In Kate's Words... - An Update From Samboja Lestari

Posted by Kate Helliwell on 18th Sep 2017

After completing the first half of the year we are now onto the next phase.

Since finishing the baby playground, we have been busy.

We started to work on the veterinarian clinic giving it a refurbishment. Not our usual kind of project, but we thought we would try our hands at a bit of DIY this year. This will be a project that we complete between our other major construction projects over the next few months. Keeping the animals at Samboja healthy is a constant job for the staff here, therefore making sure their clinic is in perfect working order is a very important job.

We also created a new playground for any new babies that arrive at the sanctuary and have to go through their quarantine period before joining the others. Now, they have a new small playground next to the vet clinic that they can enjoy during their transition period!

And back to the islands…currently, we are refurbishing islands 3 and 4 for some very special inhabitants. Firstly, Island 4 is for our second longest resident at Samboja. His name is Papa and he is 28. He unfortunately suffered from Hepatitis B when he arrived at BOS Foundation many years ago and has to be quarantined; he is unfortunately not releasable due to not having any survival skills so the next best thing for him is an island. He is now just like Romeo, getting the chance to live out the rest of his life on one of the islands here at Samboja. Therefore, the task with the volunteers for the next few months is to prepare it for him along with 3 other females. This consists of creating platforms for shade and feeding along with hammocks for resting and many different climbing structures so they can swing around their new island like they would from tree to tree in the wild. We are in the middle of building 2 or our 3 platforms here and progress is going well.

Island 3 has recently been designated for another one of Samboja’s residents. Who? We will reveal shortly! We are therefore tasked with completing this island in the final months of 2017.

It is very exciting to know that we can change the lives of individual orangutans who have been through such traumas in their lives. Especially those who are not able to be released back to the wild. This is made possible with our dedicated team here and the volunteers that come to help us.

Soon we will be looking to 2018 and seeing what the next year brings for our friends here at Samboja…

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Jenni commented 5 years ago

Ahh thanks for the update Kate, so good to hear about all the happenings over there!! Looking forward to hearing about Papa's release and who the new island is for!! I still keep returning in my mind to Samboja as my happy place in times of stress!!

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Paul commented 5 years ago

Thanks for the update Kate, can't wait to see Papa released on the island with his girlfriends. When you post his release can you do a video of how he reacts being there. Love Vicki and Griff xxx

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