Just a short flight from the smoggy megapolis that is Jakarta and we find ourselves in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, a province of the Indonesian section of the island of Borneo.

Pangkalan Bun is the gateway to Tanjung Puting National Park, a vast protected region of the southern tip of Kalimantan. The park is home to some 5000-6000 orangutans, one of the three sub-species of this great ape which are found only on the island of Borneo and neighbouring Sumatra. 

The park can only be accessed via boat along the Sekonyer River. Houseboats and speedboats gather at ramshackle jetties in the port town of Kumai on the Java Sea to whisk tourists the two hour plus journey up river and into the park itself.

Most park visitors live on board their “houseboats” for their two or three night stay in the park. Our houseboat had two double en suite cabins as well as a mosquito net-draped king size bed on the deck. Inviting as that was, we actually moored each of our three nights in the park and slept in the park’s one and only eco-lodge. Nevertheless, the houseboat’s crew of five plus our guide took care of our every other need including feeding us delectable multi-course Indonesian lunches and dinners, all prepared in the tiny onboard kitchen! 

Rehab vs Wild

Borneo’s orangutan population has been decimated by years of illegal logging which has destroyed their natural habitat and by the even more evil illicit pet trade. Adult orangutans were killed by the loggers and the young ones sold off as “exotic” pets; undoubtedly locals also cashed in by taking the young from their mothers and selling them into the illicit pet trade. In recent years, the central government has made a determined effort to control the illegal logging. Local villagers have been educated not only to respect the orangutans but also to realize that there’s a lot more money to be made from the tourist trade than from the illicit pet trade. As a result, orangutans, now a heavily protected species are gaining in number

Little was known about the species until it 1971 a Canadian born, American anthropologist, Dr Dr Mary Galdikas under the tutelage of the renowned anthropologist, Dr Louis Leakey, set up a camp in what was then mostly virgin jungle and spent the next several decades studying the life of these fascinating creatures. Camp Leakey as it’s known is still operating today and still visited from time to time by Dr Galdikas. Over the years researchers and volunteers working at the Camp, the research facility of Orangutan Foundation International, have logged well over 100,000 hours observing and studying the “person of the forest” (=orangutan; thought to be the name coined by Dutch settlers)....

What attracts armies of tourists to Tanjung Puting National Park is the almost guaranteed opportunity to see orangutans in their natural environment. Over the years, orangutans rescued from the loggers and the pet trade have been successfully rehabilitated and reintroduced into the wild where they have thrived, mated and reproduced. Three so-called “feeding stations” have been set up in small clearings two or three kilometers hike from the river bank into the forest. Park rangers empty baskets of bananas and yams onto a platform and for an hour or so in the morning or afternoon (depending on the camp), orangutans may or may not emerge from the forest for an easy feed. “May or may not” because these are at the very least “semi-wild” animals and whether any show up depends on how much food (particularly fruit) they have been able to find by natural foraging. Although orangutans are mostly solitary animals, there is a very clear pecking order; if an alpha male or dominant female shows up for a snack, any others feeling a bit peckish have to remain at a respectful distance until the number ones have had their fill!!

We visited all three camps had spent hours just watching these stupendously (and that’s no exaggeration!!!) appealing and endlessly fascinating creatures. Female orangutans are among the most caring and devoted mothers in the entire animal kingdom. They give birth (from around the age of 15 years) to one baby only once every eight years. For the first two years of the baby’s life it clings to mother all the time; breastfeeding continues until the young one is five and mother may continue to carry their offspring around until the age of around eight while teaching them everything they need to know about life in the forest. That includes nest building! Every night, both male and female orangutans build platform nests high in the forest canopy, single use only!

In our wanderings around the forest, we did encounter several truly wild orangutans including one just waking up in his or her nest! 

When watching these beautiful apes, it's hard not to "anthropormorphise" - interpreting their behaviour as if they are humans! Their actions, care for their young and facial expressions are so human though, the temptation is hard to resist!

Just a shame that we can't climb trees like an orangutan!!