Reunion in Istanbul

When we were planning our trip to the NESA Teachers’ Conference in Istanbul, I wrote to the Tohs and the Nemlis on the possibility of reconnecting. To our delight, the connection was a go. Unfortunately, it was Girls Getaway week for them, so we would not see Toh and Sarper, who would be kid caring while the wives would play. On the upside, we would see Monique and Filiz.

Filiz and Sarper are ethnic Turks. Filiz grew up in Bulgaria, but moved to Turkey with her parents as a young adult. She met and married Sarper in Turkey, and they consider Istanbul their home city. Some time ago Filiz had written that she would like to show us her Istanbul, but we really didn’t expect it to happen. Lory and I initially met up with Filiz and Monique at a restaurant on the top floor of the Marmara Pera Hotel on Saturday evening March 21, 2015. The venue offers a beautiful view of the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn, Istanbul’s treasured inlet harbor. Lory was recuperating from pneumonia the whole time we were in Istanbul so we were lucky that she was strong enough to go out for dinner.

Reunion with Monique and Filiz

Filiz chose the restaurant to share both the geographic beauty of Istanbul, and the tantalizing Turkish cuisine . We were a group of seven. Monique’s friend Maura had come from Colorado to celebrate her 46^th Birthday. Two other friends from the US were with us as well – Bill, a childhood friend of Maura, and Barbara, who works with Bill in the State Department, both currently posted in Turkey. For dinner, I wanted to try something authentically Turkish, and Filiz recommended the lamb’s neck. I never would have thought of ordering lamb’s neck, but it turned out to be melt in your mouth delicious. My best dining surprise since my horsemeat steak in Atyrau on my 68^th Birthday! Lory had giant shrimp in a beautiful presentation with various sauces, every one delicious.

Filiz invited us to join the group for a cruise on the Bosphorus the following day. Lory had to decline because if she felt healthy enough the next day she wanted to attend some conference sessions. But she strongly encouraged me to go, guilt free!

Ortakoy Neighborhood

Filiz picked me up by taxi at the Hilton on the Bosphorus, and we set off for the Ortakoy district, where our cruise would begin. Filiz apologized profusely for the traffic and the mad pace of city life in Istanbul. The city has changed greatly since she lived there. I had noticed the increase in tourism when I spent Friday afternoon in Sultanahmet, the center of the old city. Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazar are all within a stone’s throw in Sultanahmet. It is packed with tourists even in off-season March! Sultanahmet is just south of the Golden Horn inlet, and Ortakoy is north of the inlet near the first Bosphorus Bridge.

Ortakoy is a very trendy district that Filiz wanted to share with me, probably because I am such a trendy guy. It reminded me of Granville Island in Vancouver, and Pike’s Place in Seattle – cool little bistros, bars, and coffee shops on the waterfront. Later we would participate in an Ortakoy street food tradition of eating a huge baked potato with your choice of toppings. Several food stalls along a cobble stone street compete for baked potato sales with barkers who shouted, “Hey slim, get your baked potato here!” Sounds the same in Turkish. The passenger ferry tour starts from right next to the beautiful Ortakoy Mosque. Monique and friends joined us at a bistro near the mosque, and we boarded the ferry.

the Bosphorus strait

The Cruise

We happened to get the warmest, sunniest March day for our cruise. It was still a sweater and jacket day, but the bright sun was most welcome for this Kazakh tourist, fresh out of winter.

The Bosphorus Strait

The Bosphorus Strait is a critical link in the sea passage route that connects Eastern Europe and Central Asia to the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. It directly connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which in turn leads through the Dardanelles into the Aegean Sea of the Mediterranean. This passage has been the focus of many wars throughout history, including two world wars. Since Medieval times, the Bosphorus was vital for strategic naval control of the area. Istanbul, then Constantinople, was a major trade center of the Silk Road.

Today the Bosphorus is a critical warm water route for Russia, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other oil exporting nations. But on our tour, my focus was on the late medieval period, and the transformation of Christian Constantinople to Muslim Istanbul. There are two suspension bridges that cross the Bosphorus: the Bosphorus Bridge and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge. Our cruise was north from the first bridge on the European shoreline, and south from the second bridge on the Asian shoreline. It is a relatively short afternoon cruise that for my money was just right.

Ortakoy Mosque

The Ortakoy Mosque

The view of the Ortakoy Mosque from the water is spectacular. Built in 1856 it was designed in the Neo Baroque style by Armenian architects, father and son Garabet Amira Balyan and Nigogayos Balyan. The Balyan family designed the Topkapi Palace, the Beylerbeyi Palace and many other religious and public buildings in Istanbul. Filiz informed me that the mosque is slowly sinking into the Bosphorus, but would still be here when we returned from the cruise.

Bosphorus Bridge

Passing under the Bosphorus Bridge, we noticed workmen high up on the cables. When it was built in 1973, the Bosphorus Bridge was the fourth longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,560 meters. It now ranks twenty-second. At the time the bridge was opened, much was made of its being the first bridge between Europe and Asia since 480 BCE.  That was a pontoon bridge built by Emperor Xerses I of Persia in his march to subjugate Athens and Sparta. Xerses bridge spanned the Hellespont (Dardanelles), some distance away from the Bosphorus. However, his father Emperor Darius The Great had built a pontoon bridge across the Bosphorus in 513 BCE.

the Bosphorus bridge

Galatasaray

Cruising up the Europe side coastline we passed a floating barge that Filiz informs us is owned by her favorite football club. It is called Galatasaray Island. Take a two-minute boat ride and you have a choice of restaurants, nightclubs and a swimming pool. We also passed a riverside promenade and a marina and enjoyed the beautiful architecture of some of the most expensive homes in Istanbul.

Rumeli fortress, symbol of the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium

Rumeli Fortress

For me the most exciting visual experience of the cruise was the Rumeli Fortress wall and towers on the European side of the river. Located just south of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the fortress was built by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, in his drive to conquer Constantinople and thus defeat the Byzantine Empire. This was in 1453 AD and it is a huge historical event in world history. When Mehmed II took Constantinople, he effectively absorbed the Byzantine Empire into the Ottoman Empire, and Byzantium was no more. Ironically, Mehmet claimed the title of “Caesar of the Roman Empire.” Christian Europe rejected his claim.

Sultan Mehmed II is a national hero in Turkey. By conquering the Byzantine Empire, Mehmet II laid the foundation for the Ottoman Empire to become a supreme world power for six centuries, right up to the end of the First World War, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk would lead the new Republic of Turkey into the twentieth century.

Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge

Our ferry turned around at the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the second bridge of the Bosphorus, named after our favorite Sultan. It is about 5 kilometers north of the first bridge. The bridge was completed in 1988, and is 1,090 meters long, about two-thirds the length of the First Bosphorous Bridge.

Anatolia fortress

The Anatolian Fortress

On the Asia side of the Bosphorus, directly across from the Rumeli Fortress, is the Anatolian Fortress, which was built by Mehmet’s great-grandfather Sultan Bayezid I in 1394. Anatolia is the name of the territory that constitutes Asian Turkey. Bayezid built the fortress on the ruins of a Temple of Uranus, and I am not shitting you. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) The fortress serves as a backdrop for the beautiful Ottoman era waterfront houses, creating a spectacular visual effect.

symbol of the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium

Küçüksu Palace

Another beautiful Baroque style building caught my eye is the Küçüksu Kasrı. I was unable to identify the building, but Filiz provided me with the name and some history.  It turns out that the palace was also designed by the Armenian architects,Garabet Amira Balyan and Nigogayos Balyan. No wonder I was struck by the beauty of the palace! It was built in 1856-57 as a summer hunting lodge for Sultan Abdul Mecit. His predecessors had built wooden kiosks, or just used simple picnic blankets to camp out on this spot, but obviously Abdul was a 5 Star kind of guy. The palace was used in the James Bond film “The World is Not Enough” as a mansion in Baku belonging to the daughter of a rich oil baron.

Kuleli Military High School

A little further down river is the Kuleli Military High School, which I assumed was a high-level government building. My subsequent research tells me that the building was originally the Kuleli Cavalry Barracks, designed by Gabaret Balyan (man, he was busy), and completed in 1843. It became part of the Ottoman Military High School system in 1845. The students of the school have been relocated a dozen times since 1845. It was temporarily converted into a military hospital during both the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78) and the First Balkan War (1912-13). After the First World War the British occupied the building and used it to house Armenian orphans and refugees, victims of the Ottoman genocide of Christians during the war.

Beylerbeyi palace

Beylerbeyi Mosque

Named for its location in the Beylerbeyi neighborhood, the Beylerbeyi Mosque was built in 1778 in the actual Baroque period. Tahir Aga, the favored architect of Ottoman Sultans Mustafa III and Abdul Hamid I, designed it. Poor Abdul Hamid had a tough life. He was imprisoned for the first 42 years of his life, 17 of those by his brother Sultan Mustafa III.  When Mustafa died, Abdul Hamid became Sultan, and commissioned Tahir Aga to build this majestic mosque. So I am thinking, “If my brother imprisoned me for 17 years, would I hire his favorite architect? Is there no question of loyalty here?” Apparently Abdul Hamid valued architectural excellence above any petty grievances. Tahir Aga must have been one hell of an architect!

Beylerbeyi Palace

The final photo I took on the Asia side waterfront is the Beylerbeyi Palace. Also named for the neighborhood, this palace was completed in 1865. It was commissioned by Sultan Abdul-Aziz as a summer home and a residence to entertain visiting dignitaries. Sarkis Balyan, the younger son of Garabet, who designed the Ortakoy Mosque and the Küçüksu Palace. His architectural style is more restrained than that of his father and older brother.

Filiz, Bill, Norm and Monique

My Historical Research

So that concludes my virtual tour. If you are a history buff, you will enjoy the following articles:

To know more about Ataturk’s Republic of Turkey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Ataturk

To know more about the Ottoman Empire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire

To know more about the Eastern Orthodox Church: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_Church

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Mr. Norm at Padang

On October 5th, 2009 I traveled to Padang, the capital of West Sumatra and the focal point of relief efforts for the victims of the recent earthquakes. The first earthquake hit at 5:16 pm on September 30, 2009. We set out on what proved to be a nine-hour drive for a mere 340-kilometer trip.

The road to Padang winds through the mountains to the height of Bukit Tinggi (High Hill), one of the larger cities in West Sumatra. From Bukit Tinggi it is 90 km downhill to Padang which is on the coast. My traveling companions were Chip Hill, Paul Liu and Pak Andre. Chip is an American who teaches at an English Language school in Pekanbaru. The school is owned by Pak Andre who also runs a volunteer social organization called Nitra Sejati, which focuses on responding to the needs of people in rural villages. Paul is the pastor of the International Christian Fellowship in Pekanbaru. Through Pak Andre, Chip had established a grass roots contact in Padang in the form of Dian Insani, an organization sectioned by the government to do “Earthquake Training” in West Sumatra. Ironically, the four-member board of Dian Insani was meeting about earthquake training on the day of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake. Their meeting had finished at 5:00 pm and the earthquake leveled the building at 5:16. The meeting was at the office of Ibu Shirley, one of the Board members. Ibu Shirley and her parents lived above the office. Ibu Shirley had left the building to pick up last minute groceries for dinner. When she returned, she had lost her home, her business and her parents in the tragic collapse of the building.

This is one of many horrific stories of the earthquake. On the positive side, the larger community of West Sumatra and Indonesia has pulled together to help each other get through the disaster. We stayed in the house of Pak Michael, one of the three leaders of the Dian Insani organization. He and his family were hosting about 20 people in their home the night we arrived.

Padang earthquake Indonesia West Sumatra

People slept in tents, and on floors. This will be their lifestyle for months to come. We four slept on the floor in the front room, while six others were in the living room. We used three of the bedrolls we had brought with us. The second night Paul and I stayed at Michael’s house but Chip, Andre and ten of Andre’s guys with Nitra Sejati stayed at a house they were calling the center (rented as an office for Dian Insani in Padang). The downside was that when Paul and I rolled in after 11 pm, all the bedrolls were in use because they thought Paul and I would be at the center. Fortunately they had a blanket for us to put on the floor and I got a pillow that night, so I was even more comfortable than the first night on the bedroll.

About half of the houses in that neighborhood, including Pak Michael’s, had no water as a result of the earthquake. The community came together, sharing water with neighbors. Our first night there, after our nine-hour drive from Pekanbaru to Padang, they had lots of drinking water in plastic cups, but their bak mandi (a water storage tank in the bathroom) was empty. That meant there was no water to wash or even to flush the ‘squat on the floor’ toilet. The next morning we toted buckets of water from the neighbor to fill Pak Michael’s bak mandi. That was a small but heart-warming act of service for the four of us. OK, I admit it was not without some element of self-serving motivation.

There are aid workers from over 20 countries in West Sumatra, most in the capital city of Padang itself. Padang was full of white faces. The city is surprisingly approaching normalcy already. There was no chaos or looting. People were going about there business. Of course the business of many people was taking care of food and shelter needs and cleaning up the city. The focus was no longer on rescuing survivors from the rubble of destruction. It was too late for that. Although an estimated 180,000 buildings were flattened or severely damaged by the quake, I was surprised how much of the city was untouched. There would be complete blocks with no damage. On other streets one house would be flattened and the next perfectly intact. Some of this was the result of poor construction practices. They have a cheap mortar available to use in place of cement. For many, the luxury of cement was not affordable.

Some large business and government buildings withstood the quake while only a few were leveled. On Tuesday night, Paul and I were trying to locate a young girl from Pekanbaru. We went to a youth shelter near the site of the Ambacang Hotel. There we saw the most awful sight of our time in Padang. The Ambacang (ahm-bah-chong) has been the hotel of choice in Padang. It was completely leveled by the earthquake. Another large hotel next to the Ambacang was still standing and from a distance looked normal, but it had been closed due to structural damage. At 11:00 pm floodlights allowed the men and machinery to dig through the rubble to retrieve buried bodies. A crowd of people stood and stared. I don’t know if they were friends and relatives of the missing. I hope so. Schools had not yet reopened. This is too bad because school routines would be therapeutic for the children at this time. The government was beginning to provide tents for use as temporary classrooms. We passed one school that had significant damage to a large gazebo in front of the classroom buildings. The classroom buildings appeared to be intact, it was impossible to say for sure. Early estimates claimed that over 500 schools in the area were damaged, and that 241 schools had to be rebuilt.

Padang rubble

Restaurants and stores that did not suffer damage are open for business. We ate mostly at roadside restaurants and outdoor lunch places that hardly require electricity. However, a group of Chinese Indonesians from Jakarta, who had been delivering supplies with us on Tuesday, took us to a real restaurant near the Pizza Hut. First they insisted that we eat durian at a roadside stand. Durian is a fruit that is notorious for its odor. Hotels do not allow durian on the premises. Pak Lim showed us how to eat durian Asian style. After the proprietor cut open the spiky shell of the large fruit (about the size of an American football) we peeled out the fruit and slurped it down. Then Lim showed us how to fill the shell with water and mix in the fruit residue to create a drink that supposedly neutralizes the smell. We weren’t sure about the authenticity of this theory, but we did as we were instructed.

The Dian Insani group will continue to serve the community and will help us identify ways in which we as a community can help. They are currently identifying specific villages in Pariaman that will benefit from the kind of supplies that we can provide. For example, they will find a home for the remaining blankets that we left with them. We left some blankets with neighborhood health clinics in Pariaman.

Pariaman was hardest hit by the earthquake. This largely rural district suffered landslides that buried complete villages. These landslides are in remote areas that have only been accessible by helicopter. Dian Insani is holding meetings with many other small volunteer groups to coordinate their aid efforts, with a focus on Pariaman. The first suggestion that Michael made for our school was that a clothing drive would be very beneficial. The Duri Campus had already started a clothing drive, and at Rumbai we were just waiting to learn what would be identified as most needed. At this point volunteer groups are focusing on commodities such as rice, milk, tents, tarps, medical supplies, clothes, diapers, and other basic food and shelter items.

The efforts to help the victims of the earthquake will continue for years to come.

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Un orangutan nel parco nazionale di Medan

Ho guardato negli occhi Suma alla ricerca di un segno di riconoscimento. Dovevo sapere: potrebbe davvero questo grande ed agile orangutan condividere la Storia con me? Siamo davvero in qualche modo legati?

Nel settembre del 2011, Michael Ingram ed io volammo da Pekanbaru a Medan, nel nord di Sumatra. Il parco è quasi completamente situato entro i confini del Nord di Sumatra, ma si estende fino alla provincia dello Aceh nel nord, e tocca perfino la provincia di West Sumatra, nel sud. Eravamo in viaggio per il Parco Nazionale di Gunung Leuser per trascorrere del tempo con gli oranghi di Sumatra. La nostra missione era quella di divertirci, mentre le nostre mogli sbrigavano importanti lavori per migliorare l’istruzione dei figli di espatriati della specie umana.

Il brusco atterraggio presso l’Aeroporto Internazionale Polonia di Medan mi fece riflettere sui progressi della tecnologia in grado di inviare l’uomo nello spazio. Perché allora non è ancora possibile far fare ad un aeroplano un atterraggio ‘liscio? Caos frenetico è la descrizione che dettimo alla sala di raccolta bagagli dell’aereoporto. Ci siamo difesi tra la folla e in qualche modo siamo riusciti ad afferrare i nostri bagagli dal carosello. Appena usciti dall’aeroporto siamo stati accolti da Pak Effendi, la nostra guida. Il lavoro di Effendi era quello di intrattenerci ed informarci durante le tre ore di rotta da Medan a Bukit Lawang, un villaggio che confina con il parco nazionale.

Effendi ci diede un pò di nozioni sulla storia degli oranghi. Non sapevo che ci fossero solo due specie di orango del mondo – l’Orango del Borneo (Pongo pygmaeus), e l’orango di Sumatra (Pongo abelii). In realtà, la parola inglese ‘orangutan’ è una contrazione di ‘orang’ e ‘Hutan’, che in Bahasa Indonesia significa ‘gente della foresta’. L’orango è una delle Grandi Scimmie, un membro della Famiglia Hominidae. Questa famiglia comprende anche tre scimmie africane, il gorilla, lo scimpanzé comune e lo scimpanzé pigmeo o Bonobo. Anche noi esseri umani siamo fieri membri di questa famiglia.

Effendi si avvalse anche di una controversa ricerca che afferma che il patrimonio genetico delle più grandi scimmie è al 98% identico a quello degli esseri umani. Ci disse che gli oranghi sarebbero in grado di parlare, ma hanno semplicemente ‘scelto’ di non parlare. Sorrise e disse: “Sanno che se un giorno si mettessero a parlare, il governo li metterebbe subito a lavorare”. L’orango di Sumatra è una specie fortemente minacciata. Nel 1973 due zoologi svizzeri, Regina Frey e Monica Boerner, fondarono un centro di riabilitazione a Bukit Lawang per salvare l’orango di Sumatra. Il programma fu intrapreso per restituire oranghi in cattività alla foresta pluviale.

A Bukit Lawang attraversammo un ponte sospeso sul fiume Bohorok e raggiungemmo l’Eco Lodge. Il lodge è in stile rustico e i suoi giardini meravigliosamente curati; un contesto idilliaco cullato dal suono rilassante delle acque impetuose del fiume Bohorok. Ci sistemammo nelle nostre camere e incontrammo Silo, la nostra guida per il trek della mattina successiva.

Partimmo alle 8 del mattino, e rimasimo sorpresi nel vedere che Effendi si univa all’escursione. Effendi fuma come una piantagione di olio di palma , ed ha una gamba menomata da un incidente in moto, ma era pronto ad unirsi. Silo, Effendi, Michael ed io attraversammo una piccola piantagione di caucciù che separava il lodge dal parco nazionale. Il nostro primo incontro con la fauna selvatica fu con una scimmia Thomas Leaf. Ero molto curionso di incontrare questo membro della famiglia dei Langur. Silo gettò pezzi di banana su di un ramo di un albero e il Thomas Leaf arrivò a raccoglierli, mangiandoli uno alla volta mentre risaliva il ramo. Continuammo sul percorso per un’altra mezz’ora prima che Silo avvistasse Suma, un orango femmina che stava oziando in un nido costruito tra i rami di un albero. Stava ad una discreta distanza da noi e sembrava piuttosto rilassata nella sua cuccia. Silo la chiamò per nome e agitò una banana, ma Suma non si mosse fino a che, per attirarla, Silo alzò un mucchio di banane sulla sua testa.

Mi sorprese che Silo desse da mangiare a questi primati nella foresta, soprattutto visto che Suma è un orango in cattività che è stato reintrodotto nella foresta attraverso il programma di riabilitazione. Da quando il governo indonesiano ha assunto il controllo del Centro di Riabilitazione Bohorok nel 1980, l’attenzione è cambiata dal servizio all’orango al servizio del turismo. E’ dal 1996 che il centro non riceve un nuovo orango. Nonostante questa sfortunata serie di eventi, il lavoro svolto a Bukit Lawang educa turisti e gente del posto sulla situazione degli orangutan, e facendolo ci da l’opportunità di passare un momento magico con questo magnifico primate nel suo ambiente naturale.

Un orangutan nel parco nazionale di Medan

Quando Suma si sollevò lentamente dalla sua posizione comoda del nido, potemmo notare un cucciolo di orangutan a lei aggrappato. Suma aveva appena 15 mesi di età, ci disse Silo. Suma salì con il cucciolo appeso nel folto della foresta e, fuori della nostra vista, oscillò tra gli alberi fino a quando si trovò sopra di noi, sul lato opposto della pista. Poi lentamente scese, afferrando tronchi e rami e liane con tutte e quattro le mani. Silo commentò infatti che gli oranghi non hanno piedi, ma quattro mani. Una volta vicina al suolo, ma ancora al di sopra di noi, Suma si rese conto che le banane erano dall’altra parte del sentiero.

Fu interessante vederla cercare una soluzione al problema. Afferrò una liana penzolante con una mano, stabilizzò se stessa con le altre mani sui rami più grandi e cominciò a dondolare il corpo tra lo spazio sopra il sentiero. Il suo obbiettivo era quello di raggiungere un sottile tronco sul lato opposto. Una volta fatto ciò, si spostò facilmente tra gli alberi arrivando al suo premio. Divise le banane col cucciolo e rimase ancora un po’ ad intrattenerci. Siamo stati con Suma per circa mezz’ora. Si unirono altri turisti, e ci gustammo assieme la vista di Suma che permise al cucciolo di arrampicarsi solo, ma mai lontano dall’occhio vigile della madre.

Una volta accomiatatoci da Suma, Silo inizio’ una lunga discesa su di un sentiero meno battuto. Devo precisare che Michael ha una sbarra di titanio inserita nella gamba sinistra che va da metà stinco a metà coscia, il risultato di lesioni da baseball al liceo, e questo gli limita così tanto la gamma di movimento di questa gamba che anche salire le scale è una sfida. Ricordai a Michael che eravamo i clienti paganti e lo incoraggiai ad optare per il ‘Sentiero dei Polli’. Effendi ci aveva infatti detto che ci sono tre scelte di sentieri nel bosco: il sentiero dei polli, il sentiero di famiglia e l’escursione rigorosa. Avevamo detto chiaramente ad Effendi che la pista dei polli era perfetta per noi. Una volta raggiunto il letto del torrente in fondo alla pista, osservai preoccupato la salita imminente. Mi voltai verso Silo e dissi con incredulità: “Ti avevamo detto che Michael ha una gamba malridotta, vero?” Silo con calma rispose: “Sì, tranquilli. D’ora in avanti andremo più piano”. Sapendo che non c’era alcuna altra opzione possibile arrivati a questo punto, scossi la testa e mi incamminai. Alla sommità ci fermammo per una sosta e uno spuntino di frutta – arance, rambutan e, ovviamente, banane.

Dopo la pausa proseguimmo sul sentiero e scorgemmo un gruppo di scimmie Macaco dalla coda lunga. Ci fermammo per studiare i macachi, quando Silo avvistò il secondo orangutan madre, Pesek – nome che significa ‘naso piatto’ in Bahasa Indonesia. Il cucciolo di Pesek aveva tre anni. Al contrario di Suma, Pesek permetteva al suo cucciolo una vasta gamma di indipendenza. Non lo trasportava più, lo istruiva a sopravvivere nella foresta. Fu proprio il cucciolo a rispondere alla banana che Silo stava porgendo. Uno sfacciato macaco sfidò Pesek junior in un incontro che comprese una certa aggressività verbale tra i due primati concorrenti. Alla fine il giovane orango afferrò la banana e indietreggiò rapidamente, con Pesek che nel frattempo si era affrettata a portarsi nelle prossimità per proteggere la sua prole se fosse stato necessario. Pesek ed il suo cucciolo non sembravano propensi ad intrattenersi e ad intrattenerci, e se ne tornarono subito nella foresta. Noi ci incamminammo per un altro sentiero che scendendo ci portò al fiume Bohorok, superando la stazione di alimentazione del centro di riabilitazione poco prima di mezzogiorno. Silo ci informò che gli orari dei pasti degli oranghi sono la mattina presto e il tardo pomeriggio, e precisò che Suma e Pesek potrebbero venire a mangiare se gli capitasse di essere in zona, ma non dipendono dal centro per la loro alimentazione.

L’autore: Mr. Norm

Arrivati al fiume, mi cambiai in preparazione al ritorno al lodge in zattera. Mi tolsi le calze di lana e trovai una lunga e snella sanguisuga che danzava sulla mia caviglia. Non ebbi bisogno del sale per strapparmela di dosso e gettarla nella boscaglia. Guadai il fiume, ma il flusso dell’acqua era troppo veloce per poter nuotare, così mi sedetti nell’acqua bassa per rinfrescarmi. Michael mi raggiunse nel ruscello freddo di montagna e ci gustammo il nasi goreng (riso fritto) offerto da Silo seduti sulle rocce calde e con i piedi a mollo. Strano quello che una rigorosa escursione di quattro ore puo fare all’appetito: Michael ed io convenimmo che era uno dei migliori pasti della nostra vita!

Dal villaggio arrivò l’uomo della zattera con quattro grandi camere d’aria. Mentre mangiavamo, le legò assieme per produrre una zattera lunga a sufficenza per tutti e cinque. Le rapide erano abbastanza intense ma non abbiamo mai corso il pericolo di ribaltarci. Gli spruzzi d’acqua del fiume erano ghiacciati! Fu un ottimo modo per terminare la nostra avventura.

È confortante sapere che oggigiorno nella foresta pluviale del Parco Nazionale Gunung Leuser vive un gran numero di oranghi di Sumatra. Si stima che ce ne siano 9000 nelle foreste pluviali di tutta Sumatra. Il turismo spinge le guide ad indulgere in alcuni comportamenti non ortodossi ed in contraddizione con la reintroduzione delle scimmie allo stato selvatico. Nonostante questo, si prova un grande brivido al vedere oranghi allo stato semibrado, e con un pizzico di fortuna anche selvatici, nel loro habitat naturale. È stata un’avventura a dir poco molto speciale.

Per saperne di più consulta http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parco_nazionale_di_Gunung_Leuser

Per quanto riguarda gli oranghi e i loro problemi di sopravvivenza, guarda il video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xznj05_oranghi-di-sumatra-sempre-piu-a-rischio-estinzione-il-lesser-national-park-aperto-allo-sfruttamento_news

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