Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Sanctuary May Update

Posted by Beth Mills on 25th May 2023

The Great Projects' volunteer coordinators, Matt and Niamh, have provided an update on what was achieved at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Sanctuary with the most recent group of volunteers:

Bamboo Chopping

The volunteers worked together in high humidity, reaching 85% at times, to do a physically demanding task. They chopped down bamboo strands and created natural enrichment for the orangutans. 

Boat Tour

Everyone spent the morning with the feeding and observation team watching orangutans on the pre-release islands. Winne The Pooh is a reliable encounter as you will always find this 22-year-old male on the same platform, impatiently waiting for the delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables!

With high levels of rainfall at night-time recently, the river levels around the pre-release islands have risen. This means the orangutans must stay high in the trees to prevent getting wet. This is a great learning experience for the orangutans before they get released into their primary rainforest. Some, however, take the lazy way out and wade through the water in order to get their valuable fruit and vegetables from the feeding platform!

Baby Orangutans Returning From Forest School

A reward at the end of two physically demanding weeks, volunteers enjoy their time watching baby orangutans return back from a full day in forest school. Volunteers keep 10+ meters away whilst the cheeky orangutans play in their playground before they are sent off to bed for the night. Like any adventurous little one, Monita, an adoptable orangutan from BOSF foundation, was making life difficult for her babysitter as she refused to go to bed and demanded more playtime!

Grass Enrichment

Grass enrichment is a great type of food enrichment for orangutans going through rehabilitation. Artificial grass smeared in porridge and pumpkin, is placed out of arm's reach for the orangutans so they must use tools such as sticks and branches to reach the precious treats. Our team this month spent time building new grass enrichment stands so even more orangutans can experience this fun and fulfilling activity.

New Coconut Enrichment

We have created a brand new enrichment for orangutans going through rehabilitation to enjoy! Coconut husks are a great by-product to use after the coconut water has been extracted. We have built a relationship with local shop owners who now provide us with their coconuts after use so we can use them for natural enrichment for the orangutans to enjoy.

Sun Bear Project

Volunteers have also been doing some work for the only sun bear at the sanctuary, Si-Boy. In temperatures of 35 degrees and humidity ranging between 75-90%, volunteers have moved a total of 2,340 kilos of sand into Si-Boy's enclosure over the period of two months.

During COVID, Si-Boy had restricted access to a section of his enclosure due to metal flooring that was uprooted and became too dangerous for his paws. Our volunteers and coordinators along with the Nyaru Menteng enrichment team got to work and removed the old flooring and replaced it with strong and secure metal whilst covering it with a thick bed of comfy sand for Si-Boy to enjoy in his new section of enclosure. We worked together to remove old structural enrichment materials such as rotten climbing frames, barrels, swings, and hammocks in order to disinfect them and give them a good wash.

The next stage of the project is now to restructure his entire enclosure with new wooden beams and climbing frames, fix the sleeping hammocks and nests, and also create new swings and barrels.

We’re so pleased with the progress we have made on the enclosure for Si Boy so far, and we're very grateful for the amazing help of the volunteers at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Sanctuary.

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