All aboard our last vlog in our Borneo Jungle Cruise vlog series! On our final vlog we visit Camp Leakey, the most famous orangutan feeding station and research center, become jungle queens, and get leeches on our feet!

Camp Leakey

Founded by Dr. Birute Galadikis, Camp Leakey is the place where the most important studies on orangutans have taken to date. Galadikis was mentored by Richard Leakey, hence the name Camp Leakey. Richard Leakey was a famous paleoanthropologist who also mentored Diane Fossey and Jane Goodall.

Camp Leakey has also been featured many times on the covers of National Geographic magazine over the years.

During the feeding times, people can come and observe the orangutans who show up to eat. The orangutans who come to eat here are the ones who cannot find food themselves in the jungle. Typically you will see the same groups who stick around this area.

Researchers also gather here to observe the orangutans and study their behavior throughout their lifetime.

Since Camp Leakey is the furthest feeding station you will have to do at least an overnight cruise to be able to visit it.

Jungle Queens

Our guide Chris took us through the jungle around the feeding stations to show us native plants to Borneo as well as their medicinal purposes! We forgot to jot down what all the benefits of the plants were sadly, but you will see us trying different plants from the jungle.

During this time Chris was quietly collecting leaves to make a leaf crown for Katy. Once he crowned her queen you can see on my face that I am instantly jealous! Chris eventually made me one too and we both were queens for the day, even though Katy is the OG queen.

Night Walk

On our final night of the cruise, Chris took us, with his ranger friend, on a night walk through the jungle. We didn’t get to see too much, but that was okay with us because we got to see our fair share of wild orangutans and that is not so normal.

We walked around and Chris pointed out glowing mushrooms and plants throughout the jungle. It was insane to see these glow in real life.

We also kept an eye out for tarsiers but were unlucky. Apparently, these little guys are not only shy but suicidal under stress. So I wasn’t too upset about not seeing one as I didn’t want a tarsier’s death on my hands if he got scared with a human encounter!

We ended up seeing tarsiers in the Philippines at a sanctuary later anyways!

Once we returned back to our boat Chris, Scott, and I discovered we got leeches! Katy and Emil had some strong Australian repellent that worked for mosquitos and leeches! Leave it up to the Aussies to know how to handle such things. Scott freaked out and immediately took off his pants and Chris came and safely removed the leeches and cleaned our wounds. He told us that the bites would itch the next day, but to our surprise, we never felt a thing.

That whole night we were worried the leeches were going to crawl off our pants and make their way into our bed and wake up to a huge, fat, blood sucking leech on us in the morning. Luckily this did not happen!

Overall

We had such an incredible time and we both agreed this was our favorite adventure of 2016. We really want to go back and experience this all over again, especially because no matter how many times you go it will be different every time. We would also make sure we book Chris again as our guide as at the end of our trip he felt more like a friend rather than someone we hired to take us around.

We really can’t recommend this trip enough. A Borneo jungle cruise is perfect for all kinds of travelers, even families with kids!

If you want to see more on Borneo be sure to check out our other posts below!

Our Borneo Jungle Experience

Borneo Jungle Cruise Vlog Day 1

Borneo Jungle Cruise Vlog Day 2