What We Learned...

Leaving PKU

This is us checking in to leave for Pekanbaru for Singapore.  The new airport made it a much more pleasant experience.  

Singapore Zoo

The Singapore Zoo is world famous.  It is set in a lush natural jungle like setting and many of the animals seem as if they are not even in cages.  It seems as if they are much more accessible than say, Woodland Park Zoo.  Since we had a 23 hour layover in Singapore we decided that this would be a great way to kill some time.  

These guys are called Gibbons.  These guys actually live in the jungle on the Rumbai Camp.  On the last day we were there we heard them whooping in the jungle behind the school.  We all walked down and listened to them and saw them swinging in the trees.  This was a huge blessing.  In our time in Indo we actually saw them only 3 times.  You can hear them most mornings but they are so shy you almost NEVER see them.  This was a very special experience.  This picture was actually taken at the zoo however.

Just a note:  Rhinos stink up close!

The Orangutans were very active and you could get really close to them.  In fact they had a rope course for them in the trees above you and so they were literally climbing above you!

These little guys were roaming free.  They are marmosets.

Elephant Reserve

The trip to elephant reserve was definitely a highlight for our team. Chevron operates an Elephant Reserve on their property.  You can organize trips to this area and they will let you pet, feed and ride the elephants.  They have very experienced handlers.  In fact they took several of their elephants to Bali and trained handlers there on how to train and care for the elephants in order to use them at safari parks.

What is so great about this is you get to ride the elephants through the jungle pretty much as you would have 50 years or more ago.  This was an amazing experience for all of us.  This is a very unique opportunity that doesn't come along very often.  Everyone had a great time riding and feeding the elephants.

Mitchell with the head trainer, Akhim.