“We came back to find the orangutan holding the saw, drawing it back and forth over the wood, just like we had been doing.”
Ikra, Pokdarwis (Tourism Awareness Group of the Village)
I was born in Sekonyer Village and have been here ever since. Before the village was established, when it was mostly forest, there were a lot more orangutans, and the community saw them often. But they disrupted many of the community activities and their relationship with humans was not always harmonious, not like it is now.
Growing up the elders used to tell us how the orangutan’s strength is 40 times that of ours.
I remember one old story about an orangutan ripping a heavy pipe out of the ground with one hand. They also told us to avoid the ones that are too old to climb and can only walk, because in that state they turn into a creature called a “Kandar”, which looked freaky and people said were dangerous. We were very frightened of the Kandar.
Tourism provides a big boost to the local economy, and one of the main draws is of course the orangutans. Tourists are amazed by their appearance, and learning how they build nests to sleep, or only have a baby once every seven years. The community here has become more caring toward the orangutans as they’ve started to realize how important they are for us.
When I first started working as a ranger at Pondok Tanggui, I was surprised to learn how intelligent and curious Orangutans are, particularly how they’re able to imitate us. For instance, one time we were sawing wood to build a bridge, and an Orangutan watched us as we worked. We came back later to find the Orangutan holding the saw, drawing it back and forth over the wood, just like we had been doing.
Another time, while we bathed by the river, they took the shampoo, rubbed it all over their arms and played with the bubbles. Princess at Camp Leakey was probably the smartest of all. When she was around, you couldn’t tie the canoe to the river bank because she would steal it and paddle it away.
The semi-wild Orangutans would also try to communicate with us. One that stands out in my mind is Rosemary, also at Pondok Tanggui. Do you know her? If there was plenty of fruit in the forest, we wouldn’t see her. But when she got hungry, she would come to the camp, straight to our door, take our hand, and pull us towards the banana storage.
Rosemary also showed me that Orangutans protect even those that aren’t their own offspring.
We once had a newly rescued Orangutan, who we kept in a cage because you cannot leave them alone in the forest when they are so young. One night, a civet cat came close to the cage, and the young Orangutan started to freak out. Rosemary heard her screams and rushed from the forest to scare the civet away.
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