A Dark Place in the Jungle: Science, Orangutans, and Human Nature [Hardcover]

Linda Spalding (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999

In A Dark Place in the Jungle, writer Linda Spalding travels to Borneo's threatened jungles on the trail of orangutan researcher Birute galdikas. What she finds is an unholy mix of foreign scientists, government workers, tourists, loggers, descendants of Dayak headhunters, Javanese gold miners, and half-tame orangutans.

Galdikas, along with Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall. Formed the famed trio of "angels" Louis Leakey encouraged to study great apes in the wild In 1971, she went into the jungle to study orangutans and decades later emerged with a rundown empire crumbling around her. Along the way, as poachers and timber barons slaughtered orangutans by the hundreds, Galdikas evolved into Ibu, the great mother of orphan orangutans, blurring the line between ape and human, tourist and scientist, Eden and everything else. To the orangutans, this was perhaps the cruelest blow of all.

Spalding's quest takes her from the offices of Galdika's foundation in Los Angeles to the crocodile-infested Sekonyer River in Borneo, where she confronts the sad, corrupting failure of a woman trying desperately to mother a species to survival; the dangers and temptations of ecotourism; and the arrogance of the human inclination to alter the things we set out to save.

Here is a book that shows us no paradise is safe from the machinations of man, and no one immune to temptation.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Biruté Galdikas is one of Louis Leakey's "three angels": Jane Goodall dedicated her life to the study of chimpanzees; Dian Fossey, gorillas; and Galdikas, the orangutans of Borneo's rainforest. Dark Place's author, Linda Spalding, says that Goodall is usually described as the "good fairy" of the three, respected and adored by all. Fossey, she says, died a martyr and was even compared to Jesus Christ at her eulogy, despite being considered "mad, paranoid, alcoholic, delusional, enormously daring, and vastly insecure." The difficult path Galdikas followed in the shadow of these two has attracted similar scrutiny--and, more recently, controversy.

A Dark Place in the Jungle tells the story of Spalding's "follow" of Galdikas, her attempt to study the scientist as Leakey's angels studied the great apes, observing her at a distance and noting her behavior. She trails Galdikas in the States and travels to Borneo three times in pursuit of the naturalist in her element. Spalding's assessment of her is far from favorable or flattering: Galdikas is portrayed alternately as conflicted, abrupt, arrogant, deceitful, distant, and, ultimately, as having failed drastically in her mission to "save" the orangutan from the press of human greed and indifference in Borneo.

In this way, Dark Place is a troublesome read. As a travelogue, the book is magnificent. Spalding is an observant, perceptive writer; her descriptions are lush, even lyrical, and often insightful, especially the meditations on motherhood and her reunion with her two young daughters, who travel to Borneo with her. Passing judgment on Galdikas's alleged guilt and Spalding's interactions with her is difficult, but Galdikas must certainly address the issues Spalding has raised. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly

In 1995, novelist Spalding (The Paper Wife) traveled to Indonesia with her two daughters to work on a book about orangutan researcher Birut? Galdikas, who, along with Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, was a prot?g?e of anthropologist Louis Leakey. That book turns out to be a sophisticated mixture of memoir, science writing and travel essay; a disturbing expos? of complex, sometimes counterproductive, attempts to protect an endangered species; and a knowing self-portrait of a perceptive, sympathetic woman trying to make sense of the ambitions and disappointments around her. Spalding left Toronto with her daughters hoping to gain insight into Galdikas's work by visiting her "research" station, Camp Leakey, in Borneo. Once there, she writes, she encountered unexpected hostility, because she hadn't come under the auspices of the expensive Orangutan Federation International tourAwhose profits, according to Spalding, benefit Galdikas's family more than the orangutansAand because her questions were too probing. Unfazed, the author deciphered her subject from a distance. Her picture of Galdikas as a young woman who came to study orangutans in 1971 and is now holding them illegally in her house, of altruistic scientific inquiry derailed by the temptations of power and money, provokes both repugnance and some measure of understanding. Spalding's lush descriptions of the rainforest are complemented by observations of the guides, forest rangers, villagers and scientists she met, as well as by her extensive reading on ecotourism and evolution. She distinguishes herself by her respect for the local population and by her attempts to comprehend the disparate opinions about Galdikas and the proper treatment of orangutans. Her candid recounting of her fluctuating emotions combines with meditations on motherhood and on the course of her own life to broaden her book's scope even beyond its potent portraiture. Author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565122267
• ISBN-13: 978-1565122260
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,242,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN IMPORTANT BOOK, June 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Dark Place in the Jungle: Science, Orangutans, and Human Nature (Hardcover)

Critics of this book claim that Spalding has not backed up her allegations against Galdikas. Leaving aside the fact that those allegations are not the point of the book, let me quote from the Indonesian government's own recent report about Galdikas, which Spalding has included as an epilogue:

"Based on the results of this assessment, at this time in the house of Dr. Birute Galdikas were found 89 orangutans, which were held in four secret lodges placed in the forest behind the house...The condition of the place for accomodating the orangutans does not meet health standards. Isolation cages were made of metal measuring 1.5 meters x 1 meter x 1 meter. One such pen would be occupied by 3-5 orangutans. The isolation cages are placed in wooden sheds measuring 10 meters x 4 meters, each holding approximately 10 isolation cages. At the time of the inspection, the floors of the sheds [were] covered with fruit peels and feces, including diarrhea. Two of the sheds were located close to chicken pens owned by other people, and there were two dogs roaming the sheds....Wandering around were several baby orangutans with diarrhea. In one pen occupied by 3-5 baby orangutans, these babies were not free to move about, and their cages also had feces in them. Three young orangutans were found in a hut without ventilation and light, being cared for by a German tourist. One baby orangutan was feverish, while another was wearing a diaper for its diarrhea."

How can Galdikas pretend to be against the private holding of orangutans, when she has been found to blatantly violating that law herself? She may claim that she is rehabilitating those orangutans, but her theories on that subject have been thoroughly discredited by the conclusions of the international scientific community, and by the rehabilitation work of Herman Rijksen and Willie Smits.

I, too, have worked with the orangutans in Borneo. Why will no one mention the fact that Galdikas has not published _any_ new research in almost 20 years? Why has no one mentioned the fact she lives in a veritable mansion, that I and my fellow volunteers had to pay many thousands of dollars to help her "research," only to find out that our "research" notebooks were recently found rotting in piles? Why has no one mentioned that the Indonesian government recently yanked away Galdikas's title "consultant"?

I suspect that the critics of this book are members of the Galdikas cult that tolerates no criticism of Ibu. Witness the online wars that erupted last year on various primate discussion groups; everytime anyone proposed that we wait and see what the investigation into Galdikas concluded, they were shouted down and threatened by rabid, illogical and unreasonable supporters of Galdikas.

I for one, welcome this beautifully written book, and will be making it a required book for the curriculum I teach. Spalding may be criticized for pursuing her project against the will of Galdikas, but if every journalist were cowed by the wishes of their subject, then corruption and madness would never be exposed. This book is indispensable to understanding the awful, destructive power of the human ego.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Points Made Poorly, December 14, 2003

By 

Laszlo Wagner (Hungary) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Dark Place in the Jungle: Science, Orangutans, and Human Nature (Hardcover)

This book deserves credit for pointing out the mistakes made by Galdikas in Tanjung Puting National Park.
These include swarming a natural habitat with tamed apes that can never become wild again but pass on human diseases to the wild population and outcompete them for food in the area.
It also reveals how OFI "volunter-programs" and "study tours" were little more than overpriced package tours for naive animal lovers, simply aimed at making cash.
In that respect, it is a real eye-opener which is also very accessible to the general reader.
In fact the publication of this book has already caused OFI/Galdikas to address some of the issues publicized in it!
Thus the author has probably achieved more than the she had hoped for.

On the downside I found it somewhat poorly-researched.
It is obvious that Spalding knows very little about the culture, fauna, and conservation issues of Indonesia.
She seems also rather naive - all information obtained from Indonesians on her short trips to Borneo is taken at face-value.
The book is also quite unbalanced - Galdikas is put in an all negative light, ignoring the postive aspects of her long work in the area.
Finally, I also found the book too personal - Spalding speaks way too much about herself, which has bored me though may interest others...

For those with a serious interest in the issues raised in this book I recommend reading Our Vanishing Relative: The Status of Wild Orangutans at the Close of the Twentieth Century by H. D. Rijksen & E. Meijaard which is a professional summary of everything that has to do with the conservation of these great apes.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What Spalding did not see (or say), June 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Dark Place in the Jungle: Science, Orangutans, and Human Nature (Hardcover)

A DARK PLACE IN THE JUNGLE is written as if Borneo were on another planet, not part of the Republic of Indonesia! Where was Spalding when President Suharto was forced to resign? when the news was filled with descriptions of one of the most corrupt, autocratic, environmentally irresponsible regimes on earth. Let's get real!

THE BACKGROUND: When Spalding began her "follow" of orangutan researcher and conservationist Birute Galdikas, Indonesia's President Suharto had been in power almost 30 tears. The "Indonesia" Spalding visited was a police state that treated people (as well as orangutans) as expendible. Individuals who dared to question government policy, on the world stage (East Timorese nationalists) or the local level (the story of Spalding's friend Riska's mother), took their lives in their hands. Under this regime thousands of Indonesians were summarily executed; thousands more were forcibly "relocated" to remote islands such as Borneo; and an unknown number were arrested without trial, imprisoned, and torture. In Indonesia, such government actions were perfectly legal.

Combining political repression with "crony capitalism," Suharto, his family and friends amassed huge personal fortunes--in large part by raping Borneo's ancient tropical rainforests. Millions of acres of forest were destroyed to produce plywood and paperpulp and to make way for palm oil plantations. Indonesia was the ONLY country in the world to ENDORSE clear-cutting (not selective logging) of primary forests in the name of development! In 1998-99, Borneo went up in flames, engulfing much of Southeast Asia in toxic smoke for weeks at a time. Most of the fires started in land owned by timber and palm oil concessionnaires who used El Nino as an excuse to clear still more forest--with the government's blessing. In Suharto's Indonesia, ministers and timber tycoons were one and the same.

To this government, orangutans (and their advocate, Birute Galdikas) were at best a nuisance. To handle the "orangutan problem" Indonesian officials devised a new rehabilitation/conservation policy. By decree, all orphaned orangutans were to be sent to a facility in East Borneo (or in a few cases to untrained park rangers). This rehabilitation site--conveniently located in remote, unprofitable forests--was a "smoke screen" for a program of removing endangered orangutans from profitable forests, which could then be opened to still more commercial exploitation (according to an article in the respected ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE Quarterly, Fall 1998). Perhaps the "new" policy was also designed to discredit Birute Galdikas and her work. Or to convince naive outsiders to do so.

SPALDING'S VERSION: Given this background, to characterize Galdikas as a "fallen angel" is ludicrous. It's as if Spalding took everything evil the world knew about Indonesia, dipped her arrow in this poison, and aimed at Galdikas, who is small game (and easy prey) in the global political-economic jungle.

But Spalding wasn't interested in the big picture; she wanted a close-up shot (with herself in the picture). So she limited her "research" to brief trips to Tanjung Puting National Park and its surroundings. She talked to local people and officials and asks readers to take them at their word, as if they could speak freely without worrying that someone (the boatman?) might overhear and report the conversation to officials. If only to protect their jobs, her informants were bound to endorce the "party line." Likewise, the few scientists Spalding interviewed had to be careful if they wanted the government to renew their research permits--surely one reason Dr. carey Yeager demanded that Spalding sign a "waiver" and Dr. Anne Russon's affiliations in Borneo are vague. [Galdikas is an Indonesian citizen (a fact Spalding neglects to mention), does not require entry permits, and so is freer to speak her mind and to act according to her conscience.] Yet Spalding asks readers to believe that the rumors and heresay she collected are the "true story." One can almost hear Indonesians chuckling over another North American's naivete.

In an epilogue, Spalding recounts a raid on Galdikas' house in the village of Pasir Panjung and prints parts of the government report that followed as well as selected "internal" memos and correspondance. (How she got them is a mystery, but supposing she worked with someone who worked for the Suharto government....) She asks readers to believe that these officials were motivated solely by "concern" for orphaned orangutans and that their report was totally "objective." Anyone with experience in Indonesia can read between the lines: the investigators "found" what they were asked to find, and with their jobs secure, went home to dinner. Never mind that (a) this government deceived officials of the World Bank and IMF (among others) for more than a decade; and (b) that Suharto was overthrown a year before A DARK PLACE was published. Spalding doesn't tell readers that the authors of these allegations, along with most of the ministers, officials, and policies she endorses in her book, were replaced by Indonesia's interim President Habbibie soon after he took office. Or that the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine opened in January, under the codirection of the orangutan Foundation and Indonesia's CURRENT Forest Ministry....Or that the only place Galdikas has been charged with anything is in Spalding's own article and books.