Sunday, September 20, 2009

Dayak Village and Samboja Jungle Lodge


We said good-bye to our dive buddies and headed for the bustling capitol of East Kalimantan, Samarinda. There we planned to see the Islamic Center which is located on the banks of the Mahakem River. We were told by our guide that this was the largest Mosque in S.E. Asia. We also planned to see some of the Dayak culture in a nearby village, and visit the Sultan’s palace in Tenggarong. We briefly toured the Dayak village of Pampang; long enough to meet the village chief, who offered to pose for 3 photos for $2.50. We all purchased some of the local artisan’s beadwork at the souvenir shop and just before leaving town, we stopped by to meet one of the elder women of the village that still sported the decorative long ears. Apparently, now a large percentage of the women who have the long ears are opting to have plastic surgery to reduce the size, due to increasing harassment by people when they are outside of their village. Our attempt to visit the Sultan’s palace was foiled due to the fact that the palace is apparently closed during the week. I guess they just forgot about that minor detail when we booked the tour. Oh well, these things happen, so off we went to Samboja.


Samboja is a 2000 hectacre private reserve owned by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS), located about 45 minutes out of Balikpapan. The primary function of the facility is Orangutan care and rehabilitation. The ultimate goal of the program is to prepare rescued Orangutans for release to their future protected habitats. To date they have rehabilitated and released 400 Orangutans back into the wild. They currently have 221 Orangutans living at the facility. They inhabit 6 separate islands surrounded by a mote. The Orangutans don’t know how to swim so the mote keeps them confined to the island. We were told that they learn quickly and that occasionally one does escape by cleverly testing the depth of the water with a stick and then measuring the level to their body to see if it’s shallow enough to wade across. While we were there, one such male escaped his island and was found cavorting amongst the females on the next island. They had to take him down with a tranquilizer gun. One of the islands contains Orangutans that have Hepatitis B. Cages located on a hillside far from the lodge contain Orangutans that have been treated for TB. It is uncertain whether they became infected by humans or contracted it in the wild prior to their capture. Orangutans share 93% of the same DNA as humans therefore disease transmission is possible. Contact with the Orangutans at the facility is limited due to their vulnerability to contracting human illnesses and because they are trying to re-educate them as to their relationship with humans to protect them after their release.

In addition to Orangutan rehabilitation, Samboja also rescues Sun Bears. Currently there are 52 bears at the facility. Typically the Sun Bears have come from much more abusive situations and have therefore never learned to be bears. The preserve is their home for now, but one day they hope to be able to reintroduce some bears to the wild also. In the year 2000 the land here was mostly deforested grassland, but now 9 years later due to an aggressive reforestation program, putting to work and educating the locals, there is a lush secondary forest throughout the preserve. Deforestation in East Kalimantan is a big problem and is related to illegal logging and huge fires that often originate from the multiple coal mines in the area. We have learned a lot during our short stay here at Samboja and now have a new understanding of the plight of the area and their hope for the future. We are wrapping up our adventure here in Borneo with just a couple more outings to go. Next entry will feature our trip to the Black River to see Probiscus Monkeys, and our climb to the top of the forest canopy at Bukit Bangkirai.

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