Welcome to the Jungle!
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006I apologize for those of you who may have read the first post and were left wondering if that’s all i had done in the past few days…well it wasn’t. After I published that post I was finnally able to do something that i hadn’t done in about 3 days. Let’s just say it involved me running at top speed like i had just robbed a bank and quickly jumping in the getaway car and then looking out the rearview and not seeing any police on my tail.
So after the Orangutan Sanctuary I headed out on a 3 day 2 night wildlife adventure with a company called Uncle Tan’s. Just when I thought I was pretty much in the middle of nowhere (Sandakhan) we hoped in a van for an hour and a half ride just to the outskirts of the middle of nowhere and then jumped on a boat to go even further from the middle of nowhere. On our boat ride down the river to our camp we did some wildlife spotting. We saw some long tailed macaques, pretty common. We also so some Proboscis monkeys. I am told these monkey’s are only found in this area and are dwindling in numbers. You can pronounce Proboscis with a soft or hard “C.” The Proboscis is a very unusual monkey. They have a very large nose. Most people think they are very ugly but i disagree, i think they are beautiful. The males can be quite large with big bellies and they just sit there in the top of the trees and pretty much don’t do anything while the younger ones jump around. Sometimes if the large males are close enough you can see the “red rocket,” basically the proboscis, and no i’m not joking, has an erection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year. So let’s go over this again real quick. They are ugly, fat, and have a constant erection. So if you gave the proboscis a playstation, a cellphone and a happy meal they could quite possibly be the missing link to today’s younger generation.
After some truly spectacular wildlife spotting we arrived at the jetty. We then had the task of walking through the mud with our backpacks on to get to our camp. I came pretty close to doing a face plant in the mud but was able to save myself. The camp itself was pretty nice but very primitive. We all slept in raised wooden huts with a mattress on the ground and a mosquito net. There was no running water and we only had electricity from 6 P.M. til midnight. The sounds that came from the jungle that we were surrounded by were amazing. The camp get’s visited by a wild pig and macaques that are looking to steal food. I truly loved the isolation and lack of facilities.
On day two we got up early to do another boat ride up the river to do some more spotting. We some some crocodiles, more monkeys, Hornbills, kingfishers, monitor lizards…i mean you name it and we saw it. The place is literally surrounded by thousands of different creatures. That afternoon before lunch we did some jungle trekking in the hopes that we might be able to spot an orangutan. Unfortunately we didnt spot one but the guides told us that occasionally they can be in the area. After lunch we got an intense tropical downpour for a few hours and then prepared to head out on another boat ride.
As I walked down the trail to meet the group at the dock I looked up and saw a tree swaying violently back and forth. I then heard some branches snap and fall to the ground. I ran over to see what it was and low and behold a female Orangutan and her baby swinging from tree to tree. It was the most amazing thing i’d ever seen. I actually had a tear in my eye as i watched her up in the tree. The last time i had been moved to tears was when I walked in on my brother jeff in the bathroom while he was flexing naked in front of the mirror. This was actually just before I left on my trip. Those were different types of tears but I think you get the point.
Seriosly though, all joking aside, I actually couldn’t believe what i was watching for a few seconds. This was a “Wild” Orangutan. There were no cages. There was no one feeding it. There were no concession stands to get a hot dog while you were watching it, although that would have been nice. There were no tourists next to me wearing black socks and open toed sandals with nasa powered camera’s hanging from their necks. There was no trolley that was gonna come by and pick me up and take me to the next exhibit. I was in the middle of the freaking jungle and I was watching an Orangutan and her baby swing from tree to tree. It was honestly an amazing sight. To see something so big, move so gracefully is just awe inspiring. How lucky was I to be watching this? The kid from Dracut Massachusetts, that’s just outside of Boston near the New Hampshire border for those of you who don’t know, saw a freaking Orangutan. I’m 6 foot nothing, 1 hundred and nothing, i haven’t got a speck of athletic ability and i’m trying to hang in their with the best wildlife spotters in the business, (Rudy Reference) it’s not easy folks.
We are talking about the kid who got laughed at as he ran out of the classroom with tears in his eyes because he couldn’t spell Orangutan in the 5th grade spelling bee. O…R…A…N…Rrrrrrrr you going to the mall today…i was just asking? (Billy Madison reference) O…R…A…N…G…U…T…A…N…G? Bing!
“I’m sorry brian that’s incorrect. There is no “G” at the end of Orangutan.”
Just picture my face getting red and tears starting to well up as i looked around and shouted the following:
“I hate spelling and i hate all of you…..” (Hahahahahahaha…hahahahha)
As a kid growing up in Dracut I can’t say that we did alot of wildlife spotting. Occasionally we’d yell to dad from the backseat that we saw a lowrider with chrome rims while we were driving in Lowell but I think that was probably the extent of it. I honestly can’t explain the adrenaline rush you get when you see something like that. Knowing that you are in their house and playing by their rules makes it so much more exciting. Alot is being done to help preserve the habitat of the Orangutans but no ones knows if it will be enough. Forest is still being cut down to make room for more Palm Tree Oil plantations. Places like the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary are doing great work educating people on the needs to protect them. The problem is there are alot of villages who don’t have access to the information about how endangered theses animals are and unfortunately if they were to find an orphaned Orangutan they keep them as pets.
I know some of you may not be able to come here to try and view the Orangutans but if any of you have the slightest interest in animals and viewing wildlife then a trip to Borneo has to be done. This place is absolutely stunning. I honestly saw more things in my time at the Jungle then I would see in one day at a Zoo. For those of you who have been to the San Diego zoo or i guess any zoo for that matter may have noticed that a majority of the species you look at come from Southeast Asia, and especially Borneo.
On the last day I walked out in the morning with another guy from the camp to see if we could spot the Orangutan again. This guy from what I understood was a profesor or researcher of some sort and studied orangutan fossils or whatever. He seemed to know alot about them. So as we walked through the forest to spot them I accidently squeeked out a fart. He turned to me so quickly and said:
“Did you hear that…? That sound? I think we’re close.”
It took all I had not to laugh and with a straight face I said I didn’t hear anything.
We did got another breif glance at a few more, possibly the sames ones but they were so high up in the tree feeding it was hard to see.
So I know you are all going to want photos. I hate to be a Johnny Raincloud but they were just too far away to take photos and my camera just doesn’t have the zoom on it. I will tell you that the image of the mother with her baby clutched to her stomach swinging through the trees is an image that will never leave my head. I hope all of you get the chance to see what I saw, I feel very fortunate.
I’m now back in Kota Kinabalu and I think i’m going to be heading down to check out the country of Brunei. I hope you are all doing well and I want respones from people. I know some of you are reading and not responding.
“You wanna know what the best part of my day is? It’s the time when i sit down at the computer and check my e-mail…I just hope for a second that I’ll have e-mails from everyone asking me how i’m doing…I don’t know much, but i do know that!
Gagnonius