Thursday 27 August 2015

Thursday 23rd July

8:10am

Today we were up and out of camp by 6, going on a river cruise before breakfast to try and see some more wildlife. We successfully spotted a kingfisher, a couple of hornbills, an eagle, a crocodile and a proboscis monkey - all before 7:30 in the morning!
     Breakfast was served when we got back to camp (which included a real fried egg... I'd almost forgotten that eggs existed!!) and soon we'll be starting project work at 9.
     I love being in the riverboats here. It's so peaceful (apart from the sound of the engine) drifting along down the endless river, surrounded by jungle on either side. I'm beginning to really like being on boats.

8:16pm

Project work this morning involved collecting seeds from the trees for replanting in the future. Taing, one of the locals, climbed a huge tree and cut down branches which fell to the ground where we were waiting so that we could then harvest the seeds by picking them off of the branches and putting them all into bin bags. It wasn't too hot at this point, and we were sitting down so it was easy enough and actually kind of therapeutic just picking all of these seeds off of the branches.
    We did this until lunch, and then after we'd eaten we had a break so I went off to my hammock for a nap. This is the first place where we've actually had separate sleeping quarters, so it's pretty much the first time we've been able to get any privacy in all the time we've been here. Unfortunately you can't stay there too long though, as it gets incredibly hot inside the hammocks in the middle of the day.
     At 1:30 we headed off into the jungle, walking for about half an hour until we reached a clearing. Here, our task was to clear the area of all the long grass, cutting it down with machetes - or parangs as the locals call them - in order to leave the space clear for planting trees. Together we got this done surprisingly quickly, so we were only out there for a couple of hours before heading back to camp.
     Soon after we got back we went on another river cruise as a lot of wildlife go down to the river banks in the afternoon so it was hoped that we'd be able to see some more. I didn't really set out with any expectations as you never know how lucky you're going to be, it's all completely down to chance,  but my god were we lucky.
     Firstly, we saw another hornbill up really close in the tree, then a giant lizard slithering along, a crocodile emerging onto the bank from the water, and a couple more eagles... and then we saw the monkeys.
     Long tailed macaques sitting, playing, and basking in the sun all along the bank. You could easily tell which one was alpha, as he was prowling along, looking out over the others. There were mothers and babies, young and old, and we just got to sit there on the river and watch them in their natural habitat. No zoos, no cages, no fences, no controlled environments, just monkeys in the jungle, just as monkeys should be.
     We thought that that was as good as it could get, but soon after we'd begun journeying along again, a shout went up from one guide to another across the three boats: ORANGUTAN! And there she was. Sitting high in the treetops, hidden at first - but with one leisurely swing through the branches, she was there as clear as day - an orangutan. For a second no one breathed. Then we noticed it: just behind her, only just old enough to swing himself through the trees. A baby orangutan.
     We were told that we could get out onto the river bank for a closer look as long as we didn't disturb them, so out everyone clambered to watch the pair stretching out and swinging through the trees. We watched them for a while before they disappeared into the branches and we reluctantly had to set off again.
     But our luck hadn't ended yet. Further down, the shout went up again, and even clearer this time, there was another orangutan, sat so high in the canopies it looked like the branches couldn't possibly support him. But support him they did as he swung from branch to branch, eventually disappearing from sight.
     And it still wasn't over. We'd turned around and were on our way back to camp again when we noticed another. This time we got to see him taking a snack; picking and munching fruit with one hand while clinging onto the branch with the other. We can't be 100% sure if he was a different orangutan or the same one as we'd seen a few minutes before, but all the same, the whole thing was the most incredible experience in the world.
     We got to see 3, possibly 4, wild orangutans in the rainforest of Borneo, all within the space of an hour. The orangutan is the emblem of our trip; it's on our tshirts because it represents Borneo like nothing else. And yet it's becoming incredibly rare. No other group here has spotted the orangutans in the wild for months, and we got multiple sightings all in one day. There was a rumour of a mother and baby down river, but we were the first to see.
     It makes every little trauma of this trip so much more than worthwhile. To see the orangutans here in their natural habitat is beyond words, and hands down the most incredible thing I have ever witnessed. I feel so, so lucky to be sitting here in the middle of the jungle writing this down. And all on Gemma's birthday!
     We all came back to camp absolutely buzzing with excitement and joy at how lucky we'd been. And then it was time for tea, with us slowly coming back down to earth, and now after such an amazing day, it's time for another night in my hammock.


































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