Sekonyer River Cruise to the Tanjung Puting National Park

Our only stop in Borneo, the largest island in the Indonesian archipelago, was made to the port town of Kumai.  Kumai lies some 20 nautical miles up the mosquito infested Kumai River and the purpose of our visit was to see the nearby Tanjung Puting National Park.  Covering 415,040 hectares, the park was first set aside by the Dutch in the 1930s to provide sanctuary for orangutan and proboscis monkey.

Receiving between 2 and 3 metres of rainfall annually, the park is the largest tropical lowland rainforest protected area in central Kalimantan.  Besides endangered orangutan and proboscis monkey it is also home to 7 other primate species along with clouded leopard, dugong, dolphin, many fish species, 200 bird species and many reptiles and amphibians including freshwater crocodiles. Unfortunately the park has a poor record of conservation management and today much of its forest is highly degraded, with illegal logging, illegal mining, illegal clearance for palm oil plantations and wildfires said to be the major management issues.

In 1971 Dr Birute Galdikas, a Canadian primatologist, established Camp Leaky on the bank of the Sekonyer River within the park.  The camp was first set up to study wild orangutan populations and, later on, as a location to reintroduce into the wild rescued and orphaned orangutan.  The camp continues to this day as an ecotourism education centre, as a rehabilitation centre for orangutan, as well as a base for research into the orangutan and other rainforest inhabitants.

To travel into the park we teamed up with Gote and Rosalind from Veedon Fleece and contracted an ecotourism operator in the town of Kumai.  He arranged all the details of our visit, including a boat, skipper, cook, deck hand and guide, along with all the necessary permits and police clearances, and perhaps most important of all, a security guard for Mojombo.

Our river boat and home for two days, the Batavia with toilet /shower aft, upper deck for us punters and lower deck for the crew.  We slept aboard on mattresses under mozzie nets and ate wonderful meals at the table

 Travelling up the Sekonyer River we passed many Dayak fishermen and their villages.  The Dayak are the native peoples of Borneo and many live in and around the park.

African Queen style, but alas without the gin, we head up river, which gradually narrows. Moving into the park itself the jungle closes in each side and Batavia frequently has to shoulder through rafts of floating vegetation.  Nina sights several freshwater crocodiles (as did our guide – but no one else).  We spot our first orangutan nests, then several groups of long-tailed macaque and proboscis monkeys.  Landing ashore we walk through the jungle to several different ‘feeding stations’, including the now famous Camp Leaky.  These feeding locations were first established to supplement the diet of rescued and orphaned orangutan, animals that now live mostly independent lives but still have some level of human dependence.  Wild animals also visit the feeding stations, and of course these locations have become vital to the flow of tourists through the park.

The river gradually narrows while our ‘crocodile spotter’ mans her post...

... and further narrows – here passing another group of tourists – there were many boats basically of the same design as our Batavia taking groups up and down the river.

The jungle presses in on each side.

We spot our first orangutan nest – orangutan are mostly solitary
animals and make these nests each night upon which they sleep.

On shore walking to a feeding station we pass a ranger checkpoint
where Zeke and Nina pose with this gibbon.

At the feeding station more than one species can be observed observing the action...

... and this is what they’ve come for, a free feed!

Most at home in the trees ...

... their long limbed strength and flexibility
 is stunning.

Baby orangutan stay with their mothers until
they are 7 or 8 years old.

Here a large male rapidly approaching his prime displays some of his repertoire of facial expressions – is it this that provides us humans with such endless fascination?

Before we knew it our two days were up and we were headed down river and back to Kumai.  But no there was still more in store!  As the sun set the banks came alive with monkeys, and we had several remarkably close encounters with proboscis monkeys.  These endangered species are found only in Borneo and may number fewer than 8,000 animals.  As the name suggests they have the most elegant Jimmy Durante schnozzes.  What a wonderful trip!

Fading light, tiny camera, distant subject – but you can still make out that schnoz!

Rosalind and Gote, our most companionable traveling companions

Our Visit to Tana Toraja

From Wokatobi we made our way to the old city of Makassar on the southwest corner of Sulawesi.  While there we took a three day trip to the highland region where the people known as Tana Toraja live.  This post is all about that trip.  I am sure I’ve been far too verbose – but I really enjoyed the trip and could have written far more.

Like proper, pukka chappies on safari, we took a driver and a guide – having first appointed a guard for the boat (... and just in case of accident we always took our Mum).  Much of the first and last days were spent driving to and from the highlands, although we made frequent stops along the way to look at points of interest.

The Torajan people are migrants to Indonesia, arriving during the Han dynasty sometime between 2500 and 5000 BC.  There are three main aspects of the Tana Torajan culture of specific interest to tourists:

• the very distinctive architecture of their traditional houses
• their distinctive crafts available for sale, including weaving and carving products,  and
• the elaborate death rituals traditionally observed.

Tongkonan
The traditional Torajan house, called a tongkonan, is suggestive of an upturned boat hull, with a layered bamboo roof, low in the centre and sweeping skywards at each end, and featuring elaborately decorated wood work.  Precisely orientated with respect to the sun, tongkonan are first thought to have hung from jungle trees, high up the mountains (this might explain their distinctive roof form as the bottom of a catenary).  We have been told that with the coming of Dutch missionaries the people were forced to settle in the lower valleys and place their houses upon the ground.

the ancient tongkonan (on the left), and rice barns (on the right - basically smaller versions of tongkonan) seen in the village of Palawa

our fantastic guide Rusli, explaining some of the symbology embedded in these structures

some of the elaborate detailing and ornamentation of the tongkonan and rice barns

Crafts
Crafts include beautiful woven textiles using a variety of natural fibres and elaborate carvings, such as tau-tau (see later explanation).

Torajan artisans at work

Death Rituals
The death rituals of the Torajan people are complex, and have evolved over time, particularly one assumes, under the influence of the Dutch Christian missionaries.  Many rituals and beliefs of the animist Torajans were disallowed by the missionaries, but the death rituals were permitted to continue and have been incorporated within church practice.

When a person dies the body is laid in state in a specific corner of the house (NW corner??).  The body is embalmed and contemporary practice is to inject it with formalin.  It is then wrapped in many layers of cloth to keep odor to a minimum.  The body may lay in state for ten or twenty years while family members decide when/how to hold the funeral service ( a committee is established) and to save up the necessary cash.  During this time the body is treated as still alive, but perhaps sick and each day is offered food/drink/cigarettes and the like.  A white flag flying outside the house signifies a body in state.

Final interment may take place in one of three places:

• in a natural cave formation – the cheapest form of funeral,
• in a liang pa or hollowed out artificial cave, carved out of native rock, sometimes high upon a cliff face, or
• in a patane or purpose built concrete shrine building.

In ancient times the body was placed in a wooden coffin and hung from an overhanging cliff (erong).  We were told this system dates from the 11-12 century and erong can still be seen at selected sites.

coffins hung from cliff overhangs (erong) at Londa

cave interment at Londa

liang pa or purpose made interment cave

a concrete tomb or patane

The point of a funeral is to send the spirit of the deceased to the spirit world (now heaven?!!).  The higher a corpse is interred the quicker the ascent.  Hence the interment of nobles very high up on cliff faces.  The spirit may also continue to inhabit a tau-tau (a carved effigy of the deceased), placed here on earth, although it is unclear whether this practice still continues.  If proper custom is observed the tau-tau will look out over the village and will bring blessings to the direct family and the broader village.  Coffins, liang pa, patane and tau-tau are all actively maintained by the deceased’s family and offerings are frequently made of food, cigarettes and the like.

even coffin-less ancients are honoured with offerings

 the enigmatic tau-tau at Londa, looking, for all the world, like box seat occupants at the opera

tau-tau and liang-pa at Lemo

cliff details, Lemo

 The price of a funeral varies enormously.  The funeral proceedings may span 3 weeks or a month with a multitude of guests, speeches, eating and drinking.  These are important social occasions and often courtships take place at funerals. Central to the ceremony is the offering of buffaloes and pigs and the drinking of a strong spirit prepared from palm wine.  Spotted buffalo are the most highly prized and are very expensive to buy.  Many of the beasts are slaughtered during the ceremony and eaten by the assembled family/guests (we understand it can get very gory).  The buffalo are believed to assist carry the deceased on their passage to the spiritual world.  A big funeral my involve the direct family offering upwards of 300 beasts – although nowhere near all are slaughtered.

being central to their death rituals buffaloes, including the prized spotted buffaloe are reared with the utmost care by the Torajans

According to our guide buffalo surplus to the ceremony are offered up for auction within the community.  The money collected becomes a direct social dividend to the broader community, being dedicated towards the construction of things like a new church, school, bridge or some other community need.

Our Itinerary
We stayed two nights in the town of Rantepao, in the heart of Tana Toraja country.  From here we went to various sites obviously developed for tourists, each with many art, artisan and trinket sellers competitively offering their wares.  We have been told that many of these sites have been inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List.

like so many Indonesians, our great driver Rul really took a shine to Zeke and Nina

Places visited included:

• the village of Palawa where we saw very old tongkonan (houses) and rice barns that are thought to date from 1600 AD, although they have been continuously maintained from that time.  
• the village of Sa’dan, which we were told was the centre of Torajan weaving.  
• Batu Tumonga (1300metres ASL), a hill top ascent high over the main valley.  On the ascent we passed through many small Torajan villages, past beautiful terraced rice paddies, grazing buffalo, coffee, clove, palm and cocoa plantations.  We saw many liang pa and patane.
• Londa, a natural cave and cliff overhang site featuring tau-tau, erong and liang pa.
• Lemo, a cliff overhang site with many tau-tau and liang pa.

rice paddies, , churches, buffaloe, tongkanan, liang pa and patane combine to create the unique Torajan landscapes

a unique cultural landscape that somehow continues to survive and reaffirm itself into the 21st century

Our visit to Toraja Land remains an important highlight of our time in Indonesia.