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The Prince of Kumai
A long journey again with some sailing, some motor sailing
and once again the endless avenue of squid fishing boats
to pass through. On entering the mouth of the Kumai River we were chased
by a massive thunderstorm, which turned the muddy waters
into the colour of gold with the blackest backdrop I’ve
ever seen. Lots of lightning and wind giving us a great
sail in! |
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We anchored the first night behind a spit just into the
entrance of the river then headed up the next day.
As you head up the river the banks are edged with large
Nipas palms. Sadly the river is dirty and littered with
rubbish and huge ferries and tugs trudge up and down all
day.
There were lots of yachts here from the Darwin Rally which
was fortunate for us, as SV Scadadal again shared their photos
with us as my camera was still a problem.
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We chose to tour with “The Prince of Kumai”
who seemed to be the struggler of the two operators and
our skipper was Yadi, a man we are glad to have met.
We headed up an inlet off the main river and it was gorgeous
from the moment we entered. We passed some villages and
police posts set up to deter poachers and saw lots of
birds, a few monkeys, a live croc and sadly a dead one
on the way home.
They have an information centre for the Orangutans, which
is very well set up and run mainly by young local Dayaks
who study in Jakarta to qualify for positions there.
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The park fees go to the government but most of the funding
comes from The Orangutan Foundation International, whose
website gives a comprehensive guide to the park.
They feed the orangutans bananas once a day which enables
people like us to see them. There are no barriers as they
just come in from the forest. |
Yadi told me that two meters is a good figure to keep
in my head, as that is the longest arm span! The guides
are great but some have been attacked so they keep a keen
eye on us tourists who I am sure at times have less sense
than the orangutans!
The male was huge and stretched himself out to show us
who was in control! Many flew in from the surrounding
trees, whilst others meandered up the path.
They get a lot of the babies from nearby villages whose
mothers have been killed. Sadly they are fighting a losing
battle as forests are being cut down to make way for palm
oil plantations. It was wonderful to get the opportunity
to see the orang-utans in their own environment.
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We were also taken to an area of reforestation of ironwood
forest, this being the timber they have and still use for
boat building.
We saw lots of monkeys and kingfishers and our guides waited
on us hand and foot for two days and the meals were delicious. |
This trip is well worth the effort and the more people
that come, the better chance they will have to protect
this unique species and its habitat.
The day we went to leave Kumai Whimoway decided to blow
her main oil line, so Yadi took Mike to a local Chinese
man who fixed it and all was well.
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That morning I had to go to see the Harbour Master and explain
that we may not be able to leave as planned and I found myself
lost or certainly a long way from where I should have been.
Then I heard a friendly voice being Yadi so I jumped on the back of his
bike. He joked with Mike that he found his isteri (wife) lost! |
We visited a larger
town nearby for the day and purchased some stunning plywood
for Whimoways fitout.
We spent the last night at the mouth of the river to get
away from the noise then headed off on our last leg through
Indonesia to the Karimata Islands and Singapore. |
Map
of Kalimantan, Indonesia
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