Christmas a la Indonesia

I didn’t see any Christmas trees in Bogor except a very small plastic one in my office, but luckily we found this one in Jakarta.

Lars and I decided we really needed to get away from it all

So we set off on our boat to Ujung Kulon National Park, the last vestige of the rare Javan rhino.

Our guide, Maman, bought us fish for dinner on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day we got up very early …

… so early that it was still Christmas Eve in Europe and you lot were probably all down the pub getting in your last orders.

And we sailed to a nearby river in order to go canoeing at daybreak and catch the best wildlife.

Along the way we spotted this cute baby python (later on we saw a very large python that had just eaten a pig).

Followed by fresh rhino footprints on the riverbank

A couple of hours up-river we parked and went for a walk …

… in the jungle.

Canoeing back in the rain

Our water taxi was waiting at the beach to take us back to the boat …

… but some small holes in the bottom meant that Lars was kept busy bailing out water.

Back at the boat

Time to open my Christmas present, which consisted of a lot of red crate paper.

It was the best present I could ever have wished for.

Back at the hut we had delicious Bratkartoffeln with tomato, scrambled egg and fried plantain for Christmas dinner, followed by some very tasty Italian panforte which I smuggled in from Sainsbury’s last October. The Indonesian’s loved it.

At night we slept on an island with beautifully clear night sea.

A walk in the jungle, Lars and our guide climbed up the roots of a very rooty tree.

It rained some more and we got wet again

A view of the headland from the top of a lighthouse disguised as a very large telephone pylon (which I refused to climb. Luckily Lars is always in search of a good photo opportunity).

Another breakfast on the boat

Our driver

A combination of gorgeous beaches and sunshine, with no rain for at least half an hour, meant we could take some tropical beach photos on our way home.


After the hard work of delivering Christmas parcels was over we caught Rudolf sunning himself on the beach. Even reindeer deserve a holiday.