Volunteer discusses her stay at Samboja Lestari
June, 2007
By Katelyn Feit
Student, Florida State University
After 28 days in the Samboja Lestari (jungle), a run away sun bear, laughing with ridiculously nice people and losing about a pint of blood due to mosquito bites, I’d say my stay at Samboja Lestari was extraordinary to say the least.
Staying at Samboja Lodge and working with the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation has allowed me to experience the daily work of a large scale non profit, non governmental organization and to get to know the Indonesian culture. The scope of activities at Samboja Lestari is wide and varied. With 53 sun bears, over 100 orangutans, 6 gibbons, the reforestation of an entire rainforest and a comprehensive satellite monitoring system are the major projects that are going on there.
Being in Indonesia on my own and really interacting with the local people has made me realize how easy it was for my parents to fall in love with this place when they lived here 25 years ago. Seeing endangered species first hand and physically keeping them alive by feeding them and cleaning their enclosures really made me feel like I was making a difference in the world.
Although there is so much more that goes into keeping the animals alive and happy; helping them have a full stomach is very gratifying.
Before I arrived I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. To my surprise when I arrived, I found out I would be staying in one of the beautiful rooms at the lodge (with air conditioning no less!). Apart from the occasional weekend guest and large groups of visitors, I was the only person at the lodge. Most would think that would be lonely but I took it as an opportunity to get to know the lodge staff.
I loved the out door atmosphere, the beautiful natural garden and sitting up in the lodge tower over looking what I call the “instant rainforest” and the orangutan islands. Half way through my stay three new girl volunteers came. Two were from California State University in Fullerton and one from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. They were all in their twenties and we got along really well. Often times bordering on obnoxious at the dinner table when we couldn’t stop laughing about something.
Once I had gotten settled in, I got into a daily routine which kept me busy. A traditional breakfast of nasi or mie goreng (fried rice or noodles) and toast was at seven am. After that I would start work at eight am with the technicians. I would eat lunch at the lodge and afterwards teach an English class if there weren’t any other guests. Let’s just say that Indonesians love to laugh and really are eager to learn English. Class was definitely a highlight of the day. At four pm when the work day is over I would go back to the lodge, read, draw and hang out with the staff.
My first week there I worked with the technicians at the Sun Bear sanctuary. Daily jobs included feeding the bears in the large enclosure and the reintroduction cages. We would also spray out cages and care for one of the injured bears. They would eat papaya, coconut, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, snake fruit, pumpkin, watermelon, pineapple, bananas, sour sop, and other fruits which are mostly locally grown.
BOS focuses largely on the development and sustainability of the Samboja village community. BOS provides jobs, opportunities in agro-forestry (growing fruits and vegetables between existing planted trees) and a market for locally produced handy crafts.
Sun bears’ huge claws, long tongue and sharp canines make watching them eat an awesome sight. The first time I saw one rip open a coconut like a human opening an orange, I was in awe. Their long tongues can lick up honey at the bottom of a water bottle and lick up sugarcane juice that dripped on their chests.
After being there for a week someone brought in a new three month old bear that had lost its mother… I don’t want to know how. They named him Hayden after the American MotoGP racer Nicky Hayden. With everyday I could see him getting stronger and stronger. Even though it was sad that he is destined to live in the enclosure for the rest of his life, being able to raise a little bear for a few days was exciting. I was careful not to get too attached so leaving him wouldn’t be as hard.
The rest of my time I worked with the technicians in the orangutan cages. I had to wait to pass a quarantine period to make sure I didn’t have any diseases I could pass on to the orangutans.
On my first day I walked up to what I call the “technician clubhouse” which is where all the supplies and lockers are for the workers. A bunch of young guys were talking and laughing in the smoky shed while they loaded up the motorcycle with bags of fruit to take up to the orangutans.
Mita, the project manager, mentioned to me that all the technicians were young guys and having a girl around would mix things up a little, but she assured me that they were all great friendly guys and wouldn’t give me any trouble. Even with her reassuring words, when I first walked up it felt like I was walking into a men’s club… a little intimidating. But before I knew it they were talking to me, making me bracelets from grass and showing me genuine Indonesian hospitality. I could really feel the sense of community between the technicians and the pride they took in their work.
Each cage has one technician and roughly 10 to 30 orangutans. The more seasoned technicians knew each one of the orangutans’ names and a little bit of their history. After drinking some sugar with coffee and reading the latest MotoGP news the technician would head up to their cage for the morning.
My first encounter with the orangutans was definitely more emotionally moving that I thought it would be, but it was awesome at the same time. As I walked up to their raised cages and saw them close up it felt as if I was the new kid walking into a classroom in one of those teen movies. They were pressed up against the cage and sizing me up.
It shocked me how each one was its own being– like different students in a class. They had different skin colors, body types and even hairstyles. Before, I thought an orangutan was an orangutan but our genetic similarity comes through in ways more than just appearance.
Each morning, jobs include feeding and cleaning the concrete slab underneath the cages. I got chills as I looked down to see a few of them reach their rough hands out to get fallen fruit. They looked like hands of human prisoners trying to grab at my feet. I had to look up to see their bodies to reassure me they weren’t. As I spent more and more time with the orangutans I saw they clearly had different personalities. While cleaning underneath the cages I got a healthy dose of these personalities. A new volunteer for them is a new target for spit, pee, mouthfuls of water, chewed up banana stems and whole banana stems… right on the head. Yeah, those tend to leave a little bump.
After a week in the cages I worked on one of the islands where the orangutans with hepatitis live because they cannot be released into the wild. They were fixing up the island and putting in enrichment which consisted of a system of poles and ropes throughout the island as well as rope nests. I worked with the technicians and the three other volunteers moving– or trying to move– iron wood poles, and swimming in the mote to clear weeds. The technicians had so much energy and kept us laughing the whole time with their flips into the water and Indonesian ballads.
It was hard to leave Samboja but I am definitely going to keep ties there and visit when I’m back in Balikpapan. I can’t thank every one enough for being so nice to me and treating me like family.
For more information go to www.orangutan.or.id
(Kate)
