Orangutan trapped at Gorilla waterfall, and survived!
The sun was leaning toward west when we arrived at the Gorilla waterfall. We had one day left at Conservatory Park Sungai Lesan. After 4 exhausting days working for our Lejak camp renovation, we wanted to have fun at Gorilla waterfall. The distance from Lejak camp to the waterfall was pretty far, 3.5 hours walking. The track we took also quite challenging. But the cool breeze and beautiful sound of the forest made the 3.5 hours journey worthwhile.
Actually, our journey to the waterfall was not only to have fun, but also to conduct a survey on orangutan nests. Yes! Sungai Lesan Conservatory Park is habitat for orangutans, it was very easy to find orangutan nest there. Not only orangutan nest, we also found some ripped tree bark that eaten by orangutan, they usually eat the cambium.
We had spent 2.5 hours on the forest, through steep and challenging track, the sound of waterfall was getting closer – that shifted our attention from the orangutan nests. Our minds and sights were focused on how to carefully step without slipping down. It was raining in the morning, no wonder it was slippery. We saw the waterfall ahead of us, we can’t wait to take off our shoes and play in the water. It was wonderful to see such a beautiful view, waterfall in the middle of the park, untouchable by the human. After 15 minutes, we searched for another spot to dip.
Apparently, there was a male orangutan playing on the waterfall. At first we thought he was just taking a bath because the weather was quite hot. But after a while, the orangutan could not be taking a bath since he was juts holding to a stone in the middle of the stream. We finally realized that he was trapped, he was not able to swim to the other side since the stream was too fast and deep. We swam across the stream to try and help him. We figured that he look tired, he might had been stuck for several hours.
We searched for a tree branch right away, and cut it as fast as we can. We used the branch as a bridge for him to cross. It was not an easy job to hold a long branch in the middle of stream. We tried several sizes of branch. The orangutan finally figured that we were trying to help him, he reached out and held the branch tightly. But he was upset when we handed out a branch that was too small for him.
After half an hour, we have gained trust from him. He looked assured when he walked on the branch. When he walked and almost reached the land, he reached for a tree and climbed it. It was so relieving! Finally he survived!! He immediately climbed next to his nest, maybe it was from the night before. Before he was lost on the trees, on about 10 meters from the ground, he was staring at us for several seconds, maybe it was his way to say thank you.
We were very lucky to have the chance to meet a wild orangutan. But we could not decide whether it was us being lucky or him being lucky that we found him. (WET)

ORANGUTAN TERJEBAK DI AIR TERJUN GORILLA, SELAMAT!
Matahari condong ke Barat waktu kami sampai di air terjun gorila. Besok adalah hari terakhir kami di Hutan Lindung Sungai Lesan. Setelah capek dengan pekerjaan 4 hari renovasi camp Lejak kami bermaksud untuk mengakhirinya dengan bersenang-senang di air terjun Gorila. Jarak dari camp Lejak ke air terjun lumayan jauh, cukup berjalan selama 3,5 jam. Medan yang kami lalui pun sangat menantang. Namun perjalanan 3,5 jam tidak terasa berat karena di sepanjang perjalanan kami disuguhi udara yang sejuk dan suara merdu penghuni hutan. Sebenarnya tujuan kami ke air terjun gorila tidak hanya bersenang-senang tetapi juga survei sarang orangutan. Ya! hutan Lindung Sungai Lesan adalah habitat bagi orangutan, sangat mudah untuk menemukan sarang orangutan. Tidak hanya sarang orangutan, kami juga menemukan beberapa batang pohon yang terkelupas bekas dimakan orangutan, biasanya mereka memakan kambiumnya.

Tidak terasa hampir 2,5 jam kami menyusuri hutan, medan yang terjal dan menurun, suara air terjun yang semakin dekat membuat kami tidak memperhatikan lagi sarang orangutan di atas pohon. Pikiran dan penglihatan kami hanya terfokus pada bagaimana caranya turun agar tidak terpeleset. Pagi tadi hujan, wajar kalau jalanan licin. Air terjun sudah di depan kami, dengan tidak sabar kami melepas sepatu untuk segera terjun ke air. Bahagia rasanya melihat pemandangan yang sangat indah seperti ini, air terjun di tengah-tengah hutan lindung yang masih sangat terjaga kealamiannya. 15 menit berlalu, kami mencari spot lain untuk membasahi badan. Rupanya ada yang mendahului kami bermain di air terjun, ssatu orangutan jantan. Awalnya kami berpikir orangutan jantan ini hanya mandi, karena cuaca siang ini memang panas. Namun lama-lama kami berpikir tidak mungkin orangutan ini mandi hanya diam saja memegang batu di tengah-tengah air. Akhirnya kami menyadari bahwa orangutan ini terjebak, tidak bisa berenang ke seberang karena arusnya sangat deras dan dalam.

Kami berenang melewati arus berusaha untuk membantu orangutan jantan ini menyebrang. Kami melihat orangutan ini sudah sangat capek, mungkin dia terjebak di sana sudah beberapa jam yang lalu. Dengan segera kami mencari dan memotong batang pohon untuk dijadikan jembatan tempat dia berpijak dan menyebrang. Bukan hal yang mudah menahan batang pohon yang panjang di tengah derasnya arus air, dari batang pohon kecil sampai batang pohon sebesar lengan kami coba.

Orangutan jantan ini sepertinya tau kalau kami akan menolongnya, dia meraih dan memegang erat batang pohon yg kami buat seperti jembatan. Tetapi dia sempat marah karena batang pohon yang kami beri terlalu kecil. Setengah jam lebih berlalu, sepertinya orangutan ini mulai percaya dengan kami dia terlihat yakin saat berjalan di batang pohon. Ketika dia berjalan dan hampir sampai di seberang dekat kami, dia mencoba meraih dahan pohon terdekat dan memanjatnya. Lega rasanya! Yeayyyyy akhirnya dia selamat!!!!

Orangutan Jantan ini langsung memanjat mendekati bekas sarangnya, mungkin bekas tempat tidurnya semalam. Sebelum akhirnya benar-benar naik dan berpindah ke pohon yang lain, diketinggian sekitar 10 m orangutan jantan ini sempat beberapa detik memandang ke arah kami, mungkin dia mengucapkan terimakasih. Sangat beruntung kami bisa bertemu orangutan liar di hutan, tetapi kali ini entah kami yang beruntung bertemu orangutan liar langsung di habitatnya atau orangutan jantan ini yang beruntung bertemu kami.(WET)