Monkey Business

Our next big jungle adventure started at 8:00 AM at the hotel. We met our companions for the day, John and his daughter Leah and her husband Craig, all from Australia. While en-route we picked up another couple, Johnathan, whom we supposed was from Germany, and his "friend", an Asian female. We never found out any information about them because every moment they were so focused on each other . We could only assume they were still in the deepest, and slightly disgusting, throes of a new relationship, and still completely infatuated with each other. Besides them even being along at all, the biggest mistake of the trip was to let them have the front bench in the van. This of course kept them sickeningly visible the entire ride.

Our first stop was to view the orangutans. Orangutans are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, and are currently found only in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. It is one of the world’s largest primates, and is almost completely arboreal (tree living). The word “orang” is Malay for “person” whilst “utan” is derived from “hutan” meaning forest. Thus, orangutan literally translates as “person of the forest”. The orangutan is an endangered species, and is totally protected by law in Malaysia, Indonesia, and internationally. To see them, we visited the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre. This refuge was established in 1975 to care for wild animals which have either been found injured in the forest, orphaned, or were previously kept as illegal pets. They have two feedings a day, which gives visitors a chance to catch a glimpse of these endangered apes in their natural habitat. We arrived just before the first feeding.

We walked down the short path to the feeding area. There were two platforms across from each other, separated by a shallow ravine. On the smaller platform, a staff member placed a small bunch of ripe bananas and a coconut. That platform had a network of ropes attached that came in from several directions and disappeared into the tree tops. The other platform consisted of several levels with rails for the human observers.

A hush came over the crowd as pointing fingers went into the air. The first orangutan made its appearance. Descending one of the ropes hand over hand, swinging like, well, like a monkey, it stopped about half way down as it spied our group on the large platform. At this point we wondered if she thought we were the show and for a while that's how it felt. 

As she continued her descent, her baby could be seen clutching her belly. They reached the feeding platform and the momma ape took the bananas in one hand and the coconut with one of her feet. The remaining two limbs she used to scurry just as effortlessly back up the rope. She stopped right in front of the spectators, still hanging onto the rope, and began eating her breakfast. With her mouth she peeled each banana, ate several, and gave some to her baby. With the bananas gone and another hand free, she took the coconut and removed the husk with a few bites from her strong jaws and whacked it against a tree. It popped open. Holding it up she let the coconut water drain into her mouth and gave the last of it to her young one. When it was drained, she gave it another whack and the two of them shared the white meat.

About the time they finished, fingers started pointing again in another direction. This one was so high in the tree tops, only the rustling of leaves could be seen. Slowly, hand over hand, another orangutan broke through the leaves and descended to the platform. The same scenario unfolded as this one ate first the bananas and then the coconut, all while dangling from the ropes. Then a third one came and once again repeated the routine. 

The famed star of the show was the big male which fed in a different location. We were given word that he was approaching, so we all made our way to an alternate location and sure enough he met us there right on queue. He was twice the size of the females and was much closer to the visitors, perhaps about 20 feet away. He had a similar routine of bananas and coconuts, but being so large and so close it was quite the surreal experience, almost as if we had been invited for a meal together. 

We were soon escorted back to the parking lot and onto our tour bus. Seeing these remarkable beasts up close and uncaged was a true highlight of our trip, and one not soon forgotten. I pondered the experience as we pulled out of the refuge and realized they aren’t really all that different than some of the people I've had dinner with back home.