by Rumaan Malhotra (Tuanan Research Volunteer)
Borneo has always had an air of mystery about it. The name evokes images of mist-covered rainforest, strange and secretive creatures abound. More recently, the name is associated with palm oil, deforestation, and burning. I don’t know whether I was excited or apprehensive as we left Java. As we approached Borneo from the south, verdant shores greeted us. Only a single plume of smoke drifted lazily across the dark green. As we continued onwards however, 2, 3, 4 more lines of smoke rose up. The coast had just barely slipped out of view as the individual plumes thickened and merged. Within five minutes, the entire view was obscured. We descended towards Palangkaraya, and the sun shrank to an angry red spot in the sky, almost shapeless.
Fortunately, soon after our arrival, early rains cleared the smoke. The day we left for camp was cloudy, but bright and clear. A car ride took us to the Mangkutup river, where a very friendly Pak Nadi greeted us. We loaded our gear onto his klotok (sort of a large canoe with a motor), and were off up the river. I was dismayed to see logging rafts almost immediately, but was soon distracted by our first wildlife sightings. As we rounded a corner, there was a long tailed macaque sitting lazily on a branch, its tail and legs hanging over the water. Not even 10 minutes later, there were two large orangish-white monkeys sitting with their backs facing us. I was later told that they were proboscis monkeys!
We eventually joined up with the much larger Kapuas River, for which this region is named. 15 minutes up the Kapuas, and we landed at Pasir Putih (white sand). Several cute and very smiley children stared at us from the dock, occasionally waving shyly. We helped load our stuff onto the grobak (big wooden cart), and headed off down the trail to camp. I could barely contain my excitement – we hadn’
t gone a hundred meters when I spotted several tiger beetles running along in front of us. As we walked along, we got our first glimpse of the forest. I wondered if there was an orangutan watching us pass by. We passed the little wooden bridge and the “Selamat datang” sign I had seen in photos, and made our way down the raised wooden boardwalk to camp. We had arrived.
CORE BORNEO 