Snakes and Apes

Writing from java. Got here from borneo where i taveled to see orangutans. From gilis, took boat to lombok, drove to airport then connected theough surabaya. That afternoon, Got off plane at pangkalan bun, a local city but more rural very rural town. At the airport, met my guide and after 20 min, pull up on street in Kumai, a nearby town. "We're here " I'm told which was surprising because i could see no water. However, i was directed towards an alley, and next to a bunch of dudes smoking cigarettes was a simple boat sitting on dirty bay - water the color of chocolate milk. Very basic accommodation but I had the boat to myself. It's wooden, 2m across and 10 meters long, with one room where staff sleeps. I sleep on deck. On boat is guide, chef, assistant and captain - all for me! My quarters are open air and open walled. I've attached pic if my "bedroom" I had a small table and a mattress. It's not luxury but sufficed and staff was great as was the food. First dinner consisted of omelette, tempeh, fried shrimp, rice and watermelon. Breakfast included banana pancakes. Each meal was solid, and after long days in the jungle, was much looked forward to.

MyGuide spoke a bit of English and was super nice. He told me about the time Julia Roberts came to the sekonyer river. He served her tea in her documentary, but you can only see his arm according to him, so hes only partially famous. He then mentioned that she drank the entire glass of his tea in one gulp - big drinker that Julia.

A few minutes after boarding, we were off down the bay to the sekonyer river. Felt like I was in Heart of Darkness. Jungle is so dense and right against the river - no river banks. Very few other boats. Felt truly isolated.

The River is heavily polluted. Very dark brown due to an illegal gold mine up river. They need evie cook to come and get things in order. Also, the boat"toilet" which doesnt flush simply let's out into the river beneath the spare wooden beams below. This is not water suitable to drink...

As it turned to dusk, the fire flies came out which was amazing. The forest looked like its was filled with Christmas lights. An impressive sight. Docked for night along river. No dock; we just tied up to some branches. No sounds except for crickets and the odd bat or proboscis monkey, which are only found in borneo and have giant noses. I would have made a jewish joke, but this being a muslim country, figured best to be quiet!

the next day, I visited Camp Leakey.

Wow.

Amazing to see these orangutans up close. Walking around camp leakey, many orangutans that have been rehabilitated have since had offspring. Truly wild orangutans are difficult to find and those found often do not come to the ground. Here, u can get right up close to them. There are no walls or fences. The apes live in the forest, just happen to live near this camp, which provides food as the orangutans are rehabbed. It is amazing to watch them interact with each other (like watching children) and and in some instances, interact with you. This probably shouldn't be permitted, and technically it's not, because these "guys" are much stronger than humans. It got hairy when we encountered an orangutan and it's baby on a walkway. While playing around, the orangutan grabbed my guide and wouldn't let go. At first guide was calm, but as orangutan made tighter grasp and took more of his leg, he started yelling for park ranger. Orangutamn finally relented when i got out water bottle and gave it to him to play with. Later that afternoon I got a picture right next to a large female - 1 foot away - and realized, if it wanted, this woman could turn around and tear my arm out of its socket! Amazing, thrilling, and somewhat dangerous. Very unique. Also, hung out with the author for lonely planet Borneo who was there. He Had interesting story from our location. A British tourist was eaten by a crocodile there 10 years ago. Borneo, in his opinion, is the most dangerous place he has covered. A bit nervous something may come aboard and join me at night. Back at the boat I saw a monitor lizard, basically a 5 ft long Komodo dragon. I figured him or an orangutan would make a nice house guest, but one of the thousands of tarantulas that come out at night (and whose nets i had seen all day) would definitely not.

The next day, visited two more camps and saw more orangutans. What was really impressive was during dusk trip back down river, saw the "Jewish" proboscis monkeys. As we continued our journey we then saw tons more. we pulled off to side and we were in the middle of 50 maybe more monkeys, and just a few meters from the local king, the largest of the monkeys. It seems as though there were two factions and we had sailed into the middle of a turf war. Being dusk, difficult to see in pictures, but it was an incredible site, especially the sounds of 50 monkeys screaming, and the king and another male screaming at each other and eventually tussling!

It had been overcast each evening, and my Last night it was finally a clear sky. It was Stunning with no light pollution. Could see countless stars, planets and even a galaxy. The stars above coupled with the fire flies on banks, made for an amazing sight,mas I was enveloped by "stars" all around.

Overall, was glad I went to borneo. As a fan of wildlife, was an extraordinary place to visit and get close to orangutans. They are really neat to observe. like watching humans interact. Mothers take care of their young until they are seven years old, I think the longest time in animal kingdom. Seeing the moms and their kids was a trip, as it was a nurturing that I hadn't really seen first hand in the animal kingdom. So far have had great time in Indonesia, and would recommend a trip, probably two nights instead of three would suffice, to the sekonyer river in Borneo.

Life on gili

Gili islands were amazing. They are series of 3 small islands off the northern coast of Lombok in Indonesia. I arrived via a 90 min ferry from Bali, near the ashram where I was staying.

Stayed on most popular one, gili trawangan. To give a sense of its size, It's about 1 hr 20 min walk to circumnavigate the entire island. Very unique because no motorbikes or cars are allowed so you either walk, bike or take the local taxi, which is a horse-drawn buggy.

I arrived with no plan and was looking forward to sitting on beach and doing some reading. I got restless though, and with a dive school at my hotel, decided to take a refresher course for diving my since I hadn't gone in about 10 years. Was good to get back underwater and saw a giant sea turtle about 5 feet across, just feet away from me. Did 3 dives overall and while i rekindled an interest in scuba diving, the local aquatic life was somewhat lacking since local population had damaged reefs in past by fishing with dynamite!

Gili islands are known for nightlife but I took it pretty easy my first 2 nights. Dinners were amazing, as a bunch of restaurants bring in fresh seafood daily and you choose your own fish to be grilled like Milos in nyc, only here it wasnt expensive and full of mooks.

My 2nd full day, i went out to sunset bar on the southern tip of island to check out the views and spend the afternoon. Met an awesome group of guys from Australia and one from buenos aires. became an adopted member of their crew and chilled at beach bar for rest of the day. Eliot, one of the Aussies is a dj so did the music for the bar, which was nice respite from the bob marley every other beach bar played. That night, we hit up the night food market, which was similar to restaurant (grilled fish to order) but less fancy. Was still amazing. Also met some girls from holland who joined our group, so we had table for 7. That night, we had a large mahi mahi, local fish, prawns and squid and it was 8 dollars per person. Was cool how people from all different backgrounds came together and formed new social group.

Next day, elliot was asked to dj again at sunset bar so we went back after hanging out in town on the beach. Views ive attached below were incredible. Also hit up market for dinner again where I had phenomenal seafood noodles for 2.5 dollars. Went out again where I fell in love with Australian doctor babe who is volunteering in Bali. Unfortunately, we live about 24 hrs away from each other, so im afraid Dr Paton and I are not to be. By the end, had really great time with new friends I met in the Gilis. I dont regret any part of my trip; however, I do wonder what it would have been like to follow the backpacker route in southeast Asia. Had a awesome time meeting people and making friends which was very different from 5 hotels in India or ashrams in Bali.

Overall, highly recommend the gili islands. Partly, from friends I made and the laid back vibe of the islands, i had so much fun and miss it already.