All my life I have been fascinated with orang-utans – those gorgeous, graceful creatures with flowing orange locks and soulful brown eyes. But, having lived most of my life in the UK and Europe, my sighting of them was strictly confined to behind bars in a city zoo. A journey to their natural homeland in Borneo or Sumatra was a fanciful dream and many thousands of miles away. Dream on.
Fast forward and 70 years later I moved to join my family in Australia. Another 10 years passed and one day through a casual introduction and a niggling need to improve my general fitness before it was too late, I joined a gym and started a training program with a personal trainer. With gentle persuasion I found myself doing exercises which hadn’t appeared in my daily life since the school gym, and what’s more, I was enjoying it!
I discovered my trainer, Andy, ran a company called Fitness Adventures which aimed to provide just that. Quite casually one day he mentioned that one of their adventure trips was to Borneo to visit the rainforest and the orangutans. That was it. The magic button had been pressed and a lifelong dream was almost within reach, except here I was, a not-so-fit 80 year-old with three false hips. Andy said he could train me and I’d be fine. Hmmm… I was determined though. We had four months to get me there so I strapped myself in!
I worked hard at the program Andy designed for me. I had to be comfortable trekking through the rainforest on uneven ground, cope with humidity and warm temperatures and keep my balance on the deck of the swaying wooden boat that pushed it’s way steadily up the river to access the Tanjung Putting National Park and Camp Leakey, the research station where the orang-utans lived. Andy had me balancing on bosu balls, strengthening my legs with step ups and pushing and pulling resistance bands in a manner of hilarious ways! Lots of laughs were had along the way.
Four months down the track and as we boarded the plane I was beyond excited. The whole experience was totally mind-blowing and more than I could have ever imagined it would be. When I finally came eyeball to eyeball with Siswe and had a playful encounter with Ursula on the boardwalk at Camp Leakey, it was love at first sight. We share 97% of our DNA with these beautiful animals and when you meet them face to face and look into their eyes, the connection is overwhelming.
It is impossible to fathom how anyone could possibly want to harm these amazing people (they really are people…), but I guess money is a pretty powerful motivator. Palm oil, illegal logging and a black market trade are all threatening their existence. It breaks my heart. But, talking with local guides and seeing and hearing first hand the passion they have for the jungle and the orangutan as well as the support they have from various organisations that are working to save the Borneon jungle, gives me hope. If you get a chance, you must go. Even if you can’t make it, please support campaigns, sign petitions and jump up and down on your soap box if you have to so the organisations working to save the orangutans can continue their amazing work.
This really was the trip of a lifetime. With the help of Andy, I was able to prove that dreams can come true – whatever your age (that means you can too!).
Have you enjoyed an active holiday or adventure in your 60s like Shirley? Where did you go? How did you find the experience? Tell us in the comments below…
