva, along with mild venom, have killed and eaten everything from deer, buffalo and boar to monkeys, wild horses and even humans on a few occasions.
In the two hours that we trekked around the island, accompanied by a park ranger, we saw 15-20 of these cold blooded creatures, most of which were resting in shade to avoid the heat of the sun. We even saw a female dragon guarding her nest. Since the dragons are endangered, they are protected by park officials and the nesting areas are roped off to prevent anyone from disturbing the mother as she protects her eggs for about three months. Once the eggs hatch the babies will spend the first three years of their lives living in trees to avoid falling prey to predators, including larger dragons. The Komodo Dragon is not only a carnivore, it is also a cannibal!
After leaving Rinca Island we watched the sunset over the horizon as we headed to a mangrove swamp called "Bat Island" by the locals. The area is home to thousands of flying foxes (giant fruit bats) which roost in the swamp during the day and head towards land at dusk in search for food. These large bats have a wingspan of several feet and are frugiverous (fruit eaters). We got to see some bats as they passed by our boat but, unfortunately, we were a bit late in our arrival to see the thousands of bats emerge from the swamp to fly across the Flores Sea to the mainland. We set anchor adjacent to the mangrove, ate a delicious meal and slept under the magnificent star-lit sky.
Day 10
The boat engine was our early morning wake up call at 5:00 a.m. to begin our voyage to Komodo Island, the largest island in the National Park boundaries, in search of more Komodo dragons. The dragons are only found on three islands in this part of the world, with the largest dragons being found on Komodo. Upon exiting our boat we walked down a long pier and observed fresh dragon tracks in the sand on the beach below. We trekked throughout the island and about a dozen dragons of various sizes. The adults were larger than the adults we saw on Rinca Island. We saw two smaller dragons which were about 4-5 years old cruising across the grass near the ranger station. They were certainly more shy of people, as opposed to the adults who appeared oblivious to human presence. Just prior to boarding our boat Clyde Peeling requested to see the green tree pit viper which I, and some of the others, had seen at the end of our trek. While filming and photographing the snake, which was camouflaged high in a tree, we observed a large dragon had climbed the stairs to the ranger station. Fortunately we saw the animal just in time so the guide was able to run up the stairs to close the front door to prevent the deadly predator from entering the station. He then chased the humongous lizard off the porch and down the stairs. The lizard then wondered off to a shaded area.
After our trek on Komodo Island we went for a well needed swim on "Pink Beach". It is called this because the sand has pink particles of coral mixed in it. The clear blue water was much cooler then expected and was certainly refreshing. Later we traveled back to the island of Flores to spend the night at the Bajo Komodo Eco Lodge. The lodge is similar to its sister lodges, the Udayana "Kingfisher" Eco Lodge in Jimbaron, Bali, and the Rimba Orangutan Eco Lodge in Kumai, Borneo. It is nice to be able to enjoy the luxury of air conditioning, electricity (to recharge our equipment and batteries), bathrooms (toilets and showers) and beds covered by mosquito nets (malaria is a concern in certain areas). I also appreciate the freshly prepared cultural meals (mom would be proud of all the veggies I ate!) and bottled water (not a good idea to drink tap water in certain foreign countries). Some of the lodges had swimming pools which was a nice way to cool down after a typical hot and humid day. But, most importantly, the Eco Lodges, help to make a difference living by the principles they practice and teach to the locals through education about conservation and pollution prevention. They store rainwater, use solar energy and recycle all waste water and waste and make compost. By staying at eco friendly lodges and visiting National Parks we contribute to conservation awareness.
