Day 1: PANGKALAN BUN – KUMAI PORT – TANJUNG HARAPAN
Arrive at Pangkalan Bun Airport, on the island of Borneo, better known
by the Indonesians as Kalimantan. Upon arrival at the airport, your guide will
be waiting for you. You will transfer to the port of Kumai in about 15-20
minutes by car, where you will embark on a great adventure! You arrive at our
speedboat. Our guide will reconfirm with the crew that everything is ready and
start the trip up the river in the famous Sekonyer River. If your flight
arrives early (before 11.30 AM), you can arrive in time to the rehabilitation
center of Tanjung Harapan, where at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the rangers of
the national park feed the orangutans, and you can have your first close
encounters with them. The translation of Tanjung Harapan is Cape of Hope. This
first camp is one of the ones with more wetlands, and being in the afternoon
has more mosquitoes, so make sure you put on enough mosquito repellent. Here you
also can do the reforestation, where you can be volunteers to plant a tree, and
so take pride that you have contributed a grain of sand to conservation with
your step over there. After visiting this Rangers Camp, you will continue
upstream, resting on the boat, while you search for animals in the vicinity of
the Sekonyer River. This afternoon, it is very frequent to see groups of
proboscis monkeys and monkeys in the treetops, jumping from one branch to
another, or even crocodiles, and lizards in the shallow waters of the sides of
the river. A picnic lunch will be provided during the tour. After the tour, transfer
to your hotel for check-in and overnight.
Meals: Picnic Lunch
Accommodation: A. Rimba Eco Lodge – Amethyst Beo
B. Arsela Hotel – Deluxe Room
Day 2: PONDOK TANGGUY – CAMP LEAKEY
After breakfast at the hotel, you will go in time to see the Pondok
Tanggui Camp at the time of feeding (9 AM). Sooner or later, you will see how
the branches of the treetops begin to move, and then you will see the
silhouettes of the Orangutans arriving at the feeding platform. Pondok Tanggui
was a release camp for young Orangutans that were rehabilitated, and they
continue to add food every day to prevent the Orangutans from leaving because
of a lack of food. They end up outside the National Park, with the following
risk of falling into traps of settlers or fields of palm oil plantations. After
the Orangutans begin to leave, you will return to the speedboat again to go
further up the river. You will see how the coloration of the river changes, and
you will have the opportunity to see crocodiles and large lizards, together
with Gibbon’s and proboscis monkeys.
Arrival at Camp Leakey, the old orangutan research and rehabilitation
center since 1971, when a student at UCLA Los Angeles University, Birutte
Galdikas began studying the Orangutans there. The name Camp Leaky comes from
Birutte’s own teacher, the Paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. At least 200
orangutans had already been cured and returned to the jungles, thanks to this
center. However, since 1995, the Government of Indonesia has banned the
introduction of more Orangutans into this camp, so Orangutans are increasingly
adapting more to freedom. To this day, this camp is used as an investigation
into the behavior and feeding of Orangutans. You will take advantage of your
guide to explore the interiors of the jungle a bit to look for orangutans in
freedom and other animals. At 14.00, you can see the feeding time of the
Orangutans. You can also visit the small museum made by the scientist Dr.
Birute Galdikas. When you are finished observing the orangutans in this camp,
and if the weather and conditions permit, you will make a short trek through
the jungle on our way back to the boat to look for wild orangutans and other
animals. You will have the opportunity to learn from our local guides, some of
whom were born in the jungle, how to look for animals or plants, or simply
listen to their experience of life in the jungle. The jungles of Borneo have
given life and have been home to the settlers for many years. The jungles,
under the eyes of the grandparents, are able to give you everything you need.
Food, water, medicines, etc. Yes... Never put anything in your mouth without
the recommendation of your guide. Back to your hotel and rest.
Note: The Birate Galdikas Museum at Camp Leaky is
currently closed for maintenance purposes. Regrettably, visits to this site
will not be possible until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience
this may cause and will keep you updated on the reopening of the museum.