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I can't tell you how relieved I am with jungle accommodation number 1, it's still full of crawling flying things but much better than I was expecting. To get to our home we have to walk across a rickety old bridge made of rope and wood, I paid a nice man 50p to carry my bag across and to my room (I'd have paid ten times that). There are lots of cabins surrounded by lovely gardens, all are full of ants making big trails up the walls and we're right on the river. I've seen all sorts of insects, frogs, chickens, butterflies, bats and monkeys roaming around the place. When you sit in the restaurant you can see the monkeys in the trees nearby.
A local man took us round the village in the afternoon, I really enjoyed myself and the local people especially the kids were so nice. Everywhere we walked we were waved at and kids shouted hello, one woman was hysterically laughing at us but I'd rather not know why. There was a wedding that day in the village and because the guide knew the family he took us along, most of the village was there partying. I spoke to a lady who told me it was her sisters wedding, I asked where the bride was and she literally dragged me into the house and introduced me to everyone.
The river went through parts of the village and there were people everywhere bathing and washing their clothes...I wondered if they'd have done mine I'm down to two pairs of clean knickers. The kids were showing us their best dives into the water and following us around. 5 followed us for most of the walk, they spoke very good English and liked having their photo taken. We all sat by a little hut and had juice, I bought each of the kids their favourite....£2.50 to see their little faces was well worth it.
There isn't much to do round here so dinner then an early night, we had an early start in the morning trekking in search of orangutans!
The whole group came on the trek, we left at 7.30am, the guide said the earlier we left the more chance of seeing orangutans but still no promises. All of the orangutans live wild in the jungle, some have been released and others wild since birth. The walk wasn't too bad and not too hot, just slippery because it had rained all night (the thunder was so loud the windows in my cabin rattled). I think we'd all decided that we were going home disappointed, the guide kept leaving us while he went off looking and making his little monkey noise. A few of us got separated from the group and were panicking to catch everyone else up, then all of a sudden they were right in front of us, 3 orangutans!! There was a mother holding a tiny baby and a bigger baby aswell. I was so excited, it was better than I imagined. My phone picked a very bad time to say it was out of memory, so I was frantically deleting all my apps so I could take more photos...I think I got plenty but this is the time I would have liked a decent camera. We stayed in that spot for about 20 minutes just watching, the baby left it's mum and was dangling by itself for a while, I would have loved to have cuddled the little ginger. Our guide made us leave in the end, we weren't pleased but the toddler followed us for quite a way and kept popping out of the trees every now and again. After a bit of a hill we found another mother and baby, this one smaller than the last one. He was so cute, he looked like he'd been electrocuted with his red crazy hair all over the place. The guide had some nuts and fruit and let me feed her, my favourite bit. The baby fell at one point but it's mum caught it, long arms come in handy. We stayed a little while then left them in peace, this was definitely my new favourite day of the trip so far. I never thought I'd see anything like this, I feel very lucky to be here today.
We had a bit of a walk then back to the village and hotel, we had to cross the river in a little dingy a few at a time.
I'm sat writing this watching a monkey trying to steal fruit from the restaurant kitchen, he's managed to sneak in twice already.
I'm a bit nervous walking back to me cabin incase they gang up on my and steal my stuff.
I finished the day with the worst burger I've ever had and a little beer on the patio with 3 lovely people. Just 2 more days of jungle to get through - I can do this!!!!
I leave this place with 51 bites, that's a very itchy Emma!!
- comments
Alzira Itchy Emma :-) your generosity and happiness at seeing the little children being happy at something so simple really touched me. You are very fortunate to be there but you totally deserve it as you have worked very hard for it! very proud of you Emma, you have come a very long way since I met you.
Sal Beautiful