The Circle of Life

 

(this photo is only minimally relevant to the blog post because Chuck is eating breakfast in it, but I just had to post it because her face is priceless)

Here we were, enjoying breakfast by the river after a night of camping, when...

This fellow joined us from upstream:

He sauntered out of the water:

And hung out for a bit:

Then we noticed these guys approaching from all sides, determined to get some of our delicious breakfast:

Then, to complete the jungle scene/circle of life/what have you, Jackie (remember her? she likes holding hands?) and baby took up a riverside seat:

We were kinda hoping for some sort of 3-way, interspecies fight club to commence, but things remained peaceful:

Aw, how cute are Jackie and baby?

The only shenanigans occurred when Jackie decided to make a move on our kitchen tent (although her plans were quickly foiled by Simon):

All the while, Tim ate fruit from this, the most magnificent fruit plate to ever be consumed:

Back to Bukit Lawang: People of the Jungle

Last time I was in Bukit Lawang (with Colleen and Scuba Steve), I had such a good time that I insisted we go back for more jungle trekking, rafting and general shenanigans with our favorite guides, Jakka and Simon. 

We arrived late night and headed out on the trek through Gunung Leuser National Park early the next morning:

Right of the bat we were in greeted with some wildlife... a troop of Thomas Leaf Monkeys (remember them from last time?):

Then some greedy macaques (or "cheeky monkeys," as the Bukit Lawang folk call them).

We did some vine swinging:

Some massive tree climbing:

And then, voila, all of our orangutan dreams came true... Tim and Chuck got their first sighting, and then another and another and another:

All in all we saw 5 adult orangutans, each with a little baby!  Pretty awesome day.  No Mina this time, although I can't say I am too too disappointed about that, given her

reputation for being a bit bitey.  We did see Sepi and her baby, though, who I had seen earlier in the year at the feeding platform.  I said hi.  She seemed good.

We also each sweated approximately 2 liters of water each... ok, maybe 4 liters for Tim.

 These pics are like the Where's Waldo of the jungle... find the orangutan:

Photos of us are courtesy of Jakka, who enjoyed playing the tourist for a day and gently mocking us... "Your country is so amazing!"

Orangutans at Camp Leakey

So... I think this is my last orangutan post, so you all that are sick of the hairy orange guys can breathe easy, whereas you all that are loving the fuzzy gingers will have to reminisce and get your fix by reviewing all of my previous orangutan posts (here, here, here, and here.).  

You could also get your fix by checking out some recent Borneo orangutan documentaries...  Born to be Wild (featuring our favorite, Siswi) was filmed in Tanjung Harapan and Camp Leakey, but I also liked the more in-depth look in the BBC documentary series, Orangutan Diary, which follows the rescue and rehabilitation efforts of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

Our final orangutan viewing stop on the river was Camp Leakey, the base camp where all of the orangutan saving happens.  Founded in 1971 by Dr. Birute Galdikas, Camp Leakey is the starting point for all of the work of Orangutan Foundation International, including protection of orangutans and their forest habitat, rehabilitation, research, and education, among other things.

When we arrived the first time to Camp Leakey (we went back a few times), we were greeted by this fellow next to the dock named Chris:

The Camp Leakey feeding station was always busy, with both rehabilitated and wild orangutans coming and going:

Remember when I told you that the orangutans had many different drinking methodologies?  Here's the final (and funniest, I think) methodology, the scoop and pour:

Even the kids are doing it:

This one clearly took a giant swig of milk and then went to hang out in the trees, mouth full:

Camp Leakey seemed to be the gathering point for orangutan moms and their babies.  This mom, in particular, was funny, as rather than take the tree route to the feeding platform, she decided to walk straight through the crowd of humans with cameras:

On her way back down from the platform (mouth full of milk), she walked back through the crowd, raising her arms above her head, perhaps to look more intimidating?  Or maybe for balance? 

Ug, the babies were so cute:

I love how the babies just climb all over the moms like they are a jungle gym, and, in turn, the moms never let the babies too far out of reach:

This baby looks like an old man:

And this one was a total ham, just hanging out on his mom's shoulders:

Ah, orangutan babies.  Staaaaahp.