On Tuesday, took a short day trip to a wildlife rehabilitation center about 30km outside Kuching. Sorry if this is all a duplicate as I tried a post previously but it didn't seem to take. :-(
The center is primarily to put injured or surrendered orangutans back into a wild environment. Because the forest/jungle space is limited they supplement the diet with two meals daily which creates the draw for the tourists to see the orangutans come in to get the bananas, coconuts, yams, etc. laid out for them. It's all an open environment and so no harassment of the orangutans please as they could easily swoop in and take their revenge. About 10 orangutans made an appearance during the visit including three mother’s with very small babies in tow. So so cute! When these large animals swing through the trees they make a lot of noise – you know they are approaching. Didn’t know trees could bend that much.
There were also near the reserve entrance three cages each with a crocodile in it. They were mostly doing what crocodiles do in cages – sit in the water not moving much. But as I approached the third cage the crocodile there let out a warning growl – much like a dog’s growl. Uh….. Not positive what that meant, but I took it as a sign it didn’t want any visitors at that point – which I completely respected and so I left immediately. :|
Then a small group of us took a one hour walk through the jungle/forest lead by a reserve ranger. I had second thoughts about going almost immediately. You know there are things in the jungle/forest that one does not necessarily want to encounter. In this case – leeches. Leeches seem to be pretty common in Borneo when one ventures into the forested areas. A few were pointed out early on in our walk. They were about an inch and a half high and quite skinny standing straight up on end. Think brown wiggly needle. The vibrations of us walking through alert them to a passing meal so they get ready to attach. All I could think about the whole walk was – can we go faster to get this over with. That along with constantly checking my shoes for any leeches that might be making their way up my shoes.
The guide, of course, had a different agenda and was happily stopping and pointing out the different types of plants, etc. along the trail. At one point he was pointing out a spider. One of the other hikers said, “it doesn’t look like a spider” and he replied, “that is because a bunch of spiders are grouped together” (aurgh!!! Please keep moving!)
There were also an abundance of ants making massive paths across the trail and up trees. We also saw some giant ants that were about an inch long – half red and half black. Sort of interesting, he told us that the small ants work together to bring back food, but the giant ants go out and come back on their own.
After the stop to see some bats we were at the half way point heading back via a different route. Now I was at the front of the line (next to the guide) instead of the back of the group, so I was right with him when he stopped to point out the hole of some unknown animal’s burrow at which point I commented we should probably continue so as not to bother whatever might be inside. The next time he stopped to point out another hole I just kept walking right past him.
At last the walk was over! We stopped for a leeches. To my dismay there were about five on my shoes which the guide was very helpful in removing. We all took our shoes and socks off to check for leeches. One had made it’s way right through my sock and attached to my ankle! The guide came right over and put some oil – seemed similar to like a menthol or vicks vapo rub type ingredient and the leech dropped right off. Leeches secret an anticoagulant when they attach so the wound keeps bleeding for some time.
Good news! I did get a photo of my bloody ankle post leech removal. Something for you to look forward to when I’m able to upload pictures!
The banana hand-off.
Click on this picture a couple of times to zoom in for a better view of mom orangutan with infant and what seemed to be another related orangutan. The mom passed some food she collected from the caretaker up to the upper orangutan.
Ankle post leech removal. It's not bleeding much, but it continued to bleed for about an hour.
After my success the previous day in teaming up with other travelers to see the area I decided to try this again. It’s actually quite a stretch for me to approach total strangers and ask to spend the day with them, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As it turns out the move changed the course of my time on the cruise. These people were so fun to be around that I ended up spending much of the rest of the cruise with them and I hope to be in touch for years to come.
