ORANGUTANS IN TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK

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Day 7: TANJUNG PUTING NATIONAL PARK OF BORNEO

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Mmmm ... what noise is this? The alarm? Can not be. It will be the orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park? No, they are gibbons! We are in the Borneo Tanjung Puting National Park!!! It's 5 in the morning and it's already dawn. We have woken up in the best possible way. With the sounds of nature of the Tanjung Puting National Park on Borneo Island. We woke up the same way we slept last night!
Yesterday Rudi told us that we would leave today at 7 in the morning, to get to the site of the first stop at 9 in the morning.
So after enjoying our awakening for a while, we pick up the backpacks and immediately come to pick up our "big" bedroom.
As last night 2 boys come to dismantle our suite in a matter of 5 minutes, say good morning with a smile and return to the bottom of the klotok.
It is impressive the treatment that the guides of the Tanjung Puting National ParkThey are super attentive, but at the same time they leave us our space and our intimacy.

Before we know it, we have breakfast on the table.
And I better not explain what they put us, you better see it:

Our breakfast in Tanjung Puting

They spoil us too much ... we can't ask for more! This is better than any 5 star hotel !!
And as happened yesterday when we embark, almost without realizing it, they start the engines and start again.
We enjoy our breakfast having the first coffee of the day while we see how the river narrows and every time the banks are more leafy.
At this time we remember that yesterday we did not take too many photos (I have not counted them but surely that "not too many" refer to at least 200 photos!).
So without thinking more we take the cameras and we are dedicated to melting the cards and batteries in the Tanjung Puting National Park.

Pondok Tangui Road. Tanjung Puting National Park

We do not stop taking photos and at the moment we stop taking photos, we do not know where to place ourselves, to enjoy the trip more.

Enjoying the "way."Tanjung Puting National Park

1 hour to 9 and we docked at a small pier. Here begins on the way to Pondok Tangui, which is the first camp we will access since we are in Borneo.
When Rudi tells us that we can get off, we don't know why, but we start to get nervous and we can't get into shoes, take the cameras ...
Just when I'm getting off the klotok, I hear "orangutans”… And I can't believe what I have in front of me: an orangutan !!!!!
I shout at Roger what is in front of him and for a moment he is as paralyzed as I am… we did not expect them so soon !!
I don't know how to describe how I feel, it's a mixture of illusion, joy ... it's amazing !! It is the only thing I can think of to describe that moment.
And it seems he was waiting for us ... if you don't judge yourself:

We eat it with our eyes! Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

We are there for more than half an hour, while the guide explains some things to us and we are dumbfounded.
We can't stop looking at it, it's our first approach to orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park and we think it's amazing to be so close.
Rudi, is giving bananas, so that he gets closer to us.

Sharing spaceOrangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

Before we begin to enter the jungle, we turn and see our klotok “from the outside” and even if it seems a lie, we realize for the first time the experience we are living. A unique experience of our trip to Indonesia!!

Our accommodation for 3 days

A couple of klotok begin to arrive and we decide that it is time to start taking our first walk through the jungle.
And we find an image that we don't know how to define ...

"Pa chulito yo" ... "Do you want a pose?"Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

We started the tour leaving behind a feeling of emotion that we did not expect to find orangutans or at least not so soon.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Indonesia
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After 5 minutes, we find ourselves facing what will be the second orangutan we see ... we are slowly getting closer and at this moment we do not know whether to look, take pictures, get closer ...

Speechless.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

After a good while, we return to our path and before going to the platform where they feed the Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, we pass through an area where we see carnivorous plants.

Carnivorous plant

We are at Pondok Tangui Field, where they are introduced Borneo orangutans rehabilitated, but they still need human hands to eat.
Here that magnificent show has its moment at 9 in the morning.
Our guide as we approach is making sounds (which later explains what it is to call them, since when coming from afar, through the trees, the road can be long).
When we arrived we sat on benches so, quite integrated in the jungle. We take a bottle of water, since the heat begins to make a dent in our bodies and we are ready to wait ... while some more tourists arrive.

Waiting in the jungle.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

After 15 minutes, we began to hear the sounds of the jungle, but they are those sounds that we had only heard before in the movies and suddenly we have a group of about 6-7 Borneo orangutans eating in front of us
It is an experience. Here we can see them closer and take all the photos we want.
It is not the same as the experience of seeing them in the jungle of the Tanjung Puting National Park, as before, but it is another "way" to approach them.

The first arrivals.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

Your 5 star restaurant.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

Here we are like 45 minutes, trying not to miss detail of the orangutans, paralyzed, with an open mouth every time we see a new gesture.
We are not many tourists, maybe 7 or 8, but nothing is heard, not even a murmur.

Black and white portraits.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

And the time comes when they tell us it's time to return.
And so we do, but not before turning for the last time, trying to capture the last image of these wonderful animals ...

The last orangutans in Tanjung Puting that we will see today

And with a heat of fright, we set our way to our "house."
And as usual with fantastic experiences, in the end, when you think you can not see anything better, suddenly, we find the best farewell ...

We say goodbye?Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

Once we get to the klotok, we don't stop saying that we are amazed by what we are seeing, I imagine they are used to these reactions, because if they are not hallucinating with our faces of "fools" ... hahaha
And as usual, they surprise us with more food: they have prepared a second breakfast for us: coffee, coke and cookies.
If when we say they want to make us fat we don't lie!
We continue navigating the river for another hour and we turn to one of the tributaries of the river that will take us to the Leakey Camp where we will see more orangutans.
Once we enter this tributary, suddenly, the water turns a black color, through the sediments. The reflection of the trees is extremely perfect.
Rudi tells us that while sailing through these waters, it is time to shower, since the water is much cleaner and is suitable for hygiene.

The perfect landscape

Now that we have reached this point, we meet again with our friends the proboscis monkeys and stop again for a while, to observe them closely.

Noses

Suddenly all the staff of the klotok appears and we begin to point to the top of a tree.
They explain to us that it is a very wild monkey, which costs a lot to see and is in danger of extinction.
And we realize what they say is true ... they look like Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, but in small!

A dwarf orangutan?

After this stop for more than 30 minutes, where they also show us where there is a crocodile (which I can't see) because at the moment it is submerged by engine noise.
We continue touring the river and take the opportunity to take a picture.

The best hotel in the world

Almost without realizing it, we arrived at Camp Leakey.
There we see that there is more klotkot and it is one of the Camps of orangutans more important.
Before going down, we already started to see an orangutan at the entrance of the jetty.
And with that impressive postcard, they serve us food ...

The views we have while eating in our 5-star restaurant

So imagine, not a 3-star Michelin restaurant! Or whatever ...
We just ate and had a coffee, when our guide tells us that we have to get in the way, in this camp, the food is given at 2 in the afternoon and he doesn't want to be late.
So before 1 we get off the klotok and get on our way.
We cross several Borneo orangutans, some of them with less shyness than others, which we can approach a little, provided that our guide leaves us.
Although we have already been close to some, it is still an exciting and different experience every time.

You shake my hand?Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

We begin to enter the jungle and we find one of the moments that most excite us.
We are right in front of a female with the young, less than 1 meter away, who seem to be posing for us to take the pictures.

Big eyes.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

What a beautiful face.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

Amazing postcard.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

After a while walking through the jungle, we arrived at the center proper.
There we met some Borneo orangutans that they are more accustomed to humans and come closer to something else, but in that way it shows that it is because of proximity to the human being.
Some of them, as expected, “do some cute things” that are still a moment to shoot the camera incessantly.

Monerías.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

We are having a good time and then we are on our way to the platforms where they are fed, but on the way we find the most emotional moment we have experienced so far from our trip to Indonesia.
A picture is worth a thousand words:

The most exciting moment.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

After living an incredible moment, we arrive at the platform where they feed them and once the boy who brings the bananas and milk arrives (they also give them milk), one of the best shows we have ever seen begins: as if It was a movie, the trees begin to move and begin to appear Borneo orangutans. Increasingly…
If I can't see it with my eyes, I would never have believed it.
With such a vision, we stayed more than an hour.
Some leave, others come ... and so, with our mouths open, we are watching them.

As in a documentary

One of the best images of the day

Once almost everyone has left, we get started with a certain longing.
It is our last ride and we have not seen Tom, the male orangutan in this area.
They say it's very hard to see ...
On the way we cross a couple of orangutans with his young, to which we approach a little more than normal ... less one, which is he who approaches Roger to remove the bottle of water!
And he succeeds ... who wants or can oppose such a request?
We're almost arriving at the camp, when a guide tells ours that Tom is on one of the roads. And there we go!
We were shocked. Is awesome. Huge and at the same time tender.
And here it is when we "melt" ... we do not stop taking pictures and our guide allows us to approach a distance of no more than 1 meter ... it is almost scary to look him in the face, but we do it and we understand why we descend from them.

Tom

Posing next to Tom.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

Rudi insists that we can get a little closer and we pay attention, although at the moment we have to retire, because Tom decides that it is time to retire from our side.
And to replace his company, we approached one of the females that has spent more years in the Camp of the Tanjung Puting National Park.

Portraits in Borneo.Orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park

And after these photos, we see one of the most comic scenes of these 3 days.
Rudi decides to put a banana in his mouth and we see how at the moment the female approaches, first trying to take it off with his hands and finally agreeing to approach his mouth and eat it directly.
Taking advantage of the situation, I tell Roger to plug the camera back in and take a picture!

How cute !!

After this, excited and not wanting to leave yet, we are on our way to the Klotok and say goodbye to the Borneo orangutans.
We turn our heads, until in the distance ... we see them disappear.
It has been an impressive experience of trip to Indonesia, which we would repeat with our eyes closed.
And as it happened to us this morning, it couldn't end like this ... before boarding again, we met princess and the oldest orangutan in the camp.
Two generations together and we ...
And with this image we embark, this time already back to Kumai.
As tomorrow we have the flight very soon, they tell us that today we will sail until a little later, to moor and sleep near the main river of the Tanjung Puting National Park and thus be closer to the port.
And almost without noticing we see the sunset and dusk ... and it is closed night, but with an impressive full moon, which illuminates the river.
And not only the moon, but also the fireflies. We are in an area where millions are counted and you decorate your palms as if they were Christmas trees.
We sail until 8 in the afternoon and once they tie up, they make us the same ritual ... dinner (this time only with the dishes they have seen that we like the most) and the bedroom.
Why not say it, we will sleep surrounded by small lights, small stars that will accompany us in our dream ... with them we say goodbye to Borneo ... until tomorrow!