Camp Leakey

 

DAY 1

The gang, Tim, Sarah, Rachel, and I, went to the famous Camp Leakey for a three-day trip last week. Camp Leakey is where Dr. Galdikas first did her orangutan research back in the 70s. It’s a very famous place, and one that I have known about for about forever, so I was thrilled to be going. Our first day was mostly spent getting there. This involves driving to the next town over on the water, and getting our boat from there. The boat, where we spent most of the time hanging out and eating and even sleeping, is called a klotok. After some coffee and breakfast we were off across the Java Sea and down the Sekonyer River. We all brought out our books and music and sat in the sun (yay for getting more tan!) and soon enough, drinking some beer. As we made our way down the river we saw some great birds, proboscis monkeys, and macaques. The river is beautiful. The first part of the river is brackish and brown, but further in it becomes what they call ‘the blackwater’. This, of course, had us Game of Thrones fans geeking out a bit.

We arrived at Camp Leakey at around 2pm. We soon joined a number of other klotoks and tourists at the feeding site. Here the wild orangutans, and a gibbon, are fed in the afternoon so the tourists can see them. It was pretty cool actually. You get within a few meters of some big wild orangutans. After a couple hours there we headed back to our klotok. We patiently waited while the other boats moved on until it was just us. Then we did something you’re really not supposed to do. We jumped in the river. You’re not supposed to do this because there are in fact crocodiles. Oh well. Our guide let us jump in and then quickly climb back out, no swimming around. It was incredibly refreshing and fun. We jumped off the dock a few times before finally leaving. We moved downriver a bit to tie up for the night as we watched some proboscis monkeys do the same in the trees on the riverbank. We continued to drink more beer, listen to music, and have a great time. The dinner was delicious, just some regular Indonesian food, lots of rice. At dust, we saw bats flying around and probably the biggest bat I’ve ever seen in my life. Its wingspan must’ve been at least a meter across. It was insane. That first night though, I started to feel quite seasick (the large amounts of beer didn’t help) but the rocking of boat was making me feel a bit queasy. We slept right up there on the deck of the klotok. They set us up with some mattresses and mosquito nets; it was all really quite lovely. We fell asleep listening to the wildlife, the gentle rain, and watching the cool lightning.

DAY 2

We woke up on Day 2 to the sounds of the forest, gibbons and macaques and birds. After a leisurely breakfast, and another ill-advised swim, we set out on a little forest hike. We walked for a couple of hours through the Camp Leakey forest. We saw wild orchids, cool mushrooms, vines, huuuuuuge trees, swamp, and just beautiful forest scenery. My favorite things were the ‘fisher plants’, a really cool carnivorous plant.

We walked around the Camp, seeing where Dr. Galdikas first lived and worked back in the day. It was quite cool to be standing where I’ve only read about. Unfortunately during this hike, my camera batteries completely died. I was very very upset about this. I thought I had charged them fully but I guess I didn’t. Oh well. Good thing I brought a little one for back up, but just didn’t get some shots I would’ve liked.

Then back to the klotok for lunch, a tan, and a nap, then to another orangutan feeding. In the afternoon we travelled downriver to another research site. We took a short walk here and went to a tower, up up up a steep ladder, that let us see the whole forest for miles and miles. After a lovely candlelit dinner back on the klotok, we headed back into the forest for a night walk. With our guide and just a couple of torches we wandered through the forest looking for anything and listening to the sounds. We didn’t see much but we did hear a barking deer. I’m not even sure what that is, but that’s what we heard. The stars were really pretty that night with more lightning in the distance.

DAY 3

Our last morning on the klotok took us to the Tanjung Harupan village. Our guide took us on a little walk of the place and it was just beautiful. Right on the river this little village held about 50 families. There was a canal that ran through the main part of town with houses and rice fields on either side. Our last afternoon found us a bit lazy, as we decided to skip the touristy feeding and just chill out on our boat. Our guide took us to a small place off the river where we could swim, but really, it was a kind of cesspool pond. Not very nice at all. But we did take a dip to cool off. We slowly meandered back down the river, back onto the brackish water, stopping for a while to look at some proboscis monkeys. They are so cool, but quite unattractive. I’ve always wanted to see them and now here they were! We spent a couple hours enjoying the beautiful sunset on the way back to the shore and then back home. All in all a wonderful trip! We all get along so well and we just have a great time hanging out together and in such a beautiful place. Couldn’t have asked for a better few days!!