After a really good evening meal at my resort, I headed back to the chalet to relax and watch some TV (it'd been a while). There was only one English speaking channel, which showed movies back to back. I watched Gridiron Gang, starring 'The Rock' and rapper Exzibit, which was about a juvenile detention center that formed an American football team, it was pretty good. After that I saw Pride & Prejudice, the latest version with Keira Knightley, which was excellent. Really beautifully shot and superbly acted. I love the language in the story and it was also very humourous in places, I'd recommend it to everyone!
Shortly after the film had finished the region was subject an almighty rain storm, with thunder and lightning. I couldn't resist and went outside to enjoy it, completely butt naked! It was 1am and the chalets are private from one another, and well if anyone saw, lucky them! ;) It was awesome, lol, massive rain drops were hammering down through the jungle canopy, which would normally be full of insects which were obviously now all taking shelter. After a few minutes of enjoying the wash, I towelled dry and went to bed. [For those who didn't aready know I was a bit weird/mental, welcome along. Where have you been all this time? ;)]
I didn't drop off immediately, and was laying there watching the shadows created from the lights on my charging ipod in one corner of the room and my charging camera battery in the other, with the ceiling fan spinning overhead and moving the curtains. The wicker walls inside the chalet are amusing too, as you can hear the Gecko's sprinting across them to catch flies etc. Staying in the jungle is quite enchanting, although when I do it in an open hut it may not be so!
After a superb and comfy sleep, I got up and went down to eat breakfast in the resort. I borrowed a rain coat from them for my stay (as they tell me it rains hard most afternoons here) and walked up the road to the Orangutan Center...
The rehab center is here to bring rescue baby and adult Orangutans up to speed on jungle survival, before releasing them back into safe jungles on the island. The number of baby Orangutans they recieve that were originally bought as pets is astounding! Humans are such morons!
After buying the ticket to enter I decided to go straight in to the jungle part to beat the inevitable crowds, and planned on visiting the information center on the way out later. I met with two lone female travelers here, one from Watford who is working as a nurse in Denmark (random!) and another from Essex, who was embarrased to tell me that, but was nothing like the stereotypical essex girl image anyway. We were the first on the platform at the main feeding/viewing station in the jungle after a five minute walk along nicely constructed wooden walkways. We took up position at one end, near a Malaysian chap who knew where the Orangutans would mostly come from, and waited whilst enjoying the jungle noise.
We got our first view of the Orangutans as a female and male couple swung along the ropes into view, shortly followed by a second female. They hung around nearby, clearly waiting for the warden to arrive with some food for them. These guys obviously see humans everyday, and so plenty of posing went on. They move amazingly through the trees and along the ropes, at one point one of them was cartwheeling along the underside of the rope! It was incredible to see these animals so close and in their real natural environment, albiet near the rehab center and near to human contact. They use this feeding time as a social tool also, and it was interesting to watch some 'old friends' meet at this place and great each other with a slap on the shoulder before sitting together and playing or grooming. The male much prefered more 'adult' interactions with the females and spent most of his time with them at the rear end, doing some preening and 'inspecting'.
At 10am the warden climbed up onto the feeding station and presented the 5 assembled Orangutans with a large metal bowl of milk and a bucket full of bananas. I didn't take lots of pictures, as they would have mostly been full of the huge crowd that was pushing to the front to take pictures! Also, the man stood there with his purple bucket didn't look like a good picture really!
Feeding time is extremely civilised and they sat around the millk bowl like a family sitting at the dining table! The warden stayed there until most of them had gone, perhaps to discourage any squabbling? Some of them took a bunch away to eat more privately, and as most of them were leaving a very large group of Macaques appeared to scavange the remains (of which there were plenty). The Macaques waited until the Orangutans had left the feeding statin itself, and the last female Orangutan went back to grab two large bunches of bananas to carry away! She carried one in each foot, and swung to the middle of the rope between the feeding station and the next tree, where she stopped to hang from one arm and eat some of them! She ended up dropping one bunch as she swung, which she ignored and then proceeded out of view through the trees. The Macaques found every last banana and also sat on the feeding station eating bamboo. The group was really big, there must have been over 30 comprising young and old, including some big males. In the information center (which I viewed after my visit this morning) it said not to have eye contact with the Macaques, or show them your teeth as they will attack, and they will do it on mass!
Whilst I was here, the guy from Little Stoke I met on the bus yesterday appeared. He is called Andy, and is moving permanently to Perth in Australia on the 21st of March, after finishing his travels here in Borneo. He's traveled all over Asia before now. He forgot his camera today, so I took his email address so I can pass some of my pics on to him once I've downloaded them. We got to chatting afterwards, and we are going to talk later today about traveling to some trekking areas south of here together as we both have the same kind of plans on the island. I've managed to shorten my stay here at the posh resort to only 2 nights, without cost... it took a bit of groveling, but it means I can move on tomorrow and might well end up in the jungle proper tomorrow night. I now wish I'd bought a raincoat before getting here... doh! The Orangutan center has a shop, which I will visit this afternoon when I go back (to hopefully catch a glimpse of the big boy who rules the jungle around the center!), so maybe I can get something there. They sell leech socks, which are expensive, but maybe a good investment?!
Anyhoo... thats all for now. I *might* upload some more pictures to photobucket later today, if the big lad shows up and I get any shots worth sharing.
If I don't get a chance to update later, it might be a few days as I doubt the jungle has broadband!
Laters!
Sloggs :)
