Hamish and Zoë’s Orangutan Diary

“As an ambassador for The Orangutan Project, a not-for-profit that focuses on the welfare of our endangered forest cousins and their rapidly diminishing habitat, I was thrilled to be invited to Borneo to see the great work they’re doing.

Hanging with the orangutans has been a dream of mine since I was a kid, and to have Hamish join me was a wonderful bonus – and not just because I needed a handsome assistant to carry my water!”

“We set off to the Orangutan Rescue Centre in Ketapang, where 60 of our furry friends learn to climb and forage for food in the hope that one day they will be able to be released back into the wild.

As it’s not exactly tourist destination, this involved several flights, and a lot of moral-boosting junk food.”

“Leif Cocks, President and Founder of TOP, took us to see the forests where we saw kilometre after kilometre of cleared land, with huge bulldozers snoozing nearby.

It was enormously disheartening, even more so when we learned that 300 football fields worth of forest is being cleared every single hour. This leaves orangutans with nowhere to live, either forcing them out into the villages where they are killed for stealing the local’s crops out of desperation, or destroyed/poached as the forest is bulldozed.”

“Next stop was the Orangutan Rescue Centre, where we met with the executive director, Dr. Karmele Llano Sánchez, and given facemasks. This is not because we are Doctors, but because diseases are highly transmissible between humans and orangutans, and even a simple head cold can cause havoc.”

“When they’re rescued, they are malnourished, and often suffering psychological problems and depression. We were taken down to ‘jungle school’ where the youngest orphans (re-)learn how to climb trees.

If you can imagine a small jungle gym in a shady pocket of forest and Hamish and I completely losing it over the sight of 10 tiny hairy little creatures playing and climbing, you’ve pretty much got the picture.”

“We noticed a pair of tiny, inseparable orangutans among the group. They didn’t relax their grip on each other for even a second and to say it was cute is like saying the sun is ‘a bit hot’.”

“We learned their names, Rocky and Rickina, and that when after being placed in the same enclosure their bond developed rapidly, to the extent where Rocky started mimicking Rickina’s habit of touching the machete scar on her head when she was scared or sad.”

“They completely stole our hearts, to the point where Hamish may have made one too many jokes about taking them home with us, because we were soon ushered on to the ‘grown up’ forest.”

Sponsor Rocky and Rickina and help get them back into the wild! Visit orangutan.org.au and click on Hamish and Zoë’s special appeal for Rocky and Rickina.

“We made a sweaty, stumbly minute walk into their dense forest until about 15 orangutans suddenly appeared, shaking the trees and making “threatening” kissing noises. Orangutans are far from aggressive animals, but these orphans have been carefully raised to view strange humans as a threat.

The centre houses around 60 orangutans, around 50 of which are ‘teens’ or young adults and works to rehabilitate them, medically and mentally, so they can eventually be released back into the wild.’

“If you knew that each morning the infant orangutans were taken from their enclosure in a wheelbarrow to jungle school – where the youngest orphans are taught to climb trees – you’d make sure you were there bright and early to see it. Which is precisely what we forced everyone to do.”

“It was one million per cent worth it, seeing them all huddled together, huge eyes taking it all in, Rocky’s protective little hand reaching over to grab my arm and warn me to stay away from his woman.”

“We watched the babies hop out and onto their jungle gym to begin climbing practice for the day. They are the cutest things we’ve ever seen – and if you’ve seen our cat, you know that’s a big call!”

“After lunch, Leif, Karmele, Hamish and I pile into what looks a like a toy boat and speed up a local river to the see where completely rehabilitated orangutans are released into the wild. Given there is a very real chance the species will be extinct in the wild within 10 years, release is a huge accomplishment and sense of joy for the rescue workers.”

Visit orangutan.org.au for more information on The Orangutan Project, and adopt an orphan for just $55 a year.