12. Day 1 at the Samboja Lodge: Orangutans and Sun Bears (October 11)

The Samboja Lodge – wow! The lodge itself is located in the middle of a secondary forest that was nothing but scrub grass and soil unsuitable for farming when the conservation project opened in 1991. Now the 1800-hectare park has more than 13,000 species of plants and hundreds of other living creatures that moved in as biodiversity increased. The simple but elegantly furnished rooms have air conditioning, but meals are eaten in the open-air dining air on the first floor. We get the full experience of 91 degrees 80% humidity every time we step out of our room – a low price to pay for experiences like seeing pig-tailed monkeys leap across treetops from your balcony. 4^th floor observation deck.  all other common spaces, such as the jungle lookout on the fourth level.

The activities of the BOS Samboja Lestari project are explained at their website (https://sambojalodge.com/conservation-work). Sixty percent of the cost of a stay at the lodge goes into support of the program, although it is primarily supported by grants and donations. A stay at the lodge includes guided tours around “orangutan island” and a hands-on experience at the sun bear sanctuary.

THE LODGE:

       After meeting our guide, Imam Muslimin, after breakfast and discussing our interests and priorities, we got in his truck to the Orangutan Island just in time for staff and volunteers to begin throwing fruits and vegetables from a small rowboat onto platforms at the edge of the water. As they passed, solitary orangutans would emerge from the dense vegetation of the island onto the platform and we got to watch, take pictures, and learn about the effort that goes into their conservation work to raise and release orangutans back into the wild. I found an article on the Jakarta Post featuring an interview with Imam when he was the animal welfare director. It shares a lot of information that we were getting while standing on the muddy edge of the man-made “rivers” surrounding the Orangutan Island(s) (https://www.thejakartapost.com/travel/2019/09/15/getting-ready-for-the-jungle-story-of-rambo-and-other-orangutans-at-samboja-lestari.html). I have a photo of Rambo, the large male referred to in the article, hunkered down next to his platform observing us.

       We went to the building referred to as the “post office” with offices, meeting rooms, informative wall photos and paintings, and a lookout area if you don’t mind a little dizziness from 3 stories up a spiral staircase. One of the paintings depicted the goals that were set out for the center when it started, rescue, rehabilitation, release, education and awareness, and fund-raising. Do we think they have been their goals? Absolutely.  

THE MORNING TOUR:

Orangutan Island:

The Post Office:

       We took a lunch break at noon, which for Mom meant taking a brief nap and for me it meant trying to get a few minutes on the computer to write. Afterwards, we were joined by a German couple (relationship undetermined) to go to the sun bear sanctuary. 

     Sun bears are the smallest of the bear species and need densely forested woodlands for optimal survival. Less than 10,000 exist in the wild, and 77 have a permanent residence at Semboja Lestari. None of the bear here will be released into the wild because the researchers don’t have regular enough behavioral patterns to be studied and approved the same way that the orangutans do. They are in much smaller enclosures they would prefer in the wild, based on their solitary lifestyle preference and foraging needs, so a lot of time and effort is devoted to enrichment of their areas. 

THE AFTERNOON TOUR:

     The enrichment activity that we got to participate in was placing and hiding food throughout one of the 15+ enclosures so that the bears had to work in order to find their treats. When Mom was a little confused about what we were supposed to do, I described it as a bear easter egg hunt, but nothing goes on the ground. Being the official Easter Egg Hunt coordinator at Casa Campbell, she was “on it” after that. We spent about 20 minutes on a raised walkway watching 9-year-old Lady Gaga and 11-year-old “Christine” trundle around the platforms and tree trucks placed throughout the enclosure. I was much amused by Christine who came to the center from being a pet where the owners fed her a lot of carbs and she was twice the normal weight of a sun bear. Now, she looks like a sharpei dog with folds of excess skin around her face and upper body.

Hands-On Enrichment Activity:

      After watching the bears in the first enclosure enjoy the enrichment activity that we helped with, it was down to the ground and a little further into the sun bear area to watch one of staff members lob pineapples, dragon fruit, and coconuts to the bears in two opposing enclosures. We were enthralled -  I’m embarrassed to say how many photos I have of these creatures. We ran back and forth across the walkway to get photos of whatever action was most interesting at the time. Pineapples being eaten on the left, then run to the right side to watch a bear husk a coconut with their teeth and suck out the water, then back to left to see one try to get to oatmeal pressed into holes in a piece of wood. Things got even more interesting when groups of local pig-tailed and the long-tailed macaques realized there was free food available. It started with a trickle of a few animals within each enclosure, grabbing a piece of fruit and then darting back to the safety of a tree to eat it. By the time we were ready to leave, it was like someone had turned a faucet on and a parade of 40+ animals filed in from the top of a separate enclosure. It was wild.

Feeding over the fence: 

We came back to the lodge with some time to spare before dinner, so we went to the 4th floor to watch the sunset and to go through photos. Mom finally got a chance to read the blog. When it was time for dinner, the heat and humidity of the day and a Bintag beer from the "snack bar" killed my appetite. I chatted with mom while she ate, and then we both came back to the room to do plan a tour in our next stop, Makkasar, Sulawesi. 

     There is so much to do, see, and Google for more information that I am having a hard time staying on top of this blog. It seems I'm consistently two days behind. I know the family is enjoying the updates, so I'm going to keep on keeping on. Enjoy!