Into the Heart of Darkness

I hope the literary reference above is correct and the book is about Borneo. Since I haven't actually read it, I have no clue. If I am incorrect please strike "Darkness" and replace it with "Borneo".

Our Plan: Visit the largest National Park in Indonesian Borneo, Kayan Metarang via the village of Long Bawan. We had hear that there was a large area of montane rainforest and some great opportunities for trekking including a loop circuit into Malaysian Borneo where we could visit traditional houses and experience some indigenous culture. It seemed like a great plan and we were both psyched as we headed to the city of Tarakan from where our reserved flight would depart.

Reality: When we arrived in Tarakan we found that our reservations were not held, but that didn't matter because the said flight was cancelled. It seems like a reservation does nt hold much clout and the three weekly flights are often cancelled for varying reasons including high fuel prices, or in our case, the desire for public officials to commandeer the plane for their own personal use. Our visa was going to run out shortly and we could not sit around for another flight which might also be cancelled in the same fashion. We were forced to regroup and think of another plan.

Thankfully, we came across another option to visit Kayan Metarang at an entry point south of our original plan. WWF has been working in Kayan Metarang for the past 10 years or so and one of their more recent endeavours has been to develop ecotourism in the area. Aside from Long Bawan, they are trying to set up ecotourism ventures near Long Pujungan, which may be reached by river boat instead of inadequate air services. It would require us to do a little backtracking but we decided that the river trip would be interesting and it would still give us a chance to get in the "Heart of Borneo" as WWF likes to call its project.

While waiting for our laundry to dry and our boat to leave we did have an opportunity to learn a bit more about the park from some of the amazing books published by way-way-ef and their ten years of experience there.

The park is huge and represents an area which is highly important for biodiversity conservation. Check out this linked article about the 52 new species that were just recently found in the "Heart of Borneo." It is also the traditional land of 12 different indigenous tribes consisting of the Dayak (generic term for swidden farmers) and the Penan (aka hunter-gatherers who are barely 5 feet tall). It was first set up as a completely no take zone. This did not go over so well with the villagers who use the forest for their sustenance and so with the help of WWF they were able to convince the government to change the status to a national park. This change makes it legal for the indigenous tribes to hunt animals within the park limits. Now some of you may think "what's the point in a park if people can hunt there?" But you have to remember that these tribes have been living sustainably in the forest for hundreds of years. It is a result of their keen forest management skills that the forest has remained intact because up until now there are no forest rangers. Much of the forest is secondary growth because the tribes survive off of rice which they grow in the swidden (aka slash and burn) method. We were told that they could only grow one crop on the poor soil before they have to let it go farrow. Slash and burn isn't generally as bad as people make it out to be and it helps to increase the biodiversity of the forest by creating different stages of regrowth in different areas.

We were going to the park mainly to see the forest. We figured it would be difficult to see animals because the hunting pressure would make them very skittish. We were correct. However, the amount of wildlife in the area is mind boggling. There are 6 kinds of monkey, the Bornean Gibbon, 4 types of deer including one that barks like a dog and 2 that are the size of a cat, Malayan sun bears (we saw a pelt on some one's porch), wild pigs, wild cows, many civets and wild cats including an unidentifiable one discovered by WWF scientists recently and hundreds of birds including the rhinoceros hornbill (the mother of all hornbills) and many, many more. There used to be orang-utans but they were all poached by "outsiders" from Sulawesi and Java. There also used to be rhinos and elephants, but they are extremely rare anywhere in Borneo nowadays.

The morning of the river "cruise" we were still unsure exactly what to expect from this trip and we felt a little unprepared but we were ready to get going. We packed in a 40 foot open air longboat with four outboard engines along with 30 other people and various cargo in order to ply upriver for the next day and a half. I cannot say that it was the most comfortable trip as we tried to hide from the rain and sun or find a decent spot to lay in between cargo and people,but I've been on worse (see previous entries). As we rode upriver we saw some vast stretches of decent forest as well as clear cut areas for agriculture and logging concessions. We passed little river towns and logging camps and got sprayed by he waves of the rapids. During the night we set up camp on a rocky beach but when the rain started we went to find shelter in a little hut (and I mean little: a room which was 8 feet by 10 feet) along with ten men who were travelling to the forest in search of "gahru" a type of wood which is sold for very high prices (Rp 10 million/kilo) due to its aromatic quality when burned. Most of them stayed up playing cards all night while we tried to catch a few hours of shut-eye on a makeshift bed. By the time we arrive in Long Pujungan we were glad to get off the boat but it had certainly been an interesting experience reaching our destination...but we weren't' yet to our final destination - that would take another 3 days...