Borneo bound

25th March 2006

Photographing orang utans in Borneo had been brought forward and changed my original plans. There was a lot of last minute research to do and sorting of equipment for the challenges of photographing in jungle and rainforest environments. On top of that, I'm having trouble getting the flight tickets ... it looks like I'll be picking them up at the airport.

Into the wild

29th March 2006

Today I head for the centre of Sabah and the Danum Valley - the best place for tracking wild orang-utan in this part of Borneo. It's an early start - up at 3:30am - to catch the internal flight by light aircraft. Later I'll be heading up into the canopy, the natural home of the "man of the forest".

The elusive “man of the forest”

2nd April 2006

After four days tracking the orang utan in the wild jungles of Borneo, we've seen plenty of signs (nests, remnants of feeding, scat) but no orang utans. Researchers say it's impossible to count the number of wild orang utans ... I'm beginning to believe them!

A natural workout

For anyone who hasn't been in the jungle, it's a little like taking vigorous exercise in a sauna. I'm hot, sticky and being eaten alive by bugs; some you can't see and, worse, some you can! Where are the orang utan?

A change of luck

3rd April 2006

Yesterday afternoon we changed tack and headed down the Kinabatangan River by canoe. And we found our first wild orang utan. A female with a young male. It's an amazing sight, these incredible animals, so similar to man, so well adapted to their ever-decreasing environment. It's an incredible experience that makes the effort of the past five days worth while.