After a surprisingly good flight(we didnt crash)landed at Pangkalan Bun on Kalimantan. Sorted out taxi prety fast then of to the Police station to sort out my permit, which I succeeded in getting after an hour waiting and 10 people checking my details. Taxi continued into Kumai where the driver got a bit confused and ended up asking abot 5 different pax to see if any one could speak english , of course my bahasa was not up to scratch yet. Finally found a boat captain who was able to organise things for me. The National Parks office was closed due to it being friday so went straight to the dock to hire a Klotok , after some prolonged bargaining we finally reached an agreement and I had hired a boat, captain, cook and guide for 3 days to bring me into T.P.
Stayed in a local hotel that night with out any electricity until 12p.m. so no light or Aircon! It was an intresting evening though I was the only one staying in the hotel so to stay cool I sat outside and a steady stream of locals soon kept me entertained albeit comunication was a challenge.
Set of to T.P. next morning and was soon resting a lovely klotok heading into the park. My guide who was local and spoke english had worked at Camp Leakey for 2 years so that was a great bonus. Then disaster, boat broke down luckily we were only 2 hrs into the trip, another boat was summoned and a few hours later we were on our way again. During the time a bunch of Macaque monkeys kept me entertained. Shortly after seting off just after lunch I was lucky to see a massive wild male Orangutan and later on a second wild female orangutan. The trip was already worth it.
Arrived into the 2nd Camp and got to see the afternoon gathering of Orangutans. Ther we docked for the night, had dinner and then slept out on deck under mozzie nets. A really cool experience.
Next moring was the best, my guide got us up really early to go to Camp Leakey the main research facility, we arrived at about 8.30 a.m. As we were walking along the jetty we met about 3 Orangutans on the way. However as soon as we reached the Camp I saw about 15 just hanging around and resting and even saw the leader `Tom` just resting in the grass and I was the only one there it was fantactic. Aftr a while went got some more info at the centre and then returned to boat to witness a 3 hour massive downpour and lightning storm.
Went back to the Camp in the afternoon and there was a few more tourists and a large local school group. That was when I suddenly beacme the atraction and I had the entire group and their teachers queue up to have their photo taken with me.It was prety funny, actually everywhere I went in Kalimantan I was greeted Hi Mr. and then asked about 20 questions but it was a good experience.
Again the next day having a guide that worked in the Camp payed off and when we reached the 3rd camp for feeding there was only 1 other couple there. We saw at least 20 Orangutans this time.
Tanjung Puting was difinitely a great experience and a super way to kick of my trip. I stayed the last night with the family of the guide and met all of the relations and half the street also. Spent the evening sampling some of the very nice local rice wine. Had a delicous breakfast at one of the neighbours the next morning of yellow rice and spicy chicken at 7a.m..
