KALAWEIT , Indonesia, 3rd January 2011

I cannot believe I only have two days left. I would love to be able to stay longer....next time.

I have to add also, that, after four nights of interrupted sleep, I finally slept like a baby! I woke at 4am to the sound of the rain, which seemed to stop, just as day broke, perfect timing.

I didn't realise the extent of the rain until the 7am feeding. The puddles came up to my bottom!

Apparently, when the floods were here, the guys had to use their boats to feed the gibbons on the other side of camp.

So, we handed out the bananas, papayas and timun (courgettes) and returned to camp.

I had my brekky (yummy veggies, fish and rice) and then it was time to go again and give treats to the gibbons. Everyday is something different. Today was strawberry milk (susu). Other days have been vitamins, chicken, boiled eggs....these guys are well looked after!

But, when we got to cage 55, we had to pay good attention as they were aggressive gibbons. Nanto, the vet, suddenly let out a shriek, he had spotted that the gibbons in the next cage had escaped. How he spotted I don't know, but he has sharp eyes, and could even see at a distance.

As he turned around to tell us, the gibbon in cage 55 grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him back towards the cage with such a force, that even he was shocked and could barely pull away. It took him a minute or two to escape the gibbon's grip.

We needed a plan of action. Pauline and I were told to go to camp, Nanto led the way; it wasnt sade for us, perhaps as girls we weren't strong enough. The boys and him and to go hunt the escapee.

Pauline and I got to have a good girly chat while we did the laundry, but when the boys did return, there was a sombre air about them. They didn't catch the gibbon..he is still on the loose. They closed the escape route, and made an opening for him to return to.

Nanto didn't seem too concerned. That is why they are on a island, they can never go too far!! They hate water, so we can hope that the gibbon will go home when he is hungry.

8pm feeding time, Tongki was conked out. He was holding his towel, lying on his tummy. When I went in, he reached out his hand to hold mine as he carried on sleeping. he whimpered as I pulled away to get ready to feed him. His eyes were so sleepy. 

Oh boy, I am going to miss him when I leave.

He had three syringes of milk but only one banana.

Bed time now. big day tomorrow - My last full day!!!!

KALAWEIT , Indonesia, 2nd January 2011

Today should be the big trip into town. Adam and I are very excited because we can stock up on goodies, mostly food related!

But, it's also sad because Sophie and Jean-Pierre return to France tomorrow, so they must fly to Jakarta today.

We all packed into the boat, rucksacks and many people......................

                                    ..................................And what a great day it was!!!

First, we had to disembark half way. The journey was taking twice as long, given the weight in the boat. We reached a village on the riverside and then sent Sophie & Jean-Paul on their way so that they could make their plane. We were to wait for the truck to collect us.

Bon voyage!

 We walked around looking for the 'shop', where we found some tea. And then, as if like a wildfire, the word had spread amongst the residents and, suddenly, the whole neighbourhood was out to look at us and talk with us. There were so many kids and not one of them was shy, well not the boys anyway. Within seconds, they were throwing themselves into the water in a display of energy and vibrancy. Some of them even spoke English, counting to ten before the big plunge.

We took so many photographs together, the boys acting like superstars and the girls just staring. A stray cat without a tail went by, but I had some cat food already (for the cats at the harbour). And some chickens ran in the street.

And then the truck came for us. The road to Palankgya Raya was a rocky one. We crossed a number of rickety bridges. Even on the small roads, we still had to make space for scooters.

It might have been bumpy and Ayung was bouncing around on my lap, but it was still a wonderful chance to see the riverside villages.

Outside one house, a mother and her daughter were collecting rambutan from a tree outside.One old lady was walking down to the river with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth!

When we eventually hit the main road, the traffic was mad; scooters overloaded with families filled the streets and cars veered in and out again and again.

We went straight to the Kalaweit offices, checked emails, bought t-shirts and then we were lucky enough to pop over to the Kalaweit Radio station.

It was so great to see the inside of something so wonderful. Kalaweit Radio reaches out across Kalimantan to spread the music and to spread the word of the gibbon rescue. Thanks to the radio, so many people know who to call when they see an animal in distress and they can be rescued and cared for.

We hit the shops for a quick spree on cookies and chocolates.

We got a great lunch and then headed back home on the boat.

Back at camp, there was just time to feed the gibbons and then hit the sack, pooped!

KALAWEIT , Indonesia, New Year's Day 2010

SELAMUT TAHUN BARU

7.15 here, midnight in the the UK, hangover time in Japan!

I had my 3rd restless night...A couple of times I had to rise in the night. I wouldn't mind so much but the spider was sat right next to the toilet! Aaarg! And a cockraoch on the door on my return....I need to overcome my fear!

After some noodles for breakfast, I was back on track! We think that I might have used the wrong water to brush my teeth, hence the dodgy tummy.

.............................................

Oh my goodness - just went for 'berenang'!! We took a dip in the Borneo river and went swimming. We sawm to the middle and if you can imagine looking around at the Borneo jungle in the middle of a river 4 or 4 times wider then the Thames (or more)...WOW!! It felt more than good, a kind of raison d'etre, if you will, topping off an already ultimate adventure...la cerise sur la gateau!

..................................................

12pm - DRAMA ON CAMP!!! It was feeding time, and one of the staff members announced that a gibbon had escaped!!! I had no idea what it would entail, so when I finished up with Tongki, I went to have a peek, by which point, Bolang, the said escapee, had been caught in a net and was being put in a cage. He had pulled apart the wiring on his own cage, proving that they were not infallible, even though they look pretty sturdy. Bolang's arms reached out of the cage a few times, grabbing at the branches, almost toppling himself. He is quite aggressive.

Watching the scene and thinking how great Nanto, the vet was, I was reminded that I could never take on something like that. As much as I love helping the animals in need, the scary ones are just that - scary!

Nanto had to fix the top of the cage as well as the side. Bolang was strong to escape, but thankfully, is safe in his cage once again! Phew.

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Nap tap was viciously interrupted with wails from Ayung, the cook's son. He had been playing with the birds when there was a sudden thud, and shriek! We all heard it and feared the worst. His foot had slipped through some damp wood but was more in shock than in pain. He was crying quite loudly and was happy to receive a Japanese Shippu (cold compress) on his leg.

4pm feeding time! Fun at the fair....I was cornered by the maribu and spent a fair bit of time running forwards and backwards thinking I could out-smart him! I failed and Jean-Pierre had to distract him so I could escape! Thank heavens! Sadly, he and Sophie are leaving tomorrow, so no more rescues!

Back at camp, entertainment was provided by the big sun bear. She was levering on a very insecure tree and bouncing back and forth. It should have snapped, but somehow she was lucky and it didn't. She was determined to reach something on another branch and seemed to not want to give up. Bless her perseverance!

KALAWEIT , Indonesia, New Year's Eve 2009

Still feeling a little bit icky - sleep was interrupted at midnight again, then 4am too. Ugh.

Then, people were outside chatting and working and then before long, the whole camp was awake. Turns out they were loading  up a big boat with the cages they had been taking down. The journey up north had started.

I think it's going to be a lazy day today. My tummy aches, I just want to rest; it feels like a Sunday. It was raining a bit when we all woke up.

6am - Feeding time was quite straight forward. Tongki likes my glasses! He had a play with them and my hair too, as I reached in the cage to clean his poo.

The old maribu

Just woke up from a nap! It's 11am.

Hanging out the laundry

We went through the two camps earlier handing out eggs earlier, clearly too much exercise for one day!

The new volunteers arrived too, another French couple, Pauline and Frederic. Welcome to camp!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's 8.30pm and I am ready for sleep, but Kill Bill is the film of the night, so we are staying up 'late' to watch it.

No doubt, we will be asleep when the Indonesian clocks chime, but we will be able to do the Japanese New Year in 1.5 hours (we missed Oz), then at 6am tomorrw, we can do the French New Year and 7am, England!

I can't wait to make contact with home (all homes!) , but am still loving the gibbons and the peace!

I have decided that I want to help a lot more with Kalaweit and the people here. One Hapatitis B shot is 400 000 Rupiah. Apparently, that is half a salary here (I am guessing one month..), but workers for kalaweit need 3 of these shots....

Burning garbage

It just goes to show how much help and support Kalaweit needs. You can become a friend with a small donation a month.

www.kalaweit.org

KALAWEIT , Indonesia, 30th December 2009

It did, in fact, rain and rain in to the night. We went to bed at 9pm and I passed out pretty much straight away, but the sleep was to be interrupted. We have what we might call a 'dicky tummy' situation. Actually, since yesterday morning, toilet trips became a small issue. Hopefully, things will get better - I just need to refrain from the double portions and the chile!

There's still no sign of the French couple, but maybe they will come today? Chanee should come over too - we might go trekking in the forest, on the hunt for orang-utans and proboscis monkeys and other wildlife.

Now, it's just chill time. Tongkiki has been fed. We are pairing up Leah and Smikey later too. If they hug, they stay together, that would be amazing, partners for life.

......................................................

My goodness, what a day!!

We went to give the gibbons at camp 1 their chicken treats.

There was one who held out her hand - Pluton, very cute, like Tongki, just wanted to hold mine. I held her hand, even took a photo, but we have to remember that this is not right and she shouldn't be trusting humans. We must remember that these little apes belong in the wild and not reaching out to humans.

Then, Chanee and Sam arrived. Sam is an awesome dog, so full of life and active. Ian would love him!

Chanee brought some bad news about Smikey, he has hepatitis B, so he can't be mixed with Leah now. We have to wait a few months and test again and wait for it to clear up. Poor Smikey.

Then, Chanee took us into the rainforests of Borneo! What a formidable experience and definitely a dream come true!

We packed into the boat, jumped knee deep into water and trekked through the jungle. Overhead, trees stood tall around our feet; damp marshes of leaves, soggy tree trunks, and entwining plants that, at times, did not want to want to let us go!

The water sometimes reached hip level and I fell over heaps of times, shrieking like a gibbon in the process!

The Borneo jungle is as you would expect, but there was a little extra magic, the sounds.

The sounds were amazing! Amongst the green and brown tranquillity, there were distant gibbon shrills, frogs croaking, and twigs cracking under my big, heavy feet! It was a tranquillity like none other, and a far cry from the crowded, traffic-filled streets of the big city!

We didn't manage to see any orang-utans, but we had the chance to see a few fresh nests. We waited nearby, but to no avail. Miraculously, we made it back to the boat, despite having wondered around the jungle for hours. (I still have no idea how you can have such acute bearings in the middle of the jungle!)

On return to the island, we had lunch with Chanee and then went to take Manisa's blood sample. It is an arduous process. First he is drugged with a mix of ketamine and another drug which makes the wake up process not so much of a shock and minimises convulsions.

Once Manisa is out of it, the blood is taken. The 2 syringes worth of blood then need to be separated (white and red blood cells) and then sent to Jakarta to be tested. For one set of tests, it is 250 euros, not including air fare... it all adds up.

Manisa woke up for his milk at 4pm. That was good. Tongki was there too and ate 4 bananas and just over one syringe of milk.

When Chanee left, so did a few other members of staff. The camp was the quietest ever! Nanto, the vet, the cook, her son and us 4 volunteers.

Oh, I have started to make my plaque for the wall. So far, I have carved out the words ''Gibbon you love''. (It seems the gibbon gags shall never end!)

There is a really big storm overhead. The rain is heavy and it sounds like it will be with us for the duration. Tongki hates it. With each clap of thunder, he hits the floor, flat.

The rain brings the spiders, and, in the middle of the night, running out to the toilet is not an easy task....!!

KALAWEIT , Indonesia, 29th December 2009

There's a new couple arriving today, so I have moved into Adam's room, into the bed where the snake was found!!!!

The couple will complete the camp as there are three rooms, each with two beds for the maximum of 6 volunteers.

This is a great balance because we get to work closely with the members of staff and get a much more hands on experience.

Adam has volunteered at 2 other gibbon places in Thailand, where there are as many as 30 volunteers at one time. It was much harder to get more directly involved.

In Thailand and Vietnam, there is a big market for gibbons as pets. Atrocious.

I had thought that, like the orangutan, that gibbons were limited to the Indonesian islands, but this is not true at all.

The pets are kept in cages outside houses in Thailand and Vietnam so that when visitors arrive to the house, the poor gibbon makes noises, most probably feeling threatened by the new visitor. Such cruelty.

I felt super tired today, but dragged my lazy body out of bed knowing that I could see Tongki. He was, as always, so cute, holding my hand, like he does all the time now.

Then, a spot of laundry. I rather enjoyed doing the towels, it's very therapeutic, especially to the sound of the gibbon song and in the heat of the sunshine.

So now, we await breakfast followed by the arrival of the newbies...busy, busy!!

Still very knackered, I am now sprawled on the veranda half dozing. I was about to pass out when, at 11am, we decided to go and check on the gibbons and collect the garbage from their cages. The garbage is mostly strong, or empty cartons from their strawberry milk treats, but we managed to load up an wicker basket.

Then, the banana delivery came...! By boat! So, we loaded them into the hut. Hopefully, there will be some lengpek for tongki too! Ayung and I ate some fresher than fresh rambutan..YUM!

It is bliss out here. Right now, midday, some of the gibbons are calling to one another, the birds are singing and the frogs are ribbiting. Simply wonderful; a great time to let you mind wander.....

When I woke up, it was so hot I could barely move. but, I could hear that Rio was leavng to go back to Sumatra. He would often help at Hampapak when Nanto, the local vet wasn't on the island. Some other staff leave too, and camp feels very empty.

The stillness and the peace are quickly shattered by young Ayung shouting BERNANG!!! to me at the top of his voice. He wants to go swimming. Everyday, he wants to go swimming!

Boiled bananas!!

Now there is a treat! Plus a few regular ones for desert. The taste is amazing, so sweet, so fresh.

There is a gentle storm brewing, imagine this - sheet lightning across the forests of Borneo. For once, it is not a scary storm, more one that you can marvel at and enjoy for the distance adds to the safety. It's not even raining here yet, but I am sure it will by bedtime...

KALAWEIT, Indonesia, Monday 28th December 2009

What a life!!

I woke up a little before the gibbons started their song, so I went out to take a video and record the sound!

But, the video is barely a glimpse of the magic, you should really come here to see for yourself!! Kalaweit is always welcoming volunteers, so do check in!

In the bathroom, the spider has moved across the wall somewhat and has a couple of friends with him, one installed behind some bottles, but remains undisturbed, even by me.

6am - The love affair of the century! Tongki and myself!

He hardly wanted to eat, more be sleepy, cute and hold my hand. When he looks you in the eyes, his stare is intense, with such trust, but such hidden sadness too.

The tears well up as I write this two hours later, so you can imagine the wreck I am at feeding time.

It is a wonder he trusts humans at all. I cannot imagine the things he has seem and the family he has lost. The reality is, poachers probably shot his mother and father dead before his young eyes. But the poaching (for pet purposes mainly) isn't always so straight forward. Sometimes the whole family might be killed, so the poachers go find another family.

Up to 10 gibbons can die, just so one person can have a gibbon as a pet.

Of course they are adorable, but we have to let them live their natural lives. However, it is hard to let go when Tongki pulls back on my hand, clearly feeling relaxed and content in my presence.

Then it was time to feed the rest of the gibbons. They are all so different! Thankfully, I was a little more prepared and remembered the aggressive ones!

Chanee came by and talked with us just before lunch. What we were talking about made me realise how me feeding a small cute gibbon was such a tiny deed in the the big picture. There is so much going on in Indonesia. There is a lot of corruption too. It made me realise that I wanted to share my knowledge and support Kalaweit forever. And no, we have Kalaweit in Japan, as well as Australia, Belgium, Germany and of course, France.

We spent the afternoon playing with the Maribu. He is a funny bird, he stares at you with his glassy blue eyes, but he does like to step a little too close for comfort!!

He even cornered me down by the boats before...scary. You don't want him pecking you with that beak!

By now, the only noises to be heard belong to the flies, the geckos and Ayung, the cook's son, who is throwing bits of coconut around!

It is simply amazing to be amongst this and it's Borneo! How lucky am I to be here!!

the peacefulness is suddenly shattered by Ayung jumping on my back, but it's such fun!

After a rather yummy lunch, with crispy fried salmon, I realised I had to cave in and pass out. I woke up (feeling sticky hot!) at 3.30pm! What a great nap, and just in time for Tongki's feeding time.

4pm - I'm totally going to sponsor him when I get back. It will be amazing to follow his development and growth until his release into the wild, with a partner, where he belongs.It is great that you can adopt gibbons, I totally recommend it!

http://www.kalaweit.org/kiap1-a.php#comm

As we sat around waiting for dinner, it rained a heavy rain. Very quickly, puddles were formed ...again. I tried to imagine the flooding from earlier on in the month and how it would affect everything. At least for the gibbons, as I have said before, they would just go to the top of their cages.

The gibbons that would stay nearer the ground at feeding time, Chanee explained to us, are the ones who would attack if they were released. If they hang from the cages more freely, they will be the ones more likely to adapt to their new surroundings when released.

We also talked about the rainforests here in central Kalimantan. It is here where most of the trees have gone, so there is nothing for animals like the gibbon and the orangutan.

The whole situation is corrupt. Even for the move, Chanee needs to pay extra costs to transport the wooden cages to prove he is not logging, which is silly, as he is running an organisation against all that. It is just a way for people to get extra money.

And then, there is the issue of palm oil and, I am just skirting over the simple points. It goes much deeper than this, with people on the same sides fighting and disagreeing too.

All we can do is help; there is no one simple answer.