Out in the rainforest

The next day found us saddling up and heading out for our camp in the rainforest. Our transportation was well worn, but ready for the bumpy dirt roads that would take us to the jungle. It was actually a marvelous vehicle. Simple in its utility. I checked out the cab and found no dashboard to speak of. The wheel just kind of hung there with a stick on the floor to throw it into gear. The best part was that it required no key for ignition. A crank fed through the grill did that trick. And we were off!



Here’s our campsite. Set up lickity split by our guides. They leave the bamboo frame at the site for future camps and just bring in the tarps. On clear nights, it was open air sleeping at our feet. When it rained we closed the tarp door. The open fire kitchen is on the left.



Ah, the kitchen. The culinary pampering continued. These guys produced some stellar dishes with fire, river, and rocks for tools. Here’s Dany getting the spice ready.



Now for the ‘work’: Our days were spent making transects of various lengths. A transect is a hike in a relatively straight line while recording the presence of orangutan nests for each 100 metres. This required the guide with one end of the measuring tape leading the way, a volunteer holding the other, and the remaining people looking for nests. The great thing about these transects was that they were straight lines through the jungle - up and down and around. Truth be told, the attention it took to just watch your step and keep from falling seriously distracted from the nest watching. Fortunately, our guides were quite adept at walking (often barefoot), holding the tape, and catching potential orang nests. The point of these transects is that by extrapolating the information, an estimate of the orangutan population in a given area can be calculated.

Our landscape for full four days of trekking…







Here’s a typical scene after a day of trekking. We’d come back soaked with sweat and often just lay down right in the river to cool off, hoping our clothes would dry for the next morning.



Another typical scene: Leeches! I counted 25 bites by the time our trekking was through. They seemed to like me; mostly going for my ankles, but I also pulled one out of my armpit and another that was making a move for my belly button. Good times!



In addition to our wanderings overland for transects, we also found time to make a couple of forays up river. We would wade through the leech-free water marveling at the incredible surrounding landscape.


Being in the rainforest like this is something I will never forget. Moving through the water with the jungle walls rising beside us on both sides, and dimming the sun, was like moving in another world. As we swam through stone tunnels with jagged teeth like tops that looked as though they’d taken millennia to form, past long mossy vines and roots hanging in the water, it felt as though we’d stepped into the Jurassic age. Upon seeing enormous green leafed plants on shore, someone remarked that it was like being in a Tim Burton movie or something. It was almost unreal. This says a lot about our experience living as we do. People go to the movies, and Disneyland, and the Rainforest Café. So much of our lives are a simulation that when we finally see and experience the real thing we can hardly believe it.


The reality is that the rainforest really is an amazing and magical place. It seems primeval because it is. It has taken millennia to foster the kind of complexity present in a single square hectare. A tall tree’s roots stand exposed; the tree may only be a few hundred years old or less, but the roots are twisted and turning and looking back a million years. This place is remarkable and a treasure. It can’t be recreated in our lifetimes or our great-great-great-grandchildren’s lifetimes, or at Canada’s Wonderland. It must be protected and cherished because it cannot be replaced. If we kill it, we’re killing complex diversity and in effect, killing what makes us possible.


On that note, that’s my head taking it all in.

And check out our luxurious bathing facilities. Sarah demonstrates that this spot kills a bucket shower and many a conventional shower.