Tour Guide, Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia
| 3 mins read
Have you visited Tanjung Puting National Park? The World Heritage -Man and the Biosphere- decided by UNESCO. This park is a settlement of Orangutan. I guess that you still remember when you first entered the National Park gateway by boating in the Sekonyer River. The natural habitat of legendary old forest, peat swamp ecosystem, Nypha vegetation, Proboscis monkey, Long tailed macaque, Sundaic silvered langur and many birdlife, which you found across the river may be still in your memories.
Boating up to Sekonyer River and while adventuring Tanjung Puting National Park, you can see the live show of these endangered species - Man of the Forest. They live in their habitat which is the tropical rainforest. If you see a pile of branches in the top of tree or around canopy, this is the place where they sleep at night. Orangutan build a new nest everyday, some even rebuild or repair their old nest with special reason. If they find any tree bearing the fruit that they love to eat, then staying there or around for many days is preferred.
That is particular experience for me to see a dozens of Red Head in the Sekonyer-river banks; so easy to see them. I took a break from my houseboat / kelotok and went closer to watch them. Amazing, it is truly a beautiful creation. Young Orangutans eat fruits of Nyatuh.. lovely !! they invited me through visual communication, even I can’t understand anymore. Maybe it was feeling uncomfortable with us, or maybe wanted to offer us a delicious fruit. Nyatuh is one of local trees that any kind of monkey would love. I have tasted its fruit, it is sweet and soft and melted on my mouth.
Especially in fruit season, you can see many monkeys in the river banks. They enjoy the wild fruits. It normally happens in the end of a dry season and beginning of rainy season. November to January is a fruit season in the tropical rain forest, Indonesia. A bunch of wild fruits you too may enjoy during your trek to the deep.
Sekonyer River is a border to separate between protected and non-protected area. I have seen a dozen orangutans live in and outside the National Park. Many Red Apes were found in the river banks, but I think something happened to them. I hope, they moved to another area for some reason. Food is one of the rational reasons. By shelter, I mean, a habitat to provide for their life. If the wildlife moves somewhere else because of human activity or habitat disturbances, especially in the buffer zone of national park, it will be a problem. Now, land use is changing and deforestation or forest fire have become an open threat to the biodiversity in Indonesian Borneo.
Kiss Squeak
When our houseboat / kelotok was getting closer to the Orangutan, I actually understood that they did not really like our presence. They make kiss-noises to drive us out. We called it a kiss squeak, a vocal sound made when a monkey becomes annoyed. It is produced by pursing their lips together and making a smacking sound. This kiss-squeak sound is a defensive mechanism developed to trick intruders or predators into thinking the individual is bigger than he or she really is. If you meet orangutans and they make a kiss squeak, better to leave soon. In another case, kiss squeak is a quick indicator to distinguish between wild orangutan and rehabilitant.