I have neglected our blog for too long, or better said, was too involved in our adventures to write about them at the same time. November was a month of many experiences and many miles.

Our next destination after Pontianak was Kumai, a small town on the South coast of Borneo, and the gateway to Tanjung Puting National Park: one of the few and perhaps the most famous Orangutan reserve in the world. This was a highlight of our trip and must-see. It was also quite far and gave us an appreciation of the size of Borneo. Going down the West coast and around the Southwest corner, maybe an eighth of Borneo’s coast line, took us six full days of sailing. One day we passed an uncharted wreck of a fishing boat. It was perhaps dragged down by a net that was too heavy, standing vertically with only the bow sticking out of the water. Our radar would have probably picked it up, but it was a good reminder why we prefer to sail in the light, and be safely anchored when it is dark.

As we got closer to Kumai we could smell why the Orangutans are endangered: once again the air got hazy from forest fires, many of them started by humans to create more palm oil plantations. We could see great pillars of smoke in the daytime, and an orange glow at night. One day we sailed through thick smoke fog and had to change direction to get out of it. Less and less forests remain where Orangutans can live in the wild, they are endemic to Sumatra and Borneo only.

Next to Chimpanzees and Gorillas, Orangutans are the third species of Great Apes. Tanjung Puting National Park is home to about 6000 of them, both wild and rewilded (e.g. from areas where their forests were burnt down, or saved from the black market). Camp Leakey is where most research into Orangutans was started and still runs today. The park maintains several feeding stations, where rewilded Orangutans can come and supplement their diet.

To visit the park we anchored Rainbow Safari in the Kumai river, watched over by a boat boy while we boarded a narrower river liveaboard boat for two days and one night. Our safari led us up the Sekonyer, a small and winding jungle river. Within the hour we saw our first wild Orangutan in the trees on the river bank. We saw many big-nosed Proboscis monkeys, macaques and lemurs. There were blue-and-yellow Kingfishers, and once a beautifully colored and rare Rhinoceros Hornbill crossed the river and settled in a treetop on the other side (why, we don’t know 🙂

We hiked to three different feeding stations, where we could observe Oangutan behavior. They have a clear hierarchy, with the alpha male respected and feared by all others (but they will try and steal bananas behind his back when he is not looking). At the same time they are very solitary, and mostly ignore each other, except for babies/young ones that stay with their mothers for seven years before they are evicted to lead their own lives. One of the funniest scenes was an Alpha covering his head with corn husks when it started to rain. One of the most touching was a young male feeding on his own, but then putting his hand on the shoulder of apparently his mother for just a second, in recognition of their relationship, before trundling off into the jungle alone.

Just as amazing as the animal encounters was the atmosphere of traveling through the jungle on the river, listening to the sounds of the forest around us. At night we tied up to the river bank and slept under moskito nets. When the daylight slowly came back in the morning the mist rose from the black river water, perfectly reflecting the blue sky and green trees.

Coming back onto the Kumai River was almost like emerging from another world. The river forms the divide: on one side is the jungle, protected and preserved in as natural a state as possible. On the other side is human civilization, roads, buildings, bustling markets. Sustainable, limited tourism is a good way to create an income and give the local community an incentive to guard the park. Yet at all times smaller boats cross the boundary from the human side into the park to fish, cut some wood, maybe more, expanding civilization. And in the background larger corporations are at play, who would prefer to use the park land for their own businesses. As we left Kumai we were once again engulfed in thick smoke, and on the Southern and more removed edges of the park there were big, uncontrollable fires.

The small museum in Camp Leakey has a great exhibit, a poster on the wall reads: “Lift this to see the Orangutans’ biggest enemy”. Behind the poster is a mirror. We all consume palm oil, we buy shampoos and cookies and all kinds of things, at a value (or cheap?) price, but our consumption creates demand, leading to the destruction of our planet’s ecosystem.

Being on the boat, exposed to nature at all times, breathing air full of smoke, sailing through seas and swimming in water full of plastic waste, picking up trash from beaches that just look the same again after the next high tide – our current lifestyle makes us much more sensitive to how civilization impacts nature. It is easy to forget what happens with trash when you just throw it down the chute of your highrise condo. You don’t have to think about where your frozen fish filet comes from when you’re in the supermarket. But we have seen the sea depleted by countless fishing boats, and water turn a slimy yellow near the fish farms. Observing the Orangutans in their natural environment, while at the same time confronted with the reality that they may be extinct before our children can take their children on a similar journey is a wake up call.

We are following Greta Thunberg’s effort and the big and much needed debate on sustainability and reversing the path of destruction that humanity is on. Anyone who actually does something deserves respect. It’s a huge, complex and multifaceted issue that easily overwhelms, with no easy solution. We all need to change our behaviors, our expectations and needs – food for much more thought, and action.