Tarakan Borneo 2015

Tarakan.

Tarakan, East Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia, would be our last port in Indonesia. When we arrived from Sulawesi, there was this smoke hanging every where, the locals call it "the haze" its originated from the burning of forests to make place for palm tree's for the palm oil. 

This year the haze was so dense that lots of people got sick, have breathing problems, including myself, schools closed, airports closed, the fires reaching five thousand different places were out of control, help came from Australia and other countries, Indonesia government was accused of the environmental crime of the 21 century.

That is why on a lot of  the pictures we made, you can see the haze, in the two weeks we were there, we did not see the sun, had to run the generator, because the solar panels gave not enough power.

This picture shows how a big part of the city is build on the water, a lot of thin poles keep the streets and houses above sea level.

Low water, boats lying on the mud, and the dirt, most plastic all over. there is no dirt collecting system, so everything is going in the sea.

Dried fish market, the concrete street, and wooden houses are build on wooden poles.

Here people are drying some kind of sea weed, but I could never find out for what they are using it.

Woman selling, vegetables.

Boat builder.

Sorting out prawns, they go to Japan.

Fisher men, see the haze!

Borneo is very rich in resources, here loading coal.

Park in the mangrove.

Proboscis monkey or long nosed monkey.

You can see the haze between the tree's.

Like every where in Indonesia the stone fever did strike here too.

Another strange thing I can not explain, mostly girls and women attaching pieces of certain kind of see weed to a rope, on the ropes are empty plastic bottles, this all goes back into the sea. Like a kind of sea garden for seaweed 

Making a net, completely by hand. 

Boy creating a bonsai from a piece of driftwood and plastic.

Drying some kind of eel on the boat.

A lucky day with some shy sun.

Your author driving back to his floating home.