Welcome to the jungle part 2
Trip Start
Jun 07, 2004
1
40
50
Trip End
Nov 27, 2004
Bukit Lawang,
Sumatra,
Indonesia
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Finally we agree our price for the foray into Orang Utan land and Mustafa introduces another guide, Omo. Last minute 'guide switching' is common - where a persuasive and credible English speaking salesman is suddenly replaced by a local hoodlum. And there are plenty of those, as I have seen already. But Mustafa assures us he will move quickly ahead to set up camp. And he does. We set off and climb in deep mud and sticky heat with little hazards like mosquitos and leeches. Our guide makes calling signals in fluent Gibbon and then in Orang Utan. They come. We catch up with a small group of Orang Utans as a young mother descends from the trees carrying her baby which clings to her chest. The tiniest most dependant looking creature with huge eyes and only a thin covering of auburn hair. Gently the mother takes a banana or two from us though it is normally better not to feed them like this. They are not stupid and will soon learn to equate humans with food. If they are hungry, they may descend quickly and simply rip backpacks from visitors. Figuring there will nearly always be food inside. Also, their digestive systems are easily upset by other human nibbles we may carry in our picnics and of course the transference of viruses they cannot fight.
We walk on and our guide senses something less friendly up ahead. There exists one large female Orang Utan, Lisa, who is a nasty piece of work. Almost without exception, the numerous guides here all carry scars from confrontations with this one. Luckily, Lisa fails to appear today. We stop at a waterfall for a packed lunch of nasi goreng in banana leaves, with fresh pineapples. And swim fully clothed in the lagoon at the foot of the pool. The heat at the jungle floor will dry our clothes as we walk. We ascend to a high ridge and can see down to the upper reaches of the river as it forms a series a rapids. Cutting through steep sides of dense undergrowth like thick hanging carpets. That's our base camp - down there at the river's edge, and we start to climb downwards grabbing vines and thin trees to acts as brakes. They flex rather than snap. At times, I have to deploy the use of the arse-sliding technique with boots outstretched to control my descent otherwise gravity will send me tumbling. At the rivers edge we board thick inner-tubes to be pulled across because the undercurrent is too strong to walk the middle section. We strip to our underwear and then jump in with shampoo, soap and toothpaste.
The clear mountain water feels like the essence of life. As I bathe in it , I gaze up at the blue sky and the tropical rain forest around me and beam the biggest smile at how good this is. Bathing in nature, millions of years in the making. Mustafa has organised a rectangular tent using tree branches and a tarpaulin and stirs a pot of curry that boils on a charcoal fire. He has also speared many fish which are clamped between lengths of bamboo that poke out of the coals. I have brought my cooking stove and it comes in useful for tea and coffee. As we play cards and warm ourselves by the fire. There are bright stars above us as now as the daytime has silently slipped away. We sleep well with only one vague interruption during the night, some unidentified sounds up-river. Bear or Orang Utan ?
Next ; Welcome to the jungle part 3
