Last night we met an American dentist from Guam (a small
island off the Philippines). We ended up in a bar up the road, drinking Anker
larger and listening to some live Indonesian band playing covers of western
rock music.
Woken at 6.30am by the monkeys running up and down the roof,
a local guy walking through the guest house shouting "good morning!"
In each room, moods were pretty bleak. We set out set 8am, we was going to see
the orang-utans!
A short walk took us to a narrow part of the river, taking a
dingy across the river; we walked the 30minute treck through the jungle to the
feeding station. The guide climbed a small platform suspended 10ft above the
jungle floor. He started banging a rock against the platform and calling out
crazy jungle sounds. 30minutes passed as we waited patiently, the Indonesian
tourists getting restless, the guide banging and shouting.
With a cracking of branches and a rustle of leaves, a small
bundle of orange fur could be seen making its way through the treetops towards
us. Plonking himself of the platform, the young orang-utan ignored the banana
in the guides hand, reached into his back and scored himself a whole bunch,
cheeky monkey. He climbed a nearby branch, eating his spoils, hanging upside
down from his leg.
It's been impossible to get anywhere fast. Every Indonesian
family wants to take photographs with us. Not just one photograph either, they
want a group photo, then photos individually with us, then photos with the
baby, then photos with the mum and dad. It’s pretty hard work. At the orang-utans,
there were more people taking pictures of us than they were the apes.
Suspicious looking bridges
This is how pineapples are born
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