The Sandow's Excellent Adventure: BORNEO

I haven't got the faintest idea why the Sojourn would pull into Borneo. Other passengers we've talked to are of the same opinion. Perhaps its just to let passengers walk on land. Perhaps its to try to stimulate a less than stellar economy. It was a 4 HOUR stop-over. I will let the pictures speak for themselves though. We arrived at the port at 8 am and had arranged for a tour (the only tour available) to visit an Orangutan refuge started about 15 years ago by a woman who had seen an Orangutan in the US and wanted to return it to Borneo.

Unfortunately there are only about 6000 still alive on this island and their habitat has been drastically reduced by deforestation. It would be better to raze the houses and get rid of the people and leave the island to the Orangutans.

The temperature was as expected, 90 with 95% humidity. The people for the most part are unfriendly and unsmiling. I guess they don't have too much to smile about.

The first picture is of the port where we docked.

Once we docked we boarded a bus for the drive to the refuge center. Len took all of these pictures out of the bus dirty windows.

Scenic view from the top of the hills.

After a 40 minute careening bus ride over the mountains (narrow roads with no guard rails) we arrive at the Orangutan center.

Once we got off the bus, our guide told us that we must use a locker to store ALL our carry-ons.
No water bottles, no purses, no packages of any kind. Well that would have been great except you can't
get about 200 people's carry-ons stored while you have to rush for a 10 o'clock feeding of the Orangs
and walk in complete silence to the feeding area single file on a narrow boardwalk in that temperature without being uncomfortable! But we did it.

We stood in the blazing sun for 15 minutes until the feeders came out and climbed a platform 20 feet in the air and about 100 feet away from us and waited until a few Orangutans and another band of monkeys came to the feeding station. Luckily Len takes great pictures!

Here's Dad

A mom and her baby

I think the monkey below is screaming for a little more excitement!

This was the only cute one.

Literally - there were about 20 total monkeys an those 3 Orangutans that came to be fed.
And that was it.

We walked back to the entrance got our bags and boarded the busses. Since we had a half hour to spare, they decided to take us to a Buddhist Temple further in the hills. By accident the bus made a wrong turn and drove us into a posh neighborhood. One of the wealthier enclaves in Borneo.