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Few travel opportunities in life are truly transcendent, but reader John Trybus just experienced one. He had the good fortune to spend some time among the orangutans of Kalimantan (Borneo). Here's his report:
"I went with a trip sponsored by the Orangutan Foundation International to go orangutan trekking with the world famous Dr. Birute Galdikas. I was on the Kumai River and visited the famous Camp Leakey (and many other sites) directly with Dr. Galdikas, who as you likely know is one of Louis Leakey's "three angels" and the world's leading expert on orangutans. I saw wild orangutans, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, crocodiles and more. I also visited with the over 300 orangutan orphans there and many local villages involved in the work being done ...
The Foundation usually runs these trips every year and they are an amazing opportunity to see firsthand not only the orangutans but the pioneering work of Dr. Galdikas. Indonesia, unfortunately, is not on the mind of Americans. Yet, what's happening in the Tanjung Puting Park is important to the future of the great apes. Palm oil is in everything and finding it results in massive destruction to the forest."
The Foundation usually runs these trips every year and they are an amazing opportunity to see firsthand not only the orangutans but the pioneering work of Dr. Galdikas. Indonesia, unfortunately, is not on the mind of Americans. Yet, what's happening in the Tanjung Puting Park is important to the future of the great apes. Palm oil is in everything and finding it results in massive destruction to the forest."
To visit the famed Dr. Galdikas (a Canadian like your humble blogger, incidentally) - and to witness the amazing orangutans, whose numbers have dwindled to a slim 20,000 because of the encroachment of palm-oil developments - click here.