Doing Epic Shit Down Under

Just finished up a 2 week volunteering stint at Samboja Lestari, an orangutan sanctuary in Borneo, Indonesia operated by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS).  Definitely one of the most fascinating and gratifying segments of our trip, and a great way to finish up our travels! In Indonesian, the word "orangutan" means "person of the forest", and they are remarkably human-like in many respects - not surprising given that they share 97% of our DNA.  They are one of the 5 Great Apes, alongside chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and........humans.  Recent studies have concluded that they are the most intelligent of all the Great Apes (aside from humans - and given what's going on in the world today, one could make a reasonable argument that humans aren't in fact all that smart...). Found only in tropical rainforests on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, orangutans are classified as "critically endangered", just one step away from exti...

  My first impression upon arriving in Indonesia:  I've got 1,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah in my wallet....life is good!  Oh wait, that's about $65 US..... Our first stop in Indonesia was Komodo National Park.  We stayed at a dive resort in the Park and did 6 dives in 2 days.  The visibility was awesome, the water was 80-82 degrees, and the coral reefs and abundance of marine life were like nothing we’ve ever seen.   On our last day in Komodo we took a trip to see the famed Komodo Dragons.  About 1500 Dragons live on Komodo Island, along with roughly the same number of people.  The villagers have to be on the lookout constantly, as the Dragons come into their village almost every day looking for goats and chickens to eat (though not frequently, Dragons have been known to kill people too).  Their favorite food is the deer (Javan rusa) which are native to the island (they can even eat water buffalo!):   Seems improbable, I know, until yo...