Planet of the Apes

I'm excited, or at least as excited as an accountant can get. There has always been something about Borneo which has captured my imagination, and I recall being a young boy fully absorbed in issues of National Geographic showing muddy rivers, lush jungles, and amazing wildlife, including the spectacular orangutans - and now we are finally going!!

So we boarded our flight in the old school (cheap school) way. Seriously, I think our Air Asia two hour flight cost us $20 each. Hard to believe this airline can make money, but it is an extremely popular and successful discount carrier. 20 bucks doesn't even get you into the departure lounge of a Canadian airline company. Let's hope they pay their mechanics.

Our descent into Kuching was just what I had hoped to see. There were many rivers snaking across the countryside and it was just how I imagined it would look.

Thank you Air Asia for getting us here in one piece. Now it is time for our Borneo adventure to begin! We'll be here in the Sarawak province for 12 days and although we will not be going deep into any unexplored areas, we will do our best to see as much as what this little part of Malaysia has to offer.

Got milk?? Just in case we get skunked on our Orangutan quest, I wanted to get at least one shot of these creatures, even if it was just a poster.

We explored the city of Kuching on our first afternoon, and the next day we were up bright and early to visit the Semenggoh Forest Reserve. We were warned by both the guidebooks and by the park rangers that visitors to this wildlife sanctuary can leave disappointed by not seeing any primates, so we were hopeful we would at least get a glimpse.

And a few minutes after we began walking down a trail we were turned back by the rangers who said the dominant (and potentially aggressive) male was heading our way to make a visit to the feeding area. Sure enough he wandered through (no vine swinging for this big boy) and treated us to our first sighting.

The orangutans in this part of Borneo are still wild, but somewhat accustomed to humans, and the role of the park is to offer them a protected area on the edge of their natural habitat, providing them with occasional food when they are unable to find enough in their shrinking habitat. Apparently it is easier to spot them in the dry season (June - August) when food is harder to find, but they still do make an appearance during the other months.

The distinctive cheek pads of the big males produce loud calls which attract females and intimidate rivals.

The big male left as quickly as he arrived and we spent the next hour hopefully awaiting any more Orangutans.

And as luck would have it, a second male showed up to enjoy some coconuts, bananas, and pineapples which had been left for them on a feeding platform. Fruit is the most important part of the Orangutans' diet, and the food which they now struggle most to gather on their own.

This one, a nine year old named Baka, stayed for almost an hour, offering us the special privilege of watching him enjoy his little feast. We had to stay extremely quiet throughout the feeding, as they are still quite timid and will quickly clear out if feeling at all threatened. 

The kids were enthralled, and I urged them to savor the moment, reminding them that it may be the only time in our lives where we could experience such a sight, as the Orangutans are extremely endangered due to poaching and loss of habitat (55% of their habitat has been lost in the last 20 years alone).

Although our best photos were taken of Bako eating his fruit, he did treat us to a few moments of acrobatics as he climbed trees and swung from vines. By the way, the name Orangutan has nothing to do with their somewhat orange colour (as I mistakenly thought), but rather from the combined Malay/Indonesian words "orang", meaning "human", and "hutang", meaning "forest"

While it was an incredible treat to just see these magnificent creatures, it was made complete by the sounds of the jungle that accompanied our visit. The loud buzz of insects and songs of the birds in the background made for a perfect experience...

....an experience which could have taken a turn for the worse had this little critter decided to crawl into my sandals. There were mixed opinions on whether this millipede was, in fact, venomous, but I wasn't about to try and find out.

This family of primates feels very fortunate indeed. It was one of those outings which forms the whole basis of our trip. We would like to see some of the incredible jewels of mother nature which we fear may be gone in the decades to come. Today in the steamy Borneo jungle - mission accomplished!