Last days: Camp Rassaw

We can feel that the paradise time is coming to end. There’s just one week to say good bye to this amazing place, to this VERY NICE PEOPLE I’ve meet here.
Now we have the great pleasure of being working in a place that not a lot of people can see. We are on a place called “Camp Rasak” Tourism are not allowed here and is one of the places where Orangutan Foundation releases orangutans from the “Care Center” that I’ve visited a couple of weeks before. Here there are two buildings that other groups of volunteers builded before me, but now they realized that the kitchen was too small and we’ve come here to make a new one. It’s an easy job (looks easy… at the moment…) but the best thing is that we have a lot of time to walk, swim on the river (Indonesian people says that there’s no crocodiles here) and enjoy the moments that the orangutans give us. There’s maybe 15 or 20 orangutans that a few years ago were on the care center, and when they become enough all to be able to “walk alone”, they were released here. They still need the human contact (we are like her mothers…) and hopefully during the next months or the next years they will be enough self confident to live by their own on the jungle. Now, is usual to see one of them walking to you and sit at your side, or trying to climb at your shoulders to you to carry it to another place… that’s great. It’s good to see that an orangutan that once was orphan and provably will die in a few days, thanks to Orangutan Foundation now is still alive and climbing the trees. Hopefully in a 2 or 3 generations the “new babies” will have forget that once her grand mother was killed for human people…
Well… after this boring history, I hope you’ll enjoy the pictures. Here you’ll see just a small part of my great feelings here, but if you want to feel something similar, I’ll tell you how to do it. It’s easy and very nice. Amazing.

Next week will be the last. Normally the last week of the volunteer program, people go to Camp Leakey again, but this year will not be possible. Fortunately, we will be able to stay here all this week, so will be like Camp Leakey but in another place. I hope to take a good pictures!!! I’ll show it to you!

Bye

Another week has gone!

Hi again!
Another week on the jungle has gone!
All of us we are working hard trying to finish as soon as possible the task we have been asked to do, but we also have time for a little bit of fun and pleasures. In Abdy’s birthday (Abdy is one of the Indonesian carpenters who’s living and working with us) we celebrate a big “dressing party”, and I was dressed like a typical British old lady, and everybody says that I was very nice… Some times Ibu Opit (our Indonesian cooker) prepares to us a fabulous cakes and Donuts, another day, Roberta (from Italy) cooks for us a delicious pizza (maybe the best pizza I’ve ever eat???) and I really hope to eat again next week!
The house we are building is almost finished. The walls are done, the painture is done, we’ve builded a cage for the new orangutans before to release them definitively to the amazing jungle. Almost everything is done. Only the toilet and the “cleaning service” we’ll not be able to do it because there’s still water surrounding the building and we cannot work on the floor or burn all the small pieces of wood that we haven’t used during the construction. In a few days (maybe weeks… maybe months…) when the water level will be again lower, someone will have to come here to do it.
In our group, Jasha (from South Africa) is a very good artist (is his real profession), and it takes just a couple of days to paint an amazing orangutan’s face to the house’s wall. I like that man. He is very funny and he has a nice conversation. Is nice and interesting to spend the time talking with him (and also you laugh a lot with him!!)

More pictures from the jungle!

More pictures of Camp Leakey...

Well... today it seems that the computers are not so lazy and seems that they are working right, so I'll try to upload a few more pictures...

The first one, is the celebration of "La diada Nacional de Catalunya" (special day in Catalonia's tradicion). It was the 11-september (yes, I know... the same day than the twin towers in NY, but it's just a coincidence). Well... the morning of the 11-s I took my "senyera" (the name of my country's flag) and I left the team house looking for a funny picture with some orangutan.... and I've founded a youngmale called Samson. He's very friendly, and he was been playing a few moments with the flag, and that's one of the pictures that I have with him and the Senyera, celebrating "la diada Nacional de Catalunya".

The other pictures I took them from the Klotok (the riverboat), on the way to Camp Leakey. There is a lot of monkeys, birds, beautiful trees... everything is beautiful... You should come and see it!

Back from Camp Leakey!

Wow!

Too much emotions in a few days... what should explain first??...

First we went to the "Care Center", the place where the new orphan orangutans arrive to take care on it. They will be there till they'll be not less than 6 or 7 years old. There are a lots and lots of young orangutans that arrive everyday from everywhere. Is so sad... but afortunately they are people like Orangutan Foundation who takes care about them and work hard to try to release again once they are enoug strong and ready to try to live in the jungle (but near the foundation's guys). There, in Care Center, we've been able to touch and hold on baby orangutans... it's something amazing to feel how strong they hold you... it's a shame that they will never feel the touch and the protection of her mother again...

We've been 5 days in Camp Leakey, the place that Orangutan Foundation has in the middle of Tanjung Puting National Park, like a center to release orangutans. There you can found all the peace that the jungle offers, and also, a group of released orangutans who live in the area near the camp. Some of the orangutans are living in Camp Leakey, but another ones only can be seen from time to time (they are free, so only go to the camp when they want, and as less they go to the camp is a good new, because that means that they are enoug selfeficient to look for food by themselves..)

Well... I've seen lots of them. From the riverboat, at the camp, at the feeding platform... lots! I'm so happy!

One day, "Princess", living legend of Orangutan Foundation (she was the first orangutan who learns how to talk with humans trough symbols, pictures and signs with her hands). Well...Princess was near the Team House (were we've been living in Camp Leakey), and when nobody was taking care of the door, she goes in. She takes a bag from one of the volunteers andtry to hide. I try to take the bag frm her hands, and "during the battle", she bites my leg. I will survive, but I promise... she's really strong!! Just a couple of minuites before that she bites me, I took a picture with her (the one which our faces are really close...), and just after the bite, we were friends again. No problem. No regrets!!

The day before, walking on the camp, we meet Akhmet and Atlas (th baby). They were really quiet and, surprisingly, Atlas left the mother for a moment and try to touch mi foot. Just a moment later, he walks from her mother to my leg and give a kiss to the bruce that the day before Princess makes me with a bite! Something amazing!

Today, coming back from Cam,p Leakey, It has been raining a lot, and my backpack is now completely wet. All my clothes, my sleeping bag, my books... everything is wet. But... welcome to the jungle!!!

2nd week... gone! Tomorrow: Camp Leakey!!!

I would like to seem really happy, but I can't. I was really happy and hoping to sit down and write about all the things that had happened during the last days, but after trying for 3 hours to use a computer (... yes, 3 hours!!!!) I can't be really happy. I've tryed 7 diferent computers, but today there's a conspiracy against me and the USB ports to connect my cards to upload the pictures. Internet is used to be REALLY slow on this countries, but I was not expecting to have this kind of problems with the USB... Finally, after a long time trying, I've founded a computer that seems (for the moment seems...) that wants to work (fingers crossed...)





Well... I don't know exactly what to say... since I've arrived to Borneo, I think that today is the first day without rain. Normally ir rains a little bit every day. It's suposed that on this moment of the year the rains should'nt be usuals, but... that's life... welcome to the jungle!!! The river now is maybe 40cm upper than the day when we arrived to the working place (the "pondock"), but we're still dry... (we try to be dry... but there's no way to dry our laundry... there's a lot of humidity in the atmosphere and the clothes smels horrible!)





When we arrive at the pondock, (the pondock is like a big campsite tent, just a provisional place to live on while people is working near by building another house), there was a building done (where we are slipping now), and another with only the floor and the roof. Since we arrived, we've cemented the walls, start painting, and now we are doing the doors and windows. It's supposed to be finished before that was expected at the beguinning, so maybe (MAYBE), when this site will be completely finished we'll go for a couple of days to another place to make something there. We'll be very pleasured to go there, because Dan (our coordinator) tolds us that there we'll be able to walk a little bit (now all the area where we're living and working is nsurrounded by 40-80 cm of water...). There the river is enoug far and the site is enouh high (from the river level) to not to have problems with water. The most exciting thing isnt't that one... the best thing is that there are orangutans!!! Maybe a population of 20-30 orangutans living on the area, so we'll be working and maybe watching them at the same time... I really want it!

Last days, also happened 2 important things... The first one, I that I have finally found a good book for me! Is the first time that I have finished a book in my life (I promise... the first time without missing pages or chapters...). The book talks about the global economy (I know... souds boring, but it isn't!!!) It's called "Economia liberal per a no economistes i no liberals", and the author is Xavier Sala i Martin (you can read some about him on his site http://www.columbia.edu/~xs23/Indexmuppet.htm I'm sure you'll agree most of the things he says in any of his articles!!! Enjoy it! The second thing is related to an special girl who received some flowers the other day... ;)

Tomorrow I'll go finally to Camp Leakey: the paradise inside the paradise! Finally I'll see orangutans again! I've been here for two weeks and I haven't seen any of them. A few monkeys from the riverboat, a few birds and thousands of insects!, but no orangutans for the moment. Tomorrow finally I'll see them again!. I hope next time I'll write again on this blog I'll be able to show you a few pictures of them... will be amazing... I promise!!!

Well... I've lost a lot of time trying to found a computer to write this, and now I have no more time to write. I hope next week my "internet experience" will be better... I mean "normal".





Have fun!