Blogs from Kalimantan, Indonesia, Asia - page 2

‘Orangutan!’ my guide excitedly shouts, pointing up a tree, where a shadowy ape looks down on us from up high. The sack full of ants which had fallen down on me from a low hanging branch, when we had glided with our rickety longboat through the flooded forest, was quickly forgotten. Just a minute ago, I had shrieked like a little baby because ants were crawling all over me. Nasty little biting ants. On my head, on my arms, my legs, my shirt, and in my shorts. Ants everywhere, which I was frantically trying to brush of my body and clothes, while simultaneously keeping my balance on the now dangerously wobbly boat. Longboats, I contemplated were not made for lumbering Dutchmen fighting off ants. My guide and the captain of this glorified hollow tree trunk, which ... read more

Camp Leakey is door dr. Galdikas in 1971 opgericht om het gedrag van de orang utangs te bestuderen, het bijzondere is dat in dit kamp al ruim 40 jaar hetzelfde onderzoeksteam werkt. Het is gekkenhuis met Klotoks aan de pier, er liggen er wel een paar dozijn. Via een lang houten pad op palen komen we bij het informatiecentrum, waar alles wordt uitgelegd over de orang utangs. Het centrum is nog niet erg met de moderne tijd meegegaan, overal hangen vergeelde foto's en de informatie is een paar decennia terug afgedrukt en ingelijst. Na het informatiecentrum lopen we door het woud naar het voederplatform, waar we een ware nachtmerrie aantreffen. Natuurlijk zijn de ouwetjes van National Geographic al aanwezig, maar ook al de andere buitenlandse toeristen en een blik irritante Indonesische die meer aandacht hebben voor ... read more

Today we are leaving Borobudur to Borneo. Borobudur was awesome. So, we took a taxi to the airport and flew to Borneo after catching a connecting flight. When we got to Borneo we took a taxi to our hotel. Our hotel was amazing!!! It had an infinity pool and a masssage chair in our room. We went into the pool for a little bit and ordered room service for dinner. I had fried rice, Ania had fish and my dad had Gado Gado. We watched TV and went to bed. When we woke up we got ready and checked out of this hotel. We were going to stay at a lodge for a night and stay on a boat for the other night. We got in the taxi to get to our boat. When we go ... read more

Saturday 11th - we got picked up by a little speedboat and taken to the dock of the Park Tourist office and dropped straight onto our new boat for the next 2 days. It was narrow & wooden with 2 floors, the upper for us with a bed already laid out and a small table to the rear with a few chairs. Beneath was where the driver and assistant engineer (boatboy) and the cook hung out to do their work. While Mr Yono went to get our park permits we walked down the street of uninspiring Kumai to get some money from the ATM. It was a typical dusty road with hazardous paving and lined with small shops. What was different were large featureless block buildings- like apartment buildings where they forgot to put the windows ... read more

We arrived in Pangkalan Bun on an hour and a half flight from Jakarta. Pangkalan Bun is in Kalimantan which is the Indonesian side of the island of Borneo. The main tourist attraction here is the Tanjung Puting National Park. We have arranged for a three day, two night trip up the river into the park on a klotok (houseboat). The owner of the tour company we booked our trip through met us at the airport and drove us into town. He recommended a cheap hotel to spend the night while we await our trip to start early the next day. The place was a bit of a dive but it worked for one night. The next day we were met by our tour guide and we loaded up for the 20 mins drive out to ... read more