Borneo - A Quest for Indonesia’s Orangutan
I’m slowly but surely completing my Indonesia blogs after Java’s Volcano Heaven and the Komodo and Flores island region, and the next entry is for the island of Borneo. In fact though, the world’s third largest island is shared between three countries: while Indonesia claims the biggest portion, Malaysia also has a presence here, and almost the entire nation of Brunei (see my blog here) is situated on Borneo as well, but makes up by far the smallest area.
I arrived in the Kalimantan region, as Borneo is known in the Indonesian language, after a short flight from Semarang across the Java sea, and straight away drove to a little harbour in the city of Pangkalan Bun on the central southern coast of the huge island.
Hoping that we wouldn't encounter the same faith as this ship, I boarded my home for the next 3 days: a small boat (Klotok) that would take us along the Sekonyer river into the Tanjung Puting National Park.
Welcome to Orangutan Land
Nowhere else on earth can you find as many orangutan as on Borneo, with around 100,000 individuals left. The smaller (in size and numbers) Sumatran orangutan and a very small population in Tapanuli make up the rest of this critically endangered great ape group.
A First Glimpse
As you make your way along the river, wildlife can appear on the banks either side regularly - this is how we spotted our first Orangutan.
Your best bet to get close to of one of the four great ape genera are the four research centres the park is home to. These were established by the Leakey foundation starting in 1971 - the eponymous couple was famous for their anthropological work in Africa (see my Tanzania blog).
It’s at the first station where we docked and encountered this friendly male fellow, who was keen to pose for the camera. The park is home to many re-wildered orangutans who were in the past kept in cages in personal homes or poorly equipped zoos. These individuals are much more used to humans, and often hang around the research stations.
We spotted another in the trees eating a banana - not generally on their wild diet - that was provided to them at a feeding station near the research centre, primarily with the purpose to observe and provide for recently released individuals, such as this mother below.
Just Chillin
Generally speaking though orangutan spend most of their time in the trees - unlike Gorillas, they are arboreal.
Onwards
There aren’t really ways to get lost on the river, but in case you’re going a little fast, these signs warn you of the slow bends as the Klotok makes its way through the jungle. Luckily, my captain was in full control.
As we settled for the night tied to a tree on the shores of the river, it was time for dinner for the crew and myself.
The next morning we moved on to the second research station on the way, again encountering a number of orangutan, including some adventurous youngsters.
On the way we passed the outskirts of the few settlements in the park, with traditional housing and access by boat. The park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, but still threatened by illegal poaching, logging and mining. It’s home to over 100,000 people in total.
We then arrived at the end of the publicly accessible river section, where the original Leakey center was established. This is where Birute Galdikas conducted most of her work, becoming the most well-known orangutan scientist in the world. Together with Jane Goodall (who studied Chimpanzees) and Dian Fossey (Gorillas were her focus) they became the three women educating the world about the great apes and fighting for their conservation. Take a look at my Uganda and Rwanda blogs for some more information.
The Long Noses
Orangutans aren’t the only wildlife you will find in the park though. Although much of the species here are rarely spotted by visitors (clouded leopard or sun bears for example - oh how I wish to see one of these!), one of its endemic inhabitants are more easily found: The Proboscis monkey.
Characterized by their long noses, particularly the leading male in the group, such as the one on the left, they are endangered and their population is threatened by habitat loss. I have been lucky to see them both in the Kalimantan and during my trip to be Brunei.
Although Proboscis monkeys are known to be excellent swimmers, they are generally arboreal and sometimes even jump from tree to tree or to the shoreline to cross rivers, and avoid predators such as crocodiles.
White-Bearded Gibbon (maybe)
Another primate species found in Tanjung Puting is the white-bearded gibbon, endemic to the area as well. There are multiple different Gibbon species present in Borneo, and admittedly I’m not 100% sure that I identified this one correctly - we only spotted it for a minute before it used its long arms to swing from tree to tree back into the thicket of the jungle.
The Big Boy
This guy was a little easier to identify. One of the largest males in the area around the Leakey research station, I got lucky to observe him showing up at the feeding station in the afternoon.
What a character. Some males grow much larger than others, developing huge cheek pads that give them the characteristic round head shape. Their arms can reach up to 1.5m in length and their body can weigh in excess of 100kg.
Although generally arboreal, Orangutans such as this elderly fellow sometimes spend time on the ground, possibly because there are no large terrestrial predators to threaten them in this region.
Sleeping Spot
After this it was time to head back to the mouth of the river - we spent our last night just outside the park boundaries, allowing me to capture this aerial view.
Glow Worms
As the night settled over the Sekonyer river, fireflies came to life in some of the trees.
Towards the West Kalimantan
I wanted to explore a little more of Borneo and its culture, other than just see Pangkalan Bun and the national park, so decided to make my way westwards on a 300km drive towards the boundary of the central and western Kalimantan districts. Given the size of the island (twice the area of Germany, and including mountains up to 4000m high), that was still only going to cover a very small part of it.
A large portion of this drive gives you an impression of what Borneo has sadly become famous for, and one of the primary reason its wildlife has been suffering over the last decades: Palm oil plantations. As far as your eyes can see, to the extent it has been described as “ecocide”. More than half of its rainforest has been lost in less than half a century. As the cheapest type of vegetable oil, demand has grown for decades and Indonesia and Malaysia together make up 90% of the supply. Its communities had little benefit - large companies based elsewhere own or lease and extract the value of the land with limited control, rampant corruption, and pressure on the local population - this was clearly evident in many of the conversations I had. That is, if people were willing to talk about it. Having said that, it’s easy to criticize the situation, but the vast majority of the production is exported to the rest of the world, where it is gladly consumed, and there are very few alternatives that deliver a similar yield, see here for an interesting article.
Time with the Dayak People
One of the indigenous ethnic groups on the island are the so-called Dayak tribes - in fact, they are a diverse group with multiple languages and religions, but the umbrella term was applied universally during the colonial past. They do share a number of common characteristics (one of them the feared practice of headhunting or Ngayau - now abandoned). I spent three days in a remote village of about 100 people in their company, being the first tourist they have had for almost 1 year.
Long House
One of the common features of the Dayak villages is the stilted so-called long house (up to 200m!), sometimes still used as accommodation for multiple households, but today serving more of a traditional architectural and administrative function. It is visible on the centre left edge of the village in this aerial image.
Guarded
The long house is traditionally protected by a cat. Just kidding - this one just happened to chill on the porch.
Batu Batongkat (Stick Stone Monument)
Another of the interesting cultural aspects is this sight: although I could not fully discern its purpose, from what I understood it is a way to support nature.
Either way, the view from the top of the stone monument is beautiful, and the tribe owns much of the land, cultivating it in sustainable ways for generations - so far refraining from taking part in the palm oil industry and representing one of the strongholds against its complete takeover.
5 Star Bird Hotel
One rather unexpected commercial activity in this remote location is this concrete nesting structure meant to lure in swiftlets, whose saliva-built nests fetch high prices in China. They come with attached speakers imitating the bird’s call, and are often owned by people from the larger cities, paying locals to go around and maintain them (and protect their contents, as this is an industry where theft and sabotage seem not uncommon).
Universal Language
An observation I made during all my travels, even to the most remote places such as this one (there is no cell service here, power is by generator, water comes from the nearby river), is the power of football as a sport for the world. It’s always a way to get people interacting, and of course I couldn’t resist and joined in.
Theft concerns?
My hunch is that this is not really a problem here, given how this motorbike was secured to the house.
The People of Kubung Village
Over the three days I had the chance to get acquainted with a few of the people in the village (although none of them spoke any English), and was able to take some unscripted portraits.
The Last Dance
On my last evening I was asked to join the “Bagondang” or “Horn Bill Dance” ceremony, where the local dayak people blessed me and another father and his daughter visiting a nearby village with a welcome ritual ceremony called “ikat akar tongang”. They also provided me with a sacred Dayak bracelet for good blessing during the trip.
The ceremony involved the elder of the village attaching the bracelet, and the recipient drinking a rather large glass of home-made alcohol under the clapping and music of the villagers (who encourage you to finish it in one go), followed by dancing. There is footage of me undergoing these entire proceedings, which shall not be shared here.
Relics
While their day to day attire is fairly westernized, once a year the tribe brings out their traditional masks for dances and rituals.
It was a really enjoyable time here, and the local villager I stayed with still sends me photo updates on WhatsApp from time to time (although he doesn’t speak English, so I can’t always make out what he’s trying to convey with the pictures 😉).
I’m curious to see what happens to Borneo over the next decades, with Indonesia having recently announced to move its capital from Jakarta to the island. The new city called Nusantara is going to be located on the south-eastern coast, and construction began in 2022, with about 12,000 government officials expected to move in by the end of 2024.
I might be back to see it - Indonesia remains one of my favorite countries for its incredible sights and diversity.
