Friday 6th June
Today was really all about the orangutans.
But I shouldn’t
skip over the rest of the day; it was all good.
We had a delightful guide, Francis, of Iban ethnicity. He was a most erudite person and kept us
informed, entertained and amused for many long hours. His favourite saying was So far, so good. Cautious
optimism! (He did muse a bit on the
eccentricities of the English language – why for example do we not say So near, so bad?)
We learned a whole
lot of random stuff about Borneo.
- · For a start, our nearby Mount Santubong means King of the Wild Boar. A very splendid name for a very splendid mountain!
- · And Francis told us that 65% of Sarawak is zoned as protected national park. (Sabah not so much…there has been much devastation of the jungle.)
- · Islam doesn’t have as much of a hold on the indigenous people as it does elsewhere in South East Asia. Most of the tribespeople lived in longhouses, and the saying goes, If a long house does not have pigs or alcohol, it is not a longhouse. So Islam, with its many restrictions on behaviour, diet, intoxicants, didn’t find much favour. The jolly old Christians with their wicked pork-eating spirit-drinking ways had a much better shot. And Christianity seems to fit in much more comfortable with the ancient belief systems, which have never really been discarded.
- · There are 200 big wide rivers in Sarawak, and yes there are crocodiles. Salties…I had very much hoped NOT to find salties anywhere near 2XS in these latitudes but this is not to be. I am not, however, sure that they are quite as protected or as prolific as they are in the northern part of Australia…
We left Santubong
a bit before ten and hoped to have a few hours strolling around central Kuching
after doing our Customs, Immigration, Harbour Master stuff. Ten boats worth of documents…of course this
wasn’t possible. We had half an hour to
sprint around the streets near where the bus would be waiting in search of
food, and then it was time to GO GO GO again.
(Pete and I very fortunately found a cheap and cheerful SPEEDY
restaurant selling food from Ipoh and it was just delicious, even if we didn’t
have time to savour a single mouthful – it was all GULP and RUSH.)
We had to arrive
at the Semenggoh Nature Reserve, which is an orangutan rehabilitation centre,
before three. They put food put out at
two feeding stations at 9am and 3pm and you really have to be there, in case
the orangutans deign to make an appearance.
(Sometimes they don’t…apparently there was a large crowd of disappointed
people at 9am today; not one ape came for the food!)
We were blessed
indeed.
About eight
orangutans swung down through the trees, and slid down the ropes to the
platforms. They were simply
glorious. The alpha male, Ritchie, made
a most impressive appearance. He is BIG.
Very much bigger
than the dainty little female who is the current object of his affection. She is carrying a very small baby; I suppose
he is he father. She doesn’t seem too
scared of him but…we heard he terrible story of Delima. He was very interested in her but she spurned
his advances; she was totally preoccupied with her small new baby, and he got
so very angry that…he ripped her arms and legs off. The staff at the centre found her dismembered
body, and saw Ritchie, sitting in a tree above her, looking…well they said he
looked very sad and very guilty. He stayed
there for three days, grieving. As well
he might! (The baby survived…another
female adopted her.)
Apart from that terrible
story it was all gorgeous, beautiful, wonderful.
We had a brief stop
at a small supermarket which didn’t have what most of us wanted – bread. No have,
said the check-out staff, brightly. We have
completely run out so Pete is sitting up till very late making us a new loaf of sourdough for breakfast… Dave (SV
Jackster) and I nearly came to blows over a small pale loaf of sliced bread in
a smaller shop next door but I let him have it.
It really didn’t look very nice…
At about 7.00 we
arrived at our last destination – a big new cultural village, only a few
kilometres from our boat anchorages. Delicious
local food
 |
| Yes we had to sit on cushions on the floor...it nearly killed me but...I did it! (And...I danced...) |
Bright and
cheerful dancing and singing
And now it is
close to midnight and we are t-i-r-e-d… I will go to sleep very soundly and will
dream, I am sure of orangutans. (NOT of
murderous Ritchie, I hope…)
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