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Lodge in Kutai National Park

Kutai National Park

There are still a few wild orangutans in Kutai National Park. The park, one of the oldest in Indonesia, is today in very poor shape, a victim of the great fires of 1997-98 compounded by illegal logging. A Japanese researcher runs a research camp inside the park. With the aid of the camp assistants, who track the orangutans, we were able to find and observe them in the nearby forest. One afternoon we watched a mother with a baby in a tree with their male guardian. He first tried to frighten us away with slurping noises, then by dislodging branches to throw down. The baby was curious and peeked out of its mother's arms, looking down at us with its bright eyes. While walking through the undergrowth Eric found a giant stick insect and let it crawl over his hand, displaying it proudly to the others. On another occasion we watched a mother orangutan and her young daughter as they searched for food in the trees. They carefully climbed from branch to branch, moving slowly and calmly through the treetops. Wild orangutans are graceful, elegant creatures. We could watch them for hours, lying on our backs, passing the binoculars back and forth.

Cooking in the Lodge Orangutan Fruit?