I woke to find that my chubby legs & feet were back to normal. Phew!
In the restaurant, waiting for breakfast to be cooked, we saw a big, beautiful bee with green & black stripes & heard an insect that made an ambulance siren sound.
Jamin, our guide met us at 10am for our two day, one night, jungle trek. He told us to wear socks to help keep the leeches away. So we all looked a bit goofy in our shorts, trekking sandals & long dorky socks. As soon as we walked through the river across from Jungle Lodge, we climbed up, up, up a steep path & we were instantly brushing against big leafy plants, the trees blocked out most of the sun & the humidity wrapped around us like a hot, wet blanket. In no time at all, leeches were on our sandals, our socks & making meals of us. Oh well. It’s only blood. We don’t mind sharing.
The biggest highlight of our trek today was seeing orangutans. Jamin was ahead of us and he put his finger to his lips and beckoned us closer. In the distance, amongst all the greenery was a spot of orange. Branches moved & we saw 2 female orangutans coming our way. They were taking their time, grasping a branch, swinging and landing in another tree, sitting still for a moment, looking behind & around them. Then they spotted us. They craned their necks as though adjusting their eyes to the relative dimness of the forest floor. We took photos. One of them stayed where she was. The other, moved closer towards us, yet higher in the branches. She peered down at us curiously. As Dave craned his neck backwards, both arms up holding the camera to get a photo, thwack! There was a dull thud. The orangutan had pooed on Dave, smack bang in the centre of his chest. We all squawked loudly with laughter. I was right beside Dave. It stunk! It was green & sloppy but Dave said he would never wash his chest again! If it’s good luck to be pooed on by a bird, then it must be the best luck in the world to be pooed on by an endangered animal! Dan & I had tiny splatters of green on our shirts as well. Jamin laughed the loudest. It was so funny, watching him laughing and pointing at Dave. Amidst the hysterics, I looked up just in time to see the orangutan reach her hand around to her backside. She was going to throw poo at us! “RUN!” I shouted. And we all took off. Now we were convinced that she had squatted and aimed at Dave purposely! The orangutan went higher into the trees until we couldn’t see her any more.
Once Dave was all cleaned up with tissues & hand sanitizer, we continued trekking up, up, up. We all sweated profusely & drank litres & litres of water. We stopped on a high ridge for lunch, where we could see more thick jungle through the gaps in the trees. Jamin pulled out our lunch from his backpack. Wrapped up in four greaseproof paper pyramids was our fried rice lunch. All of them topped with a fried egg. Jamin cut up some tomato and cucumber & we sat & ate the tastiest jungle lunch. The cucumber was the most fragrant, & full tasting cucumber I’d ever eaten.
After lunch, we kept hiking & we saw a lone, male orangutan. He had big face plates and long orange hair hanging from his outstretched arms. We were eye level with him. We were on top of a ridge & he was in a tree, looking across at us. He didn’t look too happy to see us. We were all so in awe of this giant that not one of us thought to take a photo! He started moving towards us through the trees & we took that as a hint that we should leave! He was big & gorgeous but he didn’t look very friendly. It was a special moment, one that we will never forget.
