Approaching the stone steps of Borobudur Temple in the pre-dawn hours, the sky slowly began to lighten, revealing a blanket of grey clouds.

Getting up at 4 AM was no longer about seeing a multi-colored sky, but experiencing one of Indonesia's most celebrated cultural landmarks with as few people as possible.

Borobudur Temple is the world's largest Buddhist monument, its construction dating back to the 8th and 9th centuries (300 years before Cambodia's Angkor Wat).

The stone structure, built atop a hill, measures 123 square meters and features more than 2,600 carved reliefs and 500 Buddha statues.

The monument is dedicated to Buddha, while the reliefs depict his life and teachings.

The precision required to construct such a perfectly symmetrical building, 1,000 years before modern construction equipment was developed, boggles the mind.

In 1991, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has since become one of Indonesia's top tourist attractions, thanks in part to its easy access from the nearby city of Yogyakarta in Central Java.

Entrance to the Borobudur monument before sunrise is gained through the nearby Manohara hotel.

A sarong is required for men and women, and available for free to visitors (as well as a flashlight).

The climb to the top of the monument is steep, but short, and can be done in as little as five minutes.

Upon reaching the top-level, visitors are offered a 360-degree view of the lush landscape covering the surrounding Kedu Valley.

In the mornings, light fog drifts through the valley, adding to the mystical nature of the sacred location, which remains first and foremost, a site of Buddhist pilgrimage.

A guided tour will help you get the most out of a visit to Borobudur Temple. 

There's too much symbolism and Buddhist iconography for a layperson to decode on his or her own.

It wasn't until I began preparing for this trip to Indonesia that I became aware of Borobudur.

Given my long-standing fascination with Buddhist culture, I found the monument to be a welcome surprise in the world's biggest Muslim nation.

Borobudur Temple, along with the orangutans in Borneo, is another example of how much this country has to offer beyond Bali.

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Note: My visit to Indonesia was in conjunction with a blog trip hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

This is the third installment of a three-part series. Check out part one and part two as well.

Following the epic photoshoot with the delightful Sweet Hope, we devoured a breakfast of toast, fruit, and fried rice aboard the klotoks, and then disembarked.

By then, two dozen other tourists had arrived to watch the morning's orangutan feeding.

We walked a few minutes along another raised boardwalk until we reached the ranger station.

Behind one of the buildings, a mother orangutan was hanging from a tree trunk, along with her adorable baby.

The mother was making a distinct noise every thirty seconds, her way of warning us not to come closer, but as one guide mentioned, a sign of impatience as she awaited the morning feeding as well.

Female orangutans raise their young for 7-8 years before parting ways. This timeframe is the longest of any mammal, besides humans.

Remember, orangutans and humans share 97% of the same genetic code.

The long period mothers devote to raising their young is another example of how easy it is to relate to the behavior of orangutans.

It's easy to think they are similar to us, but in reality, it is we humans that are similar to them.

Feeding #2: An Alpha Male in Action

A few minutes before 9 AM, we proceeded further into the jungle to a raised wooden platform.

Bundles of bananas, along with a yellow plastic bucket of vitamin-fortified milk, were placed out.

In the distance, a large nest of leaves and branches could be seen perched high up a tree.

There was a rustling, and then the profile of a significant figure slowly descending the tree trunk.

Tom, an alpha male orangutan, was making his way to the food. None of the other orangutans in the region would approach the platform while he was on it.

As a dominant orangutan, Tom gets to eat first, unless another domineering, or up-and-coming male orangutan chooses to challenge him.

Dominant males, like Tom, can be distinguished by their large cheek pads, which can appear in as little as six months.

Not all male orangutans will grow them, and it's believed that certain males are genetically predisposed to be dominant.

Disturbing but true is the fact that Tom's preferred mating partner is his mother.

Once Tom had consumed his fill of milk and bananas, he departed the platform.

Within a few minutes, the mother and baby descended a tree to collect bananas, as did other medium-sized orangutans.

Most of the orangutans chose to grab the bananas and return to the treetops to consume them.

Orangutans spend most of their time in the tree canopy, where they're less likely to run into danger.

After observing the second feeding, we headed back to the klotoks, and a boat ride further upriver to Camp Leakey, where the observation and preservation of wild orangutans in Borneo first began, decades earlier.

Tanjung Puting National Park features several species of primates, in addition to orangutans.

Crab-eating macaques (aka long-tailed macaques) are easily distinguished due to their grey color and long tails, which often hang perpendicular to tree branches.

Proboscis monkeys are also common, especially at dusk in the trees along the river.

They are identified from a distance by their orange color hair, though they also feature huge noses (and thus the name).

According to our guides, the male monkeys are known for always being ready to mate.

Specifically, they always have an erection, which makes it hard to motor past them without a good laugh.

In addition to these two species, and the orangutans, you can also spot the occasion gibbon in the park, as we would soon find out.

Other exciting animals include sun bears, clouded leopards, red leaf-eating monkeys, and crocodiles (one of which is known to have attacked and killed a tourist on the river's edge near Camp Leakey).

By the time we reached Camp Leakey, the water had turned dark black.

Contrary to what you might think, the black water is cleaner than the brown water we'd seen downriver.

Unfortunately, there's a mining industry that sends a steady stream of pollutants downstream. The black water is the natural color of the unpolluted water.

Feeding #3: The Main Event at Camp Leakey

Camp Leakey was established in 1971 by Dr. Birute Galdikas and Rod Brindamour.

Galdikas was encouraged in her dream of studying wild orangutans in the forests of Southeast Asia by the late paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey who also mentored Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey in their respective studies of chimpanzees and mountain gorillas.

Camp Leakey is the site of the longest continuous study by one principal investigator of any wild non-human animal in the history of science.

Dr. Galdikas and her associates have logged over 100,000 hours of observation on focal wild orangutans in the 50 km (squared) study area associated with the camp. -- sign at the entrance of Camp Leakey

At Camp Leakey, we first toured an information center filled with photos of the local orangutans, and information gained from the tens of thousands of hours of study that have happened there.

Today, the biggest threat to the already endangered orangutans is deforestation.

As jungle is cleared to plant palm oil plantations or mine for precious minerals, the orangutans are losing their habitat.

Without the trees, they lose their source of food, as well as their home.

While they are protected within Tanjung Puting National Park, it occupies an obscenely small portion of Indonesian Borneo and the island of Borneo altogether.

Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), which was set up by Dr. Birute Galdikas in 1986 to help protect the orangutans, is actively making an effort to buy additional land, as well as educate the local landowners and workers.

Sadly, many Indonesian workers come from other islands and having no experience with these large yet gentle primates, kill them out of fear alone.

We heard one such story from Freddie Galdikas, son of Dr. Galdikas. He told us about how an orangutan, in search of food, was in a tree on a plantation.

The orangutan wouldn't come down, and the workers, unsure of what to do, lit a fire at the base of the tree, which eventually lead to the orangutan's death.

Another threat comes from poaching. As the mothers take care of the young until 7 or 8 years of age, the poacher's must kill the mother to kidnap and sell the baby.

Baby orangutans are sold for $1,000 in Jakarta, and more in Thailand, where they are kept as pets.

These stories are heartbreaking to hear, and after hearing them direct from Freddie, who grew up around the orangutans at Camp Leakey, I had to get involved.

Orangutan Foundation International offers a host of ways to protect and save these beautiful creatures.

There are a variety of products that can be purchased online, and for as little as $100, you can foster an orphan orangutan, or sponsor an acre of land in the Rawa Kuno Legacy Forest.

OFI is trying to raise $640,000 to purchase 6,400 acres of critical forest habitat.

Every $100 donated allows you to sponsor one acre of forest. This was the option I chose.

Whether you choose to help by sharing this article via social media, and thereby helping to educate others about the plight of orangutans, or by donating yourself, I ask that you please do something.

The Orangutans of Borneo may be endangered, but together, we can still work to protect and save them.

This is the third installment of a three-part series. Check out part one and part two as well.

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Note: My visit to Indonesia was in conjunction with a blog trip hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

This is the second installment of a three-part series. Read part one here.

Upon waking up around 6 AM on the morning of our second day in Indonesia's Tanjung Puting National Park, I surveyed the scene.

We were tied up to the same dock where we'd eaten dinner the night before. A few crew members were up and about, while most of the other bloggers were still asleep.

In the trees to the right of the boardwalk, I spotted an orangutan. Her name was Sweet Hope, and for the next 40 minutes, she entertained us like no other orangutan we saw.

She played and posed, and approached us with curiosity and comfort. When it was all over, I looked back at the photos, amazed at the wide range of expressions and poses she gave us in such a short time.

Without a doubt, she knew she had our undivided attention, and she was going to have fun with it.

I felt strangely emotional putting these photos together as if we formed a bond during our time together early that morning.

Our group would observe two more feedings, but none of those experiences would hold a candle to my time with Sweet Hope.

This is the second installment of a three-part series. Read part one here, and check back tomorrow for part three.

________

Note: My visit to Indonesia was in conjunction with a blog trip hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

Looking deep into their eyes, knowing you, as a homo sapien, share 97% of the same genetic code, it's hard not to feel a kinship with orangutans.

The endangered orangutans in Borneo first entered my consciousness when I met Gela, my Dutch trekking partner in Nepal.

I remember seeing a photo of her sitting next to one of the large, orange-haired primates and knowing then that I wanted to see them too.

Borneo, the commonly known name of the Asian island shared by both Indonesia and Malaysia, has always sounded extraordinarily remote to me.

My mind conjures up challenging travel conditions, thick jungles, machetes, and remote wilderness. In short, I'd built up a trip to Borneo to be a chore and an expensive one to boot.

But so many of my preconceived notions about travel to Borneo, specifically to see the wild orangutans in Tanjung Puting National Park, were smashed during my three-day.

Commercial tourism has arrived in Borneo, and while it requires an adventurous spirit, it's a surprisingly easy experience for travelers of all ages and budgets.

This is not something I can say about visiting the mountain gorillas in Rwanda, which requires $1,500 for the trekking permit alone.

Flying From Jakarta to Central Kalimantan, Borneo

My journey began in Jakarta, where seven other international travel bloggers and I met with representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and the Creative Economy of Indonesia.

Visiting the orangutans in Borneo was our first stop on a two-week tour of the country.

We departed Jakarta's International airport for Pangkalan Bun on Kal Star Aviation, an Indonesian airline in operation since 2007. 

The flight was just one hour, and they even provided us with a snack.

The proliferation of flights offered by regional and discount airlines in Indonesia is helping to improve accessibility to the country's more remote islands.

We landed at Pangkalan Bun's little airport and exited the plane directly onto the tarmac (a process I always associate with landing in remote areas).

Inside the terminal, I saw the world's smallest baggage carousel - it wasn't a full circle but a straight, 15-meter conveyor belt extending from a hole in the wall.

Despite the regular flights, it was good to see the growth in tourism had yet to necessitate a more extensive baggage delivery system.

Adapting to Life on a Klotok

Upon exiting the airport, we jumped into air-conditioned SUVs for the 20 to 30-minute drive to the river dock where we'd be boarding our klotok.

Klotoks are the traditional wooden boats used to navigate the local rivers.

Due to narrow sections and areas of shallow water, the maximum width of a klotok is 4 meters (12 feet).

The standard klotok is two levels. The lower level features the bathroom (with a Western-style toilet), crew quarters, and a "kitchen" where the food is prepped and cooked.

Some larger klotoks also feature showers and air-conditioning, though the generator required to keep guests cool creates noise pollution, thereby drowning out the sounds of nature in the evenings.

If given a choice, skip any attempts at air-conditioning, which will probably increase the cost and the noise.

The upper level is for the guests, where the meals are taken, and sleeping mattresses (with mosquito nets) are laid out at night.

We quickly adapted to life on our klotoks. Our group was large enough to require two, as they could carry four guests each.

There were other klotoks and tourists on the river. Most were occupied by couples, though there were families and what appeared to be the occasional group of backpackers too.

A group of women on one of our klotoks was responsible for preparing the food during our two-day trip.

Given the working conditions, we were impressed with the consistently excellent meals.

It reminded me of the time I went trekking in northern India and experienced some of the best food in the country, all prepared in a rock cave barely big enough to fit four people.

Our first lunch set the stage: fresh crab and fish, vegetable salads, soybean cakes, and fresh watermelon.

In addition to the meals, every time we came back to the klotok from observing the orangutans, there'd be a snack, such as fried bananas, waiting for us.

Cold beverages were also a treat, with Coke, Sprite, and bottled water on offer. Due to religious reasons, beer is not available on the Indonesian side of Borneo.

Feeding #1

After a few hours of riding upriver in our klotoks and enjoying a fresh seafood lunch, we crossed back onto land to observe the first of three orangutan feedings.

Park rangers established these feedings for the local orangutans to ensure the population remains strong and healthy.

If no orangutans show up, it's a positive sign because it means they can find enough food on their own.

They gobble up a plentiful supply of bananas and vitamin-fortified milk if they do appear.

Of course, tourists don't appreciate it if none appear, but as long as you avoid the first few months of the year, there's a high probability you'll see them every time as we did.

Being close to them as they did their daily business was a fascinating experience.

We were the last tourists to arrive at that particular camp, so a few dozen other people, who'd already taken their photos, were still around.

A few of these people were especially loud, so I asked them to keep it down. The disbelief on their faces was unforgettable, but I didn't care.

I was annoyed that they were carrying on as though they were drinking cappuccinos at a Starbucks.

Ultimately, it's up to the guides to ensure their customers respect the environment, orangutans, and other visitors around them.

Overnight on the Klotok

Dinner was taken back on the klotok after we motored further upriver, past the other boats, to the dock of the second camp we'd visit the following morning.

The tables and chairs were moved to the old wooden structure, and we ate by candlelight.

The chicken satay was popular with everyone and among the best of our two weeks in Indonesia.

As we ate, the crew set up our beds and mosquito nets for the night.

It may not look like much in the photo above, but I and most of the others slept surprisingly well.

The nets kept the bugs out, and the tarps blocked the three kinds of poisonous snakes, and crocodiles, from boarding our vessel.

The orangutans spend their nights sleeping in nests built in the trees. 

They build a new nest every day, a process which can take 20 to 30 minutes (which sounded fast to me, but if you're doing it every night, you must get good at it).

In the morning, I would awaken to a sweet surprise.

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Note: My visit to Indonesia was in conjunction with a blog trip hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy.

One of the highlights from my recent trip to Indonesia was a chance to see endangered Komodo Dragons in the wild.

We visited them on two of the only four islands in the world where they exist: Rinca and Komodo.

Now, I'm happy to share that Indonesia Travel is giving away a free trip to Komodo National Park, so 5 lucky winners will have a chance at the same amazing adventure!

To enter and be eligible to win, participants must:

1. Fill out a complete profile via the quiz page.

2. “Like” the Indonesia.Travel page on Facebook.

3. Follow the official tourism account, @indtravel on Twitter.

4. Then, answer the quiz questions (using the available hints). Each correct answer gets you 5 points. You can answer a maximum of 5 questions per day, earning you up to 25 points.

To earn additional points, and increase your odds of winning one of the 5 free trips, you can invite others to participate by using the Facebook “share” button, or your unique promotional link. You'll earn 1 extra point for each person that logs in to take the quiz.

The goal is to earn as many points as possible in the 30-day qualifying period, which runs from October 18 until November 18, 2012.

The quiz winners will be announced on November 23, 2012, at Indonesia.travel, Indonesia's Facebook page, and via the @indtravel account on Twitter.

Terms and Conditions

Indonesians, related parties, and quiz organizers are not allowed to participate.

The 5 people with the highest point total will win a free, 3-day/2-night trip to Komodo National Park, including international airfare (economy class), domestic flights in Indonesia (economy), accommodation, and meals.

Winners will be contacted via email. Winners who are not eligible will be replaced by the participants with the next highest point total.

The cost of traveling outside the trip period will not be covered. For example, if you win, you may choose to stay in Indonesia for 8 additional nights, however, all of the costs associated with the extra time are the sole responsibility of the winner.

* Note: I've paraphrased a few of the most important terms here, but please read them all on the Indonesia.travel website before participating.

If you have any questions regarding the contest, quiz, or terms, email quiz(at)indonesia.travel

I would love to see one of Go Backpacking's readers win this trip.

Good luck!