April 7
Another early morning with a 6:30 river cruise to Oxbow Lake. Four people had left the lodge, and we were then paired in the boat with a family with 3 young kids. Sonny knew we were not happy about the rowdy kids and put us in front with them seated in the back.
Previously, our guide told us that they use hand signals to ask a passing boat if a certain animal has been spotted. We started for the lake when we turned around. Apparently, Orangutans had been spotted. Much like when the Pygmy elephant was spotted, we hurried in hopes they would still be there. We did see the elephant yesterday, but we were sure hoping to see Orangutans today.
We soon learned that Sonny did not have the same skills as Erik when trying to point out where critters were. It’s common to use the “clock” for telling people where to look. So, the front of the boat would be 12:00 and right of the boat would be 3:00 and so on. Sonny just said “There! Right there! Can’t you see it? It just moved.” He didn’t use his laser pointer well either. He oftentimes said right when he meant left. Saying something was in a tree was not helpful when you are looking at a forest. Very frustrating. The boat driver was also frustrating to us since our other driver would cut off the motor, so the boat was still for viewing and taking photos and this one didn’t. With so much vibration, it was difficult to use binoculars or take photos.
Add to that a couple of young children that had no interest in being there and fussing, crying, and asking what we are doing and why can't we leave. They even started singing to entertain themselves. The parents tried to quiet them, but honestly, they had no business being there with serious nature lovers trying to see wildlife. Oftentimes, you sit for long periods waiting for a better view or just watching their behavior. Very few very young children would sit still for that.
However today we saw 3 Orangutans. First a 9- or
10-year-old male and later a mother and her baby. Just awesome. All were high up in
the trees and the young male was on the move. I included some bad shots since
they show him moving through the trees. Later the female with her baby came
into view and was a bit easier to photograph.
We spent most of the time watching them and Sonny asked if we were OK with using all of our time with them. Of course, we did not mind!
We came back and had breakfast and then decided to walk to the mini market that was just off the property. (unlike Abai, there were roads and a bit of civilization close by) They had ice cream, so we grabbed some packaged Drumsticks. Topped off breakfast for sure!
Sonny was very nice but was very “in your face”. He was very repetitive and kind of demanded your attention. We found we just had to walk away from him. He saw us coming back with ice cream and asked if they were open. We joked to each other that “no, we broke in and stole it”.
He demanded to know where we were going when we left for the market and weren’t we eating lunch? We said we were just going to the cabin first.
After we had our ice cream, we headed to the pool to cool off. That was nice until some kids showed up and the shrieking started.
Today, there was a choice to have lunch at a Sukau Villager’s house or the lodge. On the schedule was an option to visit Gomantong Cave. Sonny acted like it wasn’t something they often did and said he’d have to set it up. He also quoted a higher price than we were told. Heavy rain was predicted so we opted out of it and went to lunch at the village. (no heavy rain came where we were, but who knows what the weather would have been at the cave)
Sonny was trying very hard to win us over as he knew we weren’t thrilled with his guiding skills or being with the kids. He knew we were birders and pointed out as many as he could find. We decided to warm up to him a bit. We had a lovely walk around the village with Sonny and he was trying so hard to please us.
Sonny told us about the woman whose home we would be vising for lunch and said it would be her “home cooking”. We were the only ones from our lodge to go. There was another table of 4 that were staying at another lodge.
Rose was a lovey Muslim woman who opens her house to guests. She had prepared her simple home cooking, and all of it was wonderful.
Our favorite dish was tempeh. (soy-based and fried and served with a sweet sticky sauce) She had curried squash, sautéed mustard greens and chicken in a soy-based sauce. The desserts were some things she prepared for their post Ramadan open house. Cookies like fried wonton skins with chocolate and as well as a pastry that was all so good. She wanted to pose for photos with us.
We had free time until 4:30 when we took another river cruise. There was a lot of “monkey action”. There was quite a mix of active Pig-tailed and Long-tailed Macaques and some Proboscis monkeys.
We had dinner and went back to pack for our return to Medan tomorrow.
Sonny never learned Cathy’s name and so she became Katy.
It became quite a joke between us as Katy wasn’t very nice, but Cathy of course
is very nice. So, her evil twin was blamed for a lot of things.
This was our least favorite lodge of the 3 for a couple of reasons. Unlike the other lodges it had no boardwalk. The most inconvenient thing was having to remove our shoes every time entered the outdoor dining area. Besides meals, the public bathrooms and the drinks were there. So, unless you wore flip flops, it was very inconvenient to remove hiking boots or tennis shoes. (and using the restroom in stocking feet was gross) It also was less in the wild and quite a contrast from the last village we visited as this one had roads and cars. That said, we did see the elephant and the orangutans here.
For larger photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5gRHSDykQSoULFhk6
I have not labeled any of the birds and will update after Greg gets through all the photos and ID's them. (or I may just include a list on the last post of the trip)
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