Dutch Monkey

In the harbor of the Indonesian city of Larantuka, I had found out in a funny way how I, as a European, am perceived by the locals. A little girl could no longer hold herself in laughter while she looked me in the face. It was because of our incredibly long noses, the girl’s father had politely explained to me, which were distinctly special for Indonesians. When I later met the proboscis monkeys in Malaysian Borneo, I felt intimately connected to them. Under Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia, the monkey species had been called monyet belanda, translated Dutch monkey. With their long noses and fat bellies, they had apparently looked deceptively similar to the colonialists.

Bako Nationalpark (Malaysia), September 2013