Kumai (2)
JJMoon Diary
Barry and Margaret Wilmshurst
Tue 20 Oct 2009 11:41
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Then it was off to the Camp's feeding
platform for the 1400 feeding. Orang-utans cannot swim and are frightened
of water so we were fortunate they turned up in numbers despite the
rain. There were 15 to 20 - wonderful animals; so many around us that it
was difficult to remember that they are very rare and can be seen only in Borneo
and Sumatra. On the way to the platform we had been accosted by Princess
and her son Percy - we recognized them from the 1990s film but now
Putri, Percy's sister had been added to the family. Princess is still a
star. Seeing Mags's water bottle on the bench beside me, she reached out
for it, whipped off the screw top and poured water into her mouth, all in one
fluid movement.
 It's lunch
time and Barry leads the way!
  Swinging
in. A young male arrives.
  Princess, son
Percy (no looker as yet) and baby daughter Putri featured high amongst
our orang-utan acquaintances.
 Heh that's my
water!
 This is Tom
the current king of the jungle (alpha male). A fully fledged male
has enlarged cheeks and throat. Tom is a fine specimen.
Now it was back to the boat getting a good look at some macaques on the
way. Going down river again we saw proboscis monkeys, a lone orang-utan
and we "chased" a kingfisher in the speedboat. A truly memorable
day.
  Proboscis
monkeys high in the trees.
We were astonished by the number of motor
boats buzzing back and forth to Kumai carrying motor bikes. Indeed these
were motor bike ferries taking people to the palm oil works.
 A motor-bike
ferry
As we came up river and neared the
town of Kumai there was an amazing shrieking of birds at various points along
the banks. Later we discovered that these were swallows and they built
their nests in special buildings where these nests were harvested for
export as a delicacy. No wonder the swallows were making such a
noise. Yet another nest to build.
 A swallow's
nest construction factory!
We had a couple more days at anchor.
waiting for our friends to return from their over-night expedition, while we
prepared for the 600 mile passage to Nongsa Point marina on the island of Batam,
within sight of Singapore. We sailed on 10th October.
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