Indonesia Part 2: Borneo

Our trip to Borneo was like a dream come true. The ability to see orangutans in their natural habitat was just amazing. To do so, we went on our very own Jungle Cruise (a la Disneyland) and sailed along the river for several days, finding Borneo’s beautiful animals along the way.

Our very own Jungle Cruise

We saw plenty of local fishermen from the jungle villages.

To find orangutans we needed to head into the jungle.

Orangutans are stunningly beautiful animals. Their long graceful arms and legs let them acrobatically swing through the thick jungle with ease…and without ever touching the ground in most cases. We were lucky to see so many adorable babies always in (or near) mama’s arms.

We saw some long-tailed macaque monkeys in the trees along the river.

Our first glimpse of proboscis monkeys

We soon learned to spot them by looking for their long white tails within the green trees.

Only found in Borneo, the proboscis monkey’s claim to fame is its large nose. The picture below shows a female on the left and a male on the right.

In the evening, they transformed the boat into bed chambers with netting to keep the bugs out.

Pillow fight before bed.

Sunset on the river.

A lucky cricket kept us company at night on top of our netting.

In the morning, the bedding is put away and a delicious breakfast of Indonesian food is served.

Day 2: on the hunt for more orangutans.

Jungle hats to protect from sudden rain fall.

This male orangutan wasn’t making any noise…just a face at another orangutan. Good thing for telephoto camera lenses.

The alpha male. He grows “armor” around his face and neck to protect him in fights with other males.

Sadly, the orangutans are critically endangered and their habitat keeps getting exponentially smaller due to logging and forest fires. The forests are logged to make room for planting palm trees to make palm oil. If humans don’t do something to stop it, they’ll be extinct soon.

We passed by a handful of villages along the river.

Pangkalan Bun

We flew in and out of Pangkalan Bun in southern Borneo. Before our jungle cruise, we explored the part of town situated along the river. Everyone was friendly and welcoming.