Today we continued our journey southward along the coast of Borneo. The shallow Java Sea churned milky green amid wind-whipped choppy waves. After a leisurely breakfast we enjoyed seeing more of National Geographic Photographer Brian Skerry’s stunning photos during his “Ocean Wild” presentation, and his stories of shooting articles for the magazine. In anticipation of our upcoming adventures, Dr. Birute Galdikas gave an interesting presentation about Camp Leakey’s orangutans, and the Orangutan Foundation International’s Care Center, both of which we will be visiting in the days ahead.
By late afternoon, the National Geographic Orion reached the mouth of the Kumai River. Here we turned inland into the river’s murky flow, navigating upstream to the town of Kumai. A red sun slunk low to the horizon as commercial boat traffic moved past us along the river channel. We all attended a briefing to prepare us for the two exciting days ahead when we will be visiting the famous Camp Leakey, and then the town of Kumai and the special Care Center for young orphan orangutans. We docked at the town of Kumai, our base for the next two days. Eventually we retired to bed with wonderful expectations of tomorrow’s exotic trip up a winding river tributary into the legendary forests of Borneo.
