Animals in their natural habitat is a sight to behold
Colour in Curiosity path:
Jakarta ✈️➡️ Pangkalan Bun (or Pangkalanbuun) 🚘➡️ Orangutan Tour
Nothing prepares you for seeing an animal in its natural habitat and visiting the orangutans in Indonesia was as special as we had hoped it could be.
There are only two species of orangutans in the world. The Sumatran orangutans who are slightly shorter-haired than their Bornean Orangutan cousins, the latter of which we went to visit in the Tanjung Puting National Park.
If you've ever dreamed of going to visit the orangutans be prepared as getting to Pangkalanbun may test you. Indonesia is an amazing country with so much to see and do - having a good plan and an even better itinerary is important to avoid disappointment.
For big-ticket bucket list activities such as this one, we (👱🏻♀️) book as early as the vendor will allow us to when we can (six months, April 2019). So, you can imagine the distress we felt when the airline that we'd booked our flight to Pangkalanbun with emailed us 6️⃣ days before the scheduled departure to inform us that our flight had been cancelled 😱. Not wanting to believe them, we emailed them back to confirm and make sure it wasn't a cruel joke. They confirmed that it was indeed cancelled 😑. We weren't completely unlucky, another airline was going to Pangkalanbun on the same day and would get us in only a couple of hours later than we had planned to arrive, meaning we could still start our tour that day 🙂.
Unfortunately, aviation safety levels aren't the best in this part of the world and the new airline is one of only four in the world with a 1⭐ safety score 🙃. However, as there was no other option available to us we reluctantly booked it and hoped we would experience the airline's first ever 5⭐ day.
4️⃣ days before our scheduled rickety departure the original airline emailed us to say sorry for the mistake but the flight is actually happening, so they wouldn't be refunding us. Which now means we have four seats 😩. We cancel the 1⭐ airline tickets (the refund process takes up to 3 months and they charge a hefty admin fee) and then check-in online with the liar airline, ready for our 6:10am flight. We arrive at the airport at 4am and head to the desk to drop off our bags. The lady then hands us our boarding pass pointing out the departure time - it says 10:45am.
'Delays' of this nature happened to us on both legs of our journey with no explanation. Although they're very clear to call them delays rather than schedule changes (which is what they actually are) so they're not liable to give you any compensation.
As well as safety ratings not being of high standards (within the crew's safety demonstration before take off they also say a prayer, for real), we also found schedules and respecting people's time to also fall extremely short of the standards we're accustomed to.
Long story short, after a lot of I'm so sorry but there is nothing we can do - compensation for any of this is not possible - we made it to the island so that we could start our tour just a little late and are eternally grateful to Orangutan Arut's tour company for their understanding.
Typical tours are done over a few days and exploration takes place on a traditional Klotok boat, where you sleep on deck at night. We (👱🏻♀️) had done a lot of research into the different operators that offer packages and could only find one provider that offers group tours, keeping costs low.
Orangutan Arut's 3 days and 2 night shared trip was the best value package we could find costing £140pp and was better than we could have ever imagined - just probably book your flight the day before to avoid any unnecessary stress.
Day 1 (Arrival and lunchtime start)
Following our nightmare journey, when we finally arrived at Pangkalanbun airport we were greeted by Orangutan Arut's founder (who happened to be on our flight). He then introduced us to our guide and we were taken to Kumai port and boarded our home for the next 2 nights. Shortly after boarding they served us a delicious lunch and we set off down the Sekonyer River.
After lunch it was time to go and see the orangutans feast on their own tasty delights. This first stop offers the best opportunity to get up close and personal with them in the trees.
The first day concluded with a lovely candlelight dinner.
Day 2
Starts with breakfast on the top deck, which is eaten as you make your way to visit Pondok Tanggui to see the 9am feeding.
After the Orangutans demolish their brekkie you then move onto Camp Leakey, the olderst rehabilitation centre. The famous Camp Leakey also provides visitors with an opportunity to get extremely close to the orangutans as they feed. When you're making your way down the Sekonyer River don't forget to also look out for the unique proboscis monkey (famous for their long noses 🤥) and crocodiles.
The day finishes with an incredible firefly-lit dinner (warning: fireflies aren't the only bugs that like nipa palm trees - mosquitoes do too!).
Day 3 (really just a transport day)
Wake-up and have breakfast before returning back to Kumai port. Transfer to your accommodation (or the airport) is included, as well as lunch, if needed.
It's a great itinerary and isn't that popular of an activity (yet!), so if you're thinking this sounds like something you'd enjoy you'll be able to be at all the feeding stops with only a few dozen other people currently.
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