Deep in the heart of Sumatra, there lives a hungry orangutan.
Her name is Katrina.
She likes long swings on jungle vines, scratching her belly, and picking at fleas.
8 times stronger than a human, she is not to be messed around with. Although this beautiful redhead appears friendly, she would happily snap your arm if it was in the way of anything good.
Apparently she gets it from her mother, Mina, who was raised as a pet, and is well known as the forest bully. Mina is rumoured to have bitten 100+ people, and even features in a song written by the guides (aptly named Jungle Trek, sung to the tune of jingle bells).
Today is day 2/3 on our Sumatran jungle adventure, and Katrina has smelled our delicious nasi lemak. Fried rice, egg, and prawn chips are not on the traditional menu of an orangutan, however, Katrina is more of a gourmand than the other apes.
Sneaking up on us from behind a tree, she gets within a metre of our group just after we’ve started on our meal. Our guide quickly jumps up and throws his lunch off to the side, distracting her while we move our bags and fragile homo sapien bodies to safety.
Being followed in the forest, we end up paying a toll of 3 lunches in order to safely pass by this stretch of forest.
Not my favourite brand of jungle etiquette (I believe rule 1 is don’t feed the animals), but I’m not one to argue with hungry women.
Photo by Gabriele Campagnaro, friend on our trip
Katrina was our 6th orangutan spotted, alongside our closest encounter. Usually staying up in the trees, an orangutan (which means Jungle-Man) spends their day swinging from vine to vine, eating, and taking life easy.
Semi-solitary creatures, we were lucky to spot a few mothers with their young, foraging across the jungle canopy. Apparently the pair stay together for 8 years while bubba learns the way of the forest, before the preteen becomes an angst-ridden bundle of hormones and goes off on his own.
With three days in the jungle, we were treated to gorgeous riverside camping digs, an impressive array of jungle magic tricks from our guides, and a wonderful lack of wifi.
Surprisingly the jungle foliage looked eerily similar to the rainforests I frequent in South East Queensland. However, spotting different snakes, monkeys, and giant ants, it was a unique experience – especially given that we were a 4 hour drive from any nearby hospital.
After battling 100% humidity for two days, it all came to an end with a white water raft* adventure. The river conveniently took take us back to the small town of Bukhit Lawang, where we originally walked into the national park from.
This journey was done with my friends Shu, Jordy, and our jungle tour adoptee Gabriele. Over 2 weeks around Easter, we managed to squeeze in a few spots between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand^. Not nearly enough time in any of the countries, but well worth the taster to get me excited to come back.
Hopefully I get to keep my lunch next time.
- by raft I mean 4 inner tubes tied together in a line, steered by two guys with bamboo sticks and feet pushing off rocks. Going down grade 2 and 3 rapids, I’m unsure if this was an insurance covered activity
^ places we went: Kuala Lampur, Bukhit Lawang, Penang, Langkawi, Koh Lipe
Last 5 photos courtesy of Gabriele Campagnaro
