The only wildlife sighting before breakfast was Santiago’s flying fish. However, we’re far too engrossed in Doctor Biruté Galdikas’ lecture to notice, as our interest shifts to land mammals, primates, orangutans to be precise.
Dr. Galdikas gives us a full briefing on our expected visit to Camp Leaky and OFI’s Orangutan Care Center tomorrow. The excitement is building up in anticipation of our visit there, and by the end of morning, we are navigating in sight of the coast of the Kalimantan province of Borneo.
More and more ships are on routes parallel to ours, or crossing our path, a sure indication that we are approaching a major port. At the same time, the colour of the sea has changed to a muddier shade of green. Before lunch, we begin to notice that our wake stirs up silt in places, a sure indication of shallow depth. We even sail close to the prow of what must have been a local fishing boat sticking above the surface, its stern resting on the seafloor, a sad reminder that life at sea is hard and dangerous and many sailors have paid the ultimate price to etch a living from this hard mistress.
The crossing of the sandbar that has ruled our timing over the past few days, only to be undertaken at high tide, is a non-event, and we are now in the mouth of the Kumai River. Lunch is our main preoccupation while we sail the 23 miles upstream to dock in the port of Kumai where we are received like royalty by the locals.
We board buses for a short ride to go and visit the local market bordering one of the tributaries of the Kumai River.
Another short bus ride takes us to the Dayak Long House, a building reflecting a long tradition where we are presented brilliant traditional dancing, first by young school children and then by more experienced young adults. A demonstration of a dart weapon challenges our breath control, which makes us appreciate the skills of our hosts even more.
After dinner, a martial arts demonstration amazed us, followed by a game of flaming football that had us all cheering for both camps. Our intrepid Argentine naturalist, Santiago, even joined on the field after the end of the game to test his ball juggling skills, which cost him his lower leg hairs.
