Just 25km north of the thriving oil city of Balikpapan a sanctuary exists to help the original primates of Borneo. The orangutan or in Bahasa Indonesia ‘orang hutan’ which literally translates to jungle person is now on the verge of extinction due to the rapid growth of the palm oil, coal mining, logging, and oil and gas industries. The tropical jungle of Borneo is quickly disappearing along with most of its inhabitants.
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| Bujang - The king of the Island. |
After traveling on the main road out of Balikpapan, we nearly missed the small sign saying ‘BOS’ where we turned down a small dirt road which led us quite a few miles deeper into the jungle. When we finally reached the Samboja Lodge, we were pleasantly surprised, a mixture first class and a true jungle experience. You could lay in your clean sheets under the A/C and look out the window to a jungle of tarzan vines and uncommonly large creatures. It was a beautifully serene lodge which made you want to lounge outside, read a book, and listen to the sounds of the jungle. But we weren’t there to lounge, we were there to learn. This lodge was specifically built to help with the rehabilitation of the orangutans and the honey bears so that they can be successfully introduced back to what little jungle is left. The program is similar to a school for children where you must pass one grade before you move onto the next. There are 3 levels which get progressively harder where the final level is almost an exact representation of what the orangutan might experience in the jungle. Monitoring of orangutans who have already been reintroduced has shown that this program is extremely successful.
Visiting Samboja is not just any tourist attraction. Many people come expecting to be able to hug and play with the orangutans and leave feeling disappointed that the price was so expensive and they couldn’t even touch the animals. But this is not the point of the program. There are many places all over Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia which have taken orangutans and trained them to be good around humans. This is exactly what this program is trying to prevent. They are trying to put the orangutans back into their original surrounding, which is without contact with humans and in order for this to be successful, contact with humans must be minimized. They have kept two islands which are special for visitors where it is possible to observe them from a distance. The orangutans on this island will never be reintroduced to the jungle and are meant only to give the visitors a brief glimpse of the behavior and life of the orangutans.
The work to prepare the orangutans for reintroduction is long and tedious. Rain or shine, the orangutans must be fed, monitored and examined. Once they are truly ready to be reintroduced, the struggle is only just beginning, not just for the orangutans but for the workers at Samboja. Every small amount of land must be fought for and paid for and continually monitored to ensure that nobody comes and starts cutting down the forest. On the surface, the government is supportive of the program, but deep down it can become more vague, with unexplained taxes popping up seemingly out of nowhere which must be paid in order to keep their land protected. One of the biggest problems is coming from the palm oil industry because the orangutans are a big fan of eating the fruit from the palm oil tree. The owners, working to protect their crop, have taken to murdering these foragers looking for a juicy treat.
Being that their DNA is 98% similar to humans it is difficult not to feel close to them and nobody knows that better than the workers at Samboja. They have committed their life to trying to save the orangutans and honey bears and what more can we do by giving a little of our time to try and help them.
Helping is not always about giving money, but can be as simple as spreading the word through an informal conversation. So get out there, start talking, and maybe one day it will finally get to the ears of the people that can really make a difference.
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