Jungle Rescue
Day 3
Today was a switch up for breakfast. Instead of our usual "American" breakfast of eggs and toast with fruit we could choose pancakes. They were fairly good but not the pancakes of home. We did get some chocolate sauce with them as well. Most amusingly is that everything in this restaurant is served on banana leaves. Every meal we eat here has a banana leaf liner. Which amuses me. I suppose it's far less dishes with doing it this way.
Since the primary reason of visiting Indonesia was for the orangutans and komodo dragons we did get the chance for a second hike today. It was longer and deeper into the jungle. It was a 6 hour trek with a bit of a loop and starting and finishing on the same trail as yesterday.
The rain from the previous afternoon made things a bit more slick. The longer trail is just an offshoot of the main trail we took yesterday. The main trail goes to the old feeding platform which we didn't visit because there were no animals there when the advance guide looked. The only catch is that this new trail got more and more intense as we kept going.
We did spot a few more orangutans along the way. One mom and baby even made their way down closer to us so we could take closer pictures. It's impressive how they are able to make their way through the jungle. The liana trees we cursed were very helpful to the orangutans to make their way around easily.
I do find it amusing that I struggle to climb these trails even with my walking stick I borrowed today. Our tour guides are hauling extra water for us. And several pounds of fresh fruit. I wonder if they enjoy our snack breaks as much as we do. They usually have a small watermelon, a pineapple, bananas, these odd snake skin fruit, oranges and passionfruit. It's a good feed after a lot of hiking.
During our snack break today Ellie our guide was explaining how many Indonesians still use the traditional cures from the jungle for illness, including cancer. As a complete aside, this might explain why everything I have read and been told had said that for anything beyond basic issues we will be off to Singapore for medical treatment. My travel nurse, all the books and the internet have all said that the medical system in Indonesia is fairly basic. I've also read that foreign doctors aren't allowed to legally practice, but I only saw that in one place so I could be wrong.
As she was speaking I spotted an orangutan in the distance. She was one of the semi wild ones and could smell our lunch. The baby and mom made their way to our stopping point and came right into the clearing. Close enough the guides were right up on their feet to block us from the orangutans. They got so close that the branch of one of the trees they ended up on was bent down enough to touch me. But they took a bit of fruit and ate it and went on their way.
It was quite incredible to see them swinging around. Especially with all their hands and feet holding onto the fruit that was left. The baby had a few pieces of pineapple in each foot. And they all chew out the good stuff left on the rind first and then eat the rind.
At this point everyone got to decide if they were heading back down to the hotel or if they were going ahead further into the jungle. 3 people ended up going back right away. In retrospect that would have been the smart plan for us as well.
This new stretch was really intense. Lot of up and down on slick surfaces. The trails got much narrower and the liana branches were everywhere, making both stairs and tripping hazards. We also had a lovely stretch over a creek with all the fallen trees we had to navigate. First you had to climb over the giant fallen trees that were a few feet around and you couldn't easily hop over, and under these trees were more smaller fallen trees creating a really uneven and awkward surface to walk on.
We made it past that only to have Terry slip and manage to dislocate his shoulder. All I could hear was his shout and it was a bit scary. Lili our guide was a pro and popped it back into place right away. Terry tells me that it hurt a lot when it was out but receeded to a dull ache when it went back in. At this point his shoulder was feeling good so we decided to keep going. It couldn't possibly get worse, right?
Wrong. He dislocated it a second time after walking a few more minutes. It was a really steep incline and we had to really use upper body strength to pull ourselves up and it was too much for his arm. Again Lili popped it back into place. At this point it was decided we were heading back. Apparently the trail only got worse from here. More up and down and slippery surfaces. The only catch now was getting us back. The trails needed a lot of upper body balance to help with getting down and our guide Ellie didn't seem quite as expert at popping shoulders back in. So they offered the rescue team to carry him down.
8 to 10 Indonesian men ran up the mountain with the stretcher. They tied him on with someones sweater. It was a bit dodgy. But they were really professional about it all and got him down safely even over some really rough terrain. Ellie and I would catch up when they would take a break and the guys were all joking and having a good time. These guys were the ones just always hanging around the ecolodge, usually relaxing or playing volleyball. I didn't realize it before but they are the rescue team. They told Terry that they do this a lot. They bring people down with broken bones and dislocated shoulders along with many other issues stopping people from making it down.
I was a bit jealous of him getting carried down. It was a tough hike getting back down. For anyone who says down is easy hasn't been climbing any sort of mountains lately. But we all made it down safely and that's what really matters.
The trail report from the group that continued on is that the trail got steeper and muddier as they went along. They spotted 4 more orangutans including King Louie who is so big he can't climb in the trees and lives on the ground. And is a bit aggressive. I guess he surprised the rest of the group while they were waiting for them to fix up Terry and get us on our way.
After making it down we had lunch and a quick walk through the village. There wasn't much going on during a weekday as everyone was back to work and there weren't a lot of tourists around. We did run into Lili a few times and he did seem relieved to see that Terry was down in one piece and moving about easily.
Today was a switch up for breakfast. Instead of our usual "American" breakfast of eggs and toast with fruit we could choose pancakes. They were fairly good but not the pancakes of home. We did get some chocolate sauce with them as well. Most amusingly is that everything in this restaurant is served on banana leaves. Every meal we eat here has a banana leaf liner. Which amuses me. I suppose it's far less dishes with doing it this way.
Since the primary reason of visiting Indonesia was for the orangutans and komodo dragons we did get the chance for a second hike today. It was longer and deeper into the jungle. It was a 6 hour trek with a bit of a loop and starting and finishing on the same trail as yesterday.
The rain from the previous afternoon made things a bit more slick. The longer trail is just an offshoot of the main trail we took yesterday. The main trail goes to the old feeding platform which we didn't visit because there were no animals there when the advance guide looked. The only catch is that this new trail got more and more intense as we kept going.
We did spot a few more orangutans along the way. One mom and baby even made their way down closer to us so we could take closer pictures. It's impressive how they are able to make their way through the jungle. The liana trees we cursed were very helpful to the orangutans to make their way around easily.
I do find it amusing that I struggle to climb these trails even with my walking stick I borrowed today. Our tour guides are hauling extra water for us. And several pounds of fresh fruit. I wonder if they enjoy our snack breaks as much as we do. They usually have a small watermelon, a pineapple, bananas, these odd snake skin fruit, oranges and passionfruit. It's a good feed after a lot of hiking.
During our snack break today Ellie our guide was explaining how many Indonesians still use the traditional cures from the jungle for illness, including cancer. As a complete aside, this might explain why everything I have read and been told had said that for anything beyond basic issues we will be off to Singapore for medical treatment. My travel nurse, all the books and the internet have all said that the medical system in Indonesia is fairly basic. I've also read that foreign doctors aren't allowed to legally practice, but I only saw that in one place so I could be wrong. As she was speaking I spotted an orangutan in the distance. She was one of the semi wild ones and could smell our lunch. The baby and mom made their way to our stopping point and came right into the clearing. Close enough the guides were right up on their feet to block us from the orangutans. They got so close that the branch of one of the trees they ended up on was bent down enough to touch me. But they took a bit of fruit and ate it and went on their way.
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| baby orangutan |
At this point everyone got to decide if they were heading back down to the hotel or if they were going ahead further into the jungle. 3 people ended up going back right away. In retrospect that would have been the smart plan for us as well.
This new stretch was really intense. Lot of up and down on slick surfaces. The trails got much narrower and the liana branches were everywhere, making both stairs and tripping hazards. We also had a lovely stretch over a creek with all the fallen trees we had to navigate. First you had to climb over the giant fallen trees that were a few feet around and you couldn't easily hop over, and under these trees were more smaller fallen trees creating a really uneven and awkward surface to walk on.
 |
| The rescue team on their way down with Terry |
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| Someone looks like he is having fun |
8 to 10 Indonesian men ran up the mountain with the stretcher. They tied him on with someones sweater. It was a bit dodgy. But they were really professional about it all and got him down safely even over some really rough terrain. Ellie and I would catch up when they would take a break and the guys were all joking and having a good time. These guys were the ones just always hanging around the ecolodge, usually relaxing or playing volleyball. I didn't realize it before but they are the rescue team. They told Terry that they do this a lot. They bring people down with broken bones and dislocated shoulders along with many other issues stopping people from making it down.
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| Bukit Lawang |
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| The courtyard from our room at the ecolodge |
After making it down we had lunch and a quick walk through the village. There wasn't much going on during a weekday as everyone was back to work and there weren't a lot of tourists around. We did run into Lili a few times and he did seem relieved to see that Terry was down in one piece and moving about easily.
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