survived the headhunters!

Trip to Longhouse also had a side trip to try to see the Orangutans in their natural habitat so we arrived for the 9am feeding. We were in the forest & guides were telling us that we had to be very quiet while they tried to call the Orangutans down & to remember that they were wild animals so we may not see any as they were able to rely on the fruits in the forest. After about 20 minutes we suddenly saw trees moving and swaying so we were hopeful

 of seeing an Orangutan – all we wanted was to see one! The moments were magical as 6 Orangutans came down to feed – one was a baby. I cannot describe how it felt to see them in the wild! One took a coconut and proceeded to ‘bash’ it against a tree until it was open. The use both hands, feet and mouth to move in the trees and carry the fruit at the same time. It was a magical.

Another 3 hours and a lunch stop later we arrived at the river where we were to pick up a long boat which was to take us to the long house. By now the monsoon weather had returned & we had to ‘don’ our plastic ponchos & life jackets before getting into the boat. It was rather surreal as we didn’t know where we were or where we were going but we were headed down the river & you’ve heard the tale of the ‘wild men of Borneo’!

We did survive the ordeal even after seeing skulls of possible previous tourists, joining in with the dancing, partaking of rice wine and rice whisky (to ward off evil spirits), stumbling down the notched tree trunk steps to ground level, partaking of a bottle of Aussie red under our mosquito net boudoir ( yes Valda & I had to share the double mattress hence a large intake of alcohol!), and to round it off we tried to slaughter a papaya with a metre long blow pipe – both of us scoring a bullseye to the joy of the entire tribe – thus we still have our heads! A walk through the jungle and a return trip in the longboat means that we are now Iban tribeswomen. Yet we are now enjoying a G & T in the Hilton Hotel!