Wednesday November 6

Mama Orang-utan (Julia)

Thomas Leaf Monkey

Long Tailed Macaque

We started our jungle trek with a serious uphill climb.  The guides (we had two for the three of us) quickly realized we were not mountain  climbers and learned to go slow and take frequent breaks.  The young one helped us over the rough spots with a hand and carried Joan’s purse because she had a load on water in it.  We ascended about 1000m in 1 km and were only halfway up. (Well maybe 100 m in 1 km but it seemed worse).  The guides then split up to track down the Orangutans and soon enough they led to a mother and baby (their cell phones work in the jungle).  We spent about an hour watching the mother.  She parked her baby in the nest and descended the trees to feed.  The guides can recognise each Orangutan and they told me the mother was 17 and the baby was 1 year old.  The mother will stay with the baby until 6 or 7 and then mate again.  We the had a jungle lunch of bread and jam and lots of fruits and headed back.  We encountered a troop of Monkeys on the way back, but the baby was too quick for me to get a picture.  The older monkeys were quite photogenic.  We came across a single Long tailed Macaque who stayed with us for 2 km.  When I asked the guide why he was hanging around us - he told me the long tails are very social.  The monkey had lost his troop and was hanging around us for company.  At least he co-operated for pictures.