Central Kalimantan, Kumai town on the river

www.kanaloa55.com
David & Valerie Dobson
Sun 3 Oct 2010 12:46

 

2:44.63S 111:43.80E

Sunday 3rd October 2010-10-11

Central Kalimantan, Kumai town on the river

 

Captain’s Log:

 

Friday 1st October 2010 - Towards Kumai Kalimantan

 

Left at first light with no wind as usual. V. uncomfortable swell for the first couple of hours until we cleared the passage between Bali and Lombok. 0910hrs set cruising chute really great sailing making 8 knots.  1200 dropped chute as wind gone - motoring again. 1800 wind on starboard quarter stopped engine.  Prepared confit du canard with garlic mash potatoes and thin French beans -yum! Passed a lot of squid & fishing boats with their rafts during the night.

 

Position 6:56'.30s 114:41'.02e

 

Saturday 2nd October 2, 2010

 

0430hrs called on deck as ship very close and not on AIS. He was travelling at about the same heading and speed as us but getting closer all the time. Decided to stop the boat and let the ship pass, of course it started to pour with rain and blow 30 knots as a squall suddenly hit us! Thankfully we had already  furled all sail in order to let the ship pass, but,  the ship then started to drift down on us, tried calling him on the radio but no answer, so started the engine and motored away from him, we ended up making a detour of some 4 miles before we felt we were clear of him, boy he was difficult to shake off.  I wonder if he might have had engine problems, had stopped and was just drifting!  Highly likely judging by the amount of smoke surrounding him as daylight revealed, after we had shaken  him off.

 

Noon Position 5:54'.71s 113:41'.94e

 

Sunday 3rd October 2010

 

Quite squally most of the night with the usual fishing boats to dodge, but a much better night than last night. 12.00 cleared the end of the cape and headed towards the River for Kumai.  We got the tide just right and managed to carry it until the last hour.  1845hrs. Anchored off Kumai town just as it was getting dark!  There were at least 50 other yachts anchored nearby.

 

Position 2:44.63s 111:43'.80e

Distance run: 465 miles average speed 6.9 knots

 

Monday 4th - Thursday 7th October 2010

 

Visited Cultural Festival, Orang-utan sanctuary, fantastic trip up river on a slow boat with good food, slept in the Eco Lodge overnight it was a great way to relax take in the jungle and see all the wild life.  Actually saw some of the really wild Orang-utans, proboscus monkeys diving into the water and swimming across the river, macack monkeys and lots of hornbills. Re-fueled, changed engine oil and checked out of Indonesia.

KALIMANTAN, Indonesian Borneo,  in Indonesian means land of the rivers of precious stones. It is the 3rd largest island after Australia.    The arabs settled here very soon after they discovered the trading routes from the middle East to India and then down the Malacca Straights.  So despite having amazing indigenous tribes scattered throughout the island, now that Indonesia is trying to amalgamate all its numerous islands into one culture,  Kalimantan was one of the first to succumb to the Muslim religion, as the arabs have been here virtually since the first Century AD,

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Motoring up the river at the top of the tide to Kumai : more by luck than judgment, we were lucky not to have the 4 knot current against us!  We could have anchored at the entrance of the river had that been the case though.

 

DSC07294 Kumai River map.JPG

Tanjung Putin National Park (the Green area) has villages on the tributaries within the National Park boundary

Which are no longer allowed to do any more logging.  We saw evidence of Police stations on the river, but they looked totally abandoned, so there’s not much control at the moment!

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At slack water, river traffic, by dugout canoe and paddle, and ship could not be more of a contrast!  As soon as the tide turned, it was so strong that the boat anchored just in front of us started to drag down on to us!  David called out to him, it was only just light – the owner peered out of his cockpit saying’I don’t drag’!  Thankfully he drifted past us and another boat before he realised – and scrambled to the front of his boat to get his anchore up and reset it!  We had put down 5 times the amount of chain to the depth we were in, which seems to have done the trick!  The call to prayers the night before was from the mosque directly the other side of the river bank, plus probably another one further away.  The mixing up of two or maybe even three lots of this Koran chanting over the loud speakers was most unpleasant to the ears!  Thank goodness it did not last much longer than 15 minutes!

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We heard about a Cultural festival happening in the local town of Pankalabun, which the travel agent in Kumai suggested we visit. In the hope of seeing some traditional dancing and costumes, such as this lady, we decided to go along.  On the VHF that morning, the Sail Indonesia guide for Kumai tried to get an idea as to how many of the people on the visiting yachts wanted to attend also.  It seemed that the choice was to go in a BEMA local van or get a driver and car.  We decided on the latter, as we were not part of the Sail Indonesia group.

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We had been given a phone number for Harry’s Yacht and Travel Service (+628125086105), and as promised, he organised a car and driver to take us to the festival  and pick us up.  On arrival, we were seated in the front row with all the local officials.  We felt rather underdressed, as they were all dressed up in their traditional costume of woven silk sarong over long trousers, smart shirt and fez.  We arrived in shorts and polo shirt and sandals!  Never mind, we were made welcome with a packed lunch of fried something or other, biscuits and water.  A dozen more ‘yachties’ were seated alongside us soon after to watch these overdressed young lad ies do some traditional muslim chanting along with their tambourines.

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It was this fearsome lady who lead the chanting, something similar to what we hear in the call to prayers, but it became a little more melodious with the rythmic beating of the tambourines.

 

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Some of them were even pretty!  Goodness knows how they stayed cool, they were in full sun on the stage, with no breeze to cool them. 

 

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The yachites in the front row, not appreciative of this cultural show

 

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At least some of the dancing girls were not dressed up like nuns!

 

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Ollie had a go at the blow-pipe,with the help of one of the officials

 

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We were told to have a walk around town, but could only see this elaborate mosque showing off the richness of the town from the logging and gold no doubt!

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We met up with Harry, who organised to take us back to Kanaloa in this motor boat, and get 300 Litres of fuel to us in 15 gerry cans with the same boat later in the evening.  David also arranged to get him to check us out of Indonesia whilst we were away for the 2 day trip to visit the Orang Utans.

 

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Next morning, bang on time at 7.30 a.m. this boat called BATAVIA arrived alongside to pick us up and take us on the Tanjung Puting National Park river trip.  

 

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This man was left on board Kanaloa as a vigilante for the whole period.  Goodness knows what they do all day.  But they definately stay aboard, because we had noticed other men on the boats beside us stayed the whole time.

 

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You can see in this photo the other boats anchored close by and further up the river.

 

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The look of relaxation on David’s and Ollie’s face is the same, as we draw away from our life on Kanaloa into life aboard the river boat.

Ollie’s blog:

We started our Orang-utan adventure by being picked up about 7:30 by are boat and crew, the boat was larger than I thought, I was also surprised that it was just for us three. The boat was very comfortable and the crew was impeccable, getting us coffee whenever we liked and the occasional snack also preparing and cooking all our meals and just generally looking after us. Going up river I almost felt like a 1950’s explorer, sitting in a slightly rickety boat, sipping a cup of tea and being waited on hand and foot by the natives whilst in search of foreign beasts, obviously lacking the white stalking hat and crisp British accent but none the less, I was looking forward to ‘a spiffing good show, old boy’

The only way I can describe the river really is a cross between a tropical Norfolk broads, with the boats and the feeling of going up river, but the actual river itself remind me of going up one of the winding roads in Devon, with the black tarmac being the black water and the tall, dense palm banks as the hedgerows either side. All I know is that I remember the Kumai river with the same fondness as I do these places.

 

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Sabris, our guide, spoke reasonable English, and had been trained at Camp Leaky with English speaking guides over the last 7 years.

He told us that Orang=man utan=forest are found only in Indonesia, and this particular area has the largest population of them.  DSC07238.JPG

 

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Destruction of habitat is the biggest threat as they are foragers, changing their treetop nests every night.

 

 

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River life was busy, there is a gold mine upstream, and plenty of small villages where the forest has been cleared for rice-paddies.

 

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Lunch was a whole fried fish each, deep fried tortillas, fried mixed green vegetables and steamed rice, followed by water melon.

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Yum, we were not disappointed!  Indonesian food is generally very boring in the non-tourist areas!

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This pretty butterfly finally settled for me to share the photo

 

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These islands of lillies are enjoyed by the apes, they can sit on them whilst munching at the roots.

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We tasted this fruit, which looks like a coffee bean, but it was too bitter for us!

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Plenty of these pied hornbills were flying around

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This probiscis monkey gave us a great show at dusk, jumping from this tree and losing his hold on the tree opposite, falling and bouncing off branches – till he nearly fell with a thud on the ground!  Next morning, another family of them jumped off the tree overhanging the river, into the river, scrambling up on the opposite side.

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The river is used for transporting everything that is needed, including this poor terrified cow!