Batang Ai

We left the bamboo longhouse at 9:30ish to embark on the long journey over to Batang Ai. It took about 6 hours in total, including a stop in Serian where we visited a massive fruit and veg market. The Malaysian people may have a strong resting bitch face, however getting past this they are truly lovely people. We would regularly be offered free tasters and even free bags of fruit such as rambutan (like lychee, very nice), and no amount of persuasion would make her take our money. It was only 2 ringgit so less than 30p, which is hardly anything to us but worth a lot more to her, but she still insisted on giving it away for free. We ate lunch at a random spot along the road and there Richard mentioned we should get presents for the family who own the land we’re staying at and exploring in Batang Ai. The children’s presents proved difficult (classic decision by committee) so Melanie and I went over to another shop and, entirely directed by Richard, bought a big cardboard box of noodles and loads of coffee for the adults. 

We got to the ferry jetty at around 4pm. Here we were greeted by two very thin (one person abreast) relatively long boats (ours fit 5 people, the other 3). All our stuff went in front of us in between our legs in sturdy black bin bags to protect them from the rain, and a number of large cool boxes contained all our food for the 3 nights/4 days we were staying in the rainforest. The journey took 2 hours in total (a very picturesque, beautiful 2 hours in which it only rained once), the final stretch being upriver, in some very shallow water which we grounded on a number of times despite the expert driving by the locals. We finally got to the longhouse we were staying at by 7, and had a very steep (very non-uk regulation) set of steps to traverse before finally reaching our home for the next 3 nights. To say it’s basic is an understatement. It’s definitely rural, with no ceilings to the bedrooms which are open to the underside of the sloped roof which meant when the lights turned on (with no on/off switch, they just turned on with the generator) my room was swamped with weird bugs that seemed to die within an hour and turn into worms. I promptly removed my lightbulb to alleviate this issue so they only swarmed in the communal areas. 

I should probably take a step back and explain where we actually were. Batang Ai is a massive national park run by the government, which is one of the few places in the world to contain many wild orangutan. We were staying on stretch of private land which had been owned by the tribespeople for generations. They had been approached by Leo and the Orangutan Project (the charity we’re here with) to create an authentic retreat where people could go to see actual wild orangutan and visit the local people to see their way of life about a decade ago and so this excursion was created. Basically we were spending 3 nights here, with the first day spent travelling here, the second hiking for wild orangutan and the third spent eating and drinking with the local families. 

With that explained, and the initial shock of the basic-ness/uncleanliness of the place passed, I actually had an ok nights sleep. Another triumph for the ear plugs. I did need the toilet at about 3 in the morning but was far too scared to venture out to the washrooms at this point so mind-over-mattered my way back to sleep (the washroom block is outside, down a set of treacherous steps, across a slippery piece of concrete and are home to numerous frogs, geckos, spiders and god knows what other creatures). Our hike to find wild orangutan started by crossing the bridge to the local community’s buildings and threaded through rainforest until we hit a stream. Here we donned our water shoes and splashed through. I couldn’t be bothered to change out of them, as we were going through another river shortly, so scrambled up the relatively steep hill with them still on. I actually just left them on for the entire hike and they actually held up pretty well, they are nicknamed the ‘Malaysian Adidas’ after all. The going was very slow, both in order to track down orangutan and allow the group to stay together (some members of the group are seer than others). After an hour or so of heavy going we reached a thicket of tall ferns. These were relatively unpleasant to wade through as they grew up to my eyeline, and we had no idea what kind of creatures we were brushing up against. But none of us were bitten or stung by any form of animal or insect so I guess my fears were unfounded. After descending another very steep, slippery hill we prepared ourselves to wade through another river for the next hour and a half. These 7RM water shoes (£1ish) we’re working a treat. 

While I was attempting to take an ‘arty’ photo of a mushroom on the underside of a tree, Melanie and Richard saw a large pigtail monkey. Who, once he saw them, scrambled away up he riverbank and away into the rainforest (a wild animal, so terrified of humans). I only managed to see some falling branches where he’d run from. It wasn’t even a good mushroom photo. Rueing this missed opportunity I stuck close to Richard for the remainder of the hike, and was rewarded by a giant squirrel with a truly ridiculously large tail. We didn’t see anything else while we were wading the river other than a number of leeches, fortunately not on myself (I had my own experience later). 

On the hike up from the river we saw some encouraging signs, some orangutan nests. These were apparently a couple of days old through, however soon we came upon some green ones, apparently only from the night before or that morning, so the were close. Orangutan make around 10 nests a day to relax on in between feeding sessions. They’re so big and heavy that these nests are needed for them to relax up in the canopy. They very rarely come down to the actual forest floor unless they’re getting old and tired. Despite seeing 4 of these fresh nests, and smelling some pungent urine, we saw no orangutans. They would have seen us and were probably hiding as they’re very suspicious of humans. A couple of hours later we arrived back at the longhouse, utterly shattered from the days hike. 

Despite not seeing any orangutans the hike was brilliant, and in a way it’s better that we didn’t see them as they’re wild animals with instincts still in tact so should be hiding from us. Richard managed to whip up an excellent lunch and dinner and we all got a pretty early night after the generator ran out of diesel and we’d had a few rice wines by candlelight. Oh and I had a leech attached to my foot while I was completely unaware reading, it was a chunky chap and my foot wouldn’t stop bleeding for hours afterwards. 

The following day we were again up early, this time for a barbecue lunch with the local families of the community. We jumped in the boats and were sped downriver, into the Batang Ai national park and to a beach, well away from all civilisation (or it felt that way). The lunch preparation was clearly a well oiled machine so we were just tasked at gathering firewood, which we did a pathetic job of, and just generally enjoying the rainforest setting. There was a pack of beautiful blue butterflies congregated next to the river on a stone, shedloads of ants and flies and loads of other insects to watch. The sun even came out, which was way too fierce for me to stay in so I sheltered in the shade. I mentioned there were flies, there was a ridiculous number of them swarming around us, especially if we were in the shade. I found if you moved to a new area it would take 10 minutes or so before they began to swarm you again. Eventually we found they didn’t like being right next to the water, so we sat there with our feet in the river chatting for a while. 

The food was amazing, again cooked in bamboo, and we headed back to the longhouse after everything was cleaned up (just in river water, not entirely sure how ‘clean’ it is). That evening, after another great meal cooked by Richard and his helper Aloo, we went over to the local community of families. There was about 15 of them in total in their longhouse when we arrived. It turned out to be a pretty awkward evening, much less the integrated party we’d envisaged, more a series of ‘games’ which we played and they watched. When we entered we were led to chairs, then the ladies of the families laid out a load of items that you’d traditionally see in the tourist markets around the towns we’d been to. We bought something each, at prices 5 times higher than the markets, to reduce the awkwardness and because it felt like we should get something to help fund the community. This was despite them having a couple of computer screens, a shedload of speakers and hifi’s, and other random electricals, which clearly didn’t work. A slightly odd setup. After the series of games were done, of which I participated in all, we finally got some rice wine and drunk to alleviate the strain. We presented them with our presents, which they seemed to like but weren’t entirely sure, and headed off at about 11pm. Not exactly a party, more like a slightly unwanted invitation into their home, one of the most awkward experiences I’ve ever had to be honest. We finished off our rice wine in candlelight back in our longhouse and headed to bed for the last time in Batang Ai.