Jungle Trekking
Trip Start
Jan 2003
1
79
200
Trip End
Dec 2003
Bukit Lawang, Indonesia
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
Five minutes into the day and we started to get worried. Covered head to toe with mosquito bites (Kirsty even looks like she's got a black eye because of a particularly nasty one) it promised to be an itchy day. Less than an hour into the trek and all that irritation was forgotten as we came face to face with a female orang-utan and her baby. An hour later and we'd seen six. They are complete show-offs, particularly the babies) and seem to pose for the camera. Graceful and languid as they moved through the jungle, my nerves jangled a bit when they were within striking distance. Being confronted for the first time by an animal approximately my size and weight shouldn't have scared me though as they appeared to be as docile as family pets. I briefly thought about how much fun it would be to have a playful wrestle with one but then remembered they could pull your arms out of your sockets and that I would undoubtedly come off second best.
unfortunately the first day of the trek seemingly shot its load early as for the next six hours walking we came across only mosquitoes, ants, termites, spiders, lizards (on my head), leeches and one Thomas Leaf monkey. By the time we arrived at the camp we were all completely exhausted and I for one was regretting not taking the one day option.
