I had the most amazing experience with my friend for four days. The nature of Borneo is absolutely breathtaking and so worth seeing. We saw so many wild orangutans - both at the feeding stations but also from the river were we able to spot them. Besides the orangutangs, we saw proboscis monkeys (only found in Borneo), gibbons, wild boar, tarantulas (during our nightwalk), snakes, and many more animals.
The boat was new and very clean. Iâm usually quite bacteria freaked so was a bit afraid of going, but the boat had all the amenities youâd expect. Clean and new toilet, a proper shower, proper sink, soap and shampoo, and overall clean boat. The boat was recently renovated (I came to know) so everything looked brand new. The crew were very nice too and our guide, Erwin (may be spelling it wrong), was extremely hilarious. Because heâd worked in different jobs around the jungle for 25 years, he could give us access to more things that others usually couldnât have (such as electricity from one of the camps).During the day, we saw multiple orangutans and came really close to many of them (one even touched my leg when I passed it). We went during Eid Mubarak so there were fewer people, which meant the orangutans would run around right next to us. When itâs fully crowded I donât think the same would happen. We went to Camp Leaky at one point with more people than at the other camps, and it seemed that the orangutans kept a longer distance because of more people.In the evening, we went out on a nightwalk to see some of Borneoâs creepy crawler. We saw many birds on branches, a mouse deer, multiple tarantulas (very cool), a snake, a civet, and others. If youâre not into reptiles, Iâd probably tell the guide to skip this one. Our guide had a friend at one of the lodges who were able to spot tiny birds (such as the Kingfisher) from well over 50 meters. All of us were impressed as neither of us saw anything - and especially not from that distance.At night, the crew would make our beds and cover the beds with mosquito net (there are a LOT of insects in the rain forest, unsurprisingly).The food was very good. Iâm Danish but love Indonesian food I so may be a bit biased, but all of it was delicious. We had kwetiaw, pisan goreng, nasi goreng, fish, different chicken dishes and a bunch more.
After we got back to the boat from a trip, we were served either a cold Coca-Cola or water. Along with the drink, we were also given a wet, cold towel to cool off (necessary when youâre in the rain forest).On our last day, we were taken back to shore where we were met by Wati and her husband (owners of the company). They showed us around Pangkalabuun (including some old houses made by tribe people) and explained the history of different things. We also saw the river where a lot of locals lived. Itâs always fun to see different cultures around the world. Our base is in Bali and itâs very different from this.All in all, we had an awesome trip. Although this is a very long text, I figured a detailed review would be of interest.
