Year 2- 14th October 2025 – Borneo-Kalimantan – Our 3 Day Tour

We slept well under our mosquito nets and despite the rain and thunderstorms which went on all night. I had to visit the facilities more than I wanted but got through it. Keith got up at 5.30am and so I followed and we all showered and washed the sleep away.

 After a shower I felt a little better and the rain cleared and the sun began to come out and we had breakfast. This was scrambled egg on toast which I felt I could eat. It was a lovely morning and everything looked so green and lush after the rain. The jungle was making its usual cicada type noise with the odd bird noise and the odd whoop and clut clut from a monkey somewhere. It felt like and we were in the middle of nowhere. We were moored just beside the river in the reeds. They have a container full of water attached to a rope and they just throw it into the reeds and it sort of holds through its weight. If they can tie to a tree or bush they will but otherwise this simple method is all that is required. We soon got underway and were going some 4 hours upriver to Camp Leakey, which was another feeding point deeper into the Tanjung Puting National Park. Camp Leakey was established in 1971 by Br Birute Galdikas who was fulfilled her dream of studying orangutans. It is the longest continuous study of one non-human animal in the history of science.  We actually met her when I came to this area in about 2008 I think it was.

The journey took us up the river meandering round bends and the river being surrounded by trees and bush and the scenery was beautiful and how rare it is to be in such surroundings. We could just sit and watch and see the jungle world going by. We saw quite a lot of birdlife and the kingfishers were lovely and quite large in comparison to UK kingfishers with bright yellow, red and blue on them. We saw quite a few macaques -little monkeys in the trees.

We continued on and came to a junction and we turned right into a narrower section of river which was equally beautiful. The guide Si said that that we may see some saltwater crocodiles. The narrower section of the river had reeds and little bits growing in the river and we eventually came to a stop as the guide had seen a saltwater crocodile which was only about 1,5 metres long- it looked quite small. We then came to a small village of 5 families where we stopped as the crew needed some cigarettes. One of the men opened a trap door in his sort of platform which had a net inside and where he kept fish. He jumped down and gave one of the fish to the crew.

We motored on and there was less traffic as it was single file really and it as nice to chill and admire nature’s beauty in front of us. We then eventually came to a stop in the reeds where we could rest and to have lunch which was nice and then we continued to Camp Leakey and moored against the pontoon where there were lots of other boats bringing visitors like us to the feeding station for 2.00pm.

At about 1.15pm we headed off the boat and walked along a long wooden walkway into the jungle and then through the forest for about a mile to the feeding station. All was quiet although we could see a male orangutan hanging from a tree about 70 m away. He was waiting in anticipation. Then a white bearded gibbon came swinging through the trees quite fast. It was sort of comical but very graceful at the same time. He came to a stop not far from the station and waited so we could get a good photo. He was waiting for feeding too.

At about 2.10pm the rangers came and put out some food and down came the male from the trees and started eating. He was not the main king male for this area. You could see how easily he peeled a banana eating it and then he was on to another. The white bearded gibbon came down and the ranger handed him a bunch of bananas and he went up a tree and eat them and came down for some more. The rangers were making a cooing noise calling the orangutans I think to let them know food was out.

The male eat quite a lot and left and another large male came. He was not the king male either. He eat quickly and was looking around as if nervous (in case the king male appeared). Then a female came with her baby to feed and this male was not letting her in. The female touched his leg as if to say -come on there is more than enough to share. However, he was difficult so she left and then skirted round him in the trees to the other end of the platform. When she got on to the platform at the other end he moved as if to shoo her away but the ranger made a noise at him and he stopped. He then suddenly disappeared and the reason was that the King male Jacob appeared. He was huge and had great cheek pads and his size was quite a bit bigger than the others. He was quite happy to feed with the female and her infant hanging on her back. As we were watching these graceful creatures we saw a little deer appear under the platform and a number of squirrels.

After a couple of hours it was time to go. We wondered back to boat for a snack and then we left the pontoon and went to a nice spot upriver in the reeds. As we were going along I saw the tail of a large crocodile – probably 3-4 metres just to remind us that this river has its dangers. The heavens opened and we had a torrential downpour and then thunder and lightning in the distance.

We then played cards and then had supper which was good and I was feeling more human by now. They put the beds out with our mosquito nets and we went to bed early as it is what is done here listening to the sounds and rumble of the jungle. We look forward to another day tomorrow.

The picture of the day is more orangutans of course.