Friday, August 26, 2016

The Midnight Blue Elephant: Me and my Monkey - Finding Orangutans in Borneo


Back in the jungle. I almost sigh in relief.

Life as I know it is not only thousands of miles away, it feels like a lifetime ago, away, gone.

I didn’t even know I was going back to Borneo.

My itinerary said Tanjung Puting and something about orangutans.

I didn’t put two and two together – wild orangutans can only be found on Borneo and Sumatra today.

You should have seen my face when I realized – back to Borneo!

The island holds a special place in my heart and so do those beautiful, fun creatures.

I don’t think you can ever have too many orangutan pictures, can you?

Now I know how parents feel when they want to share 1001 Facebook photos of their offsprings, but I cannot help it.

These faces… (and for those parents who feel offended that I inadvertently compared their kids to orangutans, I am sorry!).

We are on a boat, a wooden boat going down the Sekonyer River.

I think of African Queen and it feels wildly romantic and adventurous.

I don’t even mind the heat and the humidity, we get ice cold towels whenever we return from an excursion and a fresh breeze when the boat is in motion.

I write this a few weeks later while I sit in a taxi in traffic, of course.

I wish I was back on the boat. Sitting at the stern and staring into the water, watching out for crocodiles and Proboscis Monkeys in the trees.

The water from the Sekonyer River is muddy and brown.

Later, once we have moved to the Black River, the water while dark, almost inky becomes crystal clear – much better for crocodile spotting as it turns out.

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