My Adorable Primates : Orang Utan

I have certain interest in Orang Utan. I know it might sound ridiculous, or at least, my friends who know that fact would furrow their eyebrows and tease me with saying : "huh? you like monkey?" And I'll end up explaining the differences between monkey and Orang Utan to them, that monkey has a permanent evil face while Orang Utan has the most innocent and cute look, ever! 

Look at their eyes!

 (Photo courtesy by orangutanodysseys.com)

(Photo courtesy by www.lbah.com)

If you asked me, what is my dream pet? I would proudly say it's Orang Utan. Always dreamt of having one, yes, the baby. Can you imagine how sweet it would be, to take care of them everyday, play with them everytime, enjoy their innocent spoiled brat attitudes, carry them everywhere I like, and finally release them to the wild once they become adult. Oh, plus, they can always give you a hug! How cute is that. Yeah, I know having them as a pet is illegal. I'm just using my wild imagination here. 

About 4 years ago, a friend of mine, who knew well about my affinity to this fellow primates, sent me a link about this Orang Utan preservation named Camp Leakey, and that very time, I have decided that I will pay a visit someday. Camp Leakey is located in Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia! Yess, hard to believe there's such place like that in here, Indonesia. It was established 40 years ago by Dr Birute Galdikas and her former spouse. Even in her sixty-seventh age, she's still contribute a lot by conducting a training session for palm oil companies. The training mostly concerned about no tolerance in killing or harming endangered wildlife, including Orang Utan, within their plantations. You can have a look at her astonishing profile here. She's so inspiring! 

I did some research about this place on the internet, how to get there, where to stay, etc. Since the location is far enough in the woods, we should boarded an old-school river boat called Klotok and wading through Sekonyer River for hours to get there. LOB (live on board) on Klotok for one or two nights can be a better option than renting an eco-lodge room, they said. Funny thing is, I got this Klotok owner contact from foreign's forum instead of local's. Hey hey hey where did the local people go? beaches, of course. Mainstream, as always.

Anyway, thing that make me excited besides watching Orang Utan directly in the wild, is about to have the 'it' vacation in a deep Kalimantan forest plus stay on the traditional river boat for days. I have an imagination the setting would be like in Anaconda's film, which seems like crazy fun! (of course as long as there's no real Anaconda taking part). 

And...finally the day has come. I already bought return ticket to Pangkalan Bun, the nearest town from Tanjung Puting. The Klotok is ready as well. Now I'm like counting down the days. Can't hardly wait for the adventure!

P.S : I stumbled upon this article 29 days before my departing, and I just can't handle it anymore, they're too cute to be true!!