The Great Orangutan and Pygmy Elephant Project

Exhausting and challenging. At times, thought-provoking. Often surprising in so many ways. But also exhilarating, exciting and rewarding! Our recent visit to the project opened our eyes and hearts to the people, culture, environment and animals of Borneo, and left us with memories we'll treasure forever. The work was hard, the accommodation was basic, the people were lovely and the whole experience was beyond our expectations. We learned about the palm oil and the local culture; we cleared, planted and tracked new wildlife corridors; we cooked and ate with local families; we enjoyed local crafting, music and dances. Just some of the wildlife we saw: endless macaques and hornbills; kingfishers and eagles, orangutans and elephants; civet and crocodiles; owls and water monitor lizards, green keelback and bronze back snakes, flying lizards, gibbons, silver langer and red leaf monkeys, beautiful songbirds, millipedes, a giant squirrel and lots of proboscis monkeys. Every day was an adventure, with nothing guaranteed, but always something astonishing. Thank you, Mark, and all at The Great Projects and the lovely people of Borneo.

I have always dreamed of visiting Borneo ever since I was 24 (30 years ago!) I finally had my opportunity to go this year so off I went. We were based in a small village called Sukau, with lovely locals and gorgeous food. This was a tree-planting and maintenance project along the Kinabatangan River replacing the gaps in the forest canopy, destroyed by palm oil plantations. Since orangutans and other wildlife spend almost their entire lives in the trees, not coming down to the ground unless they absolutely have to (they get water from leaves and by licking their hair), gaps in the tree line make it impossible for them to travel through the trees. Every morning, after an early breakfast at 6am, we would leave the village by seven and travel to the designated site by boat spending about 3 hours working during the “coolest” part of the day before returning for a much needed shower and nap. The highlight of every day was the afternoon boat ride to observe wildlife along the river. We initially saw lots of macaques, and also proboscis monkeys – the fellas with big noses – only found in Borneo. The island is home... I have always dreamed of visiting Borneo ever since I was 24 (30 years ago!) I finally had my opportunity to go this year so off I went. We were based in a small village called Sukau, with lovely locals and gorgeous food. This was a tree-planting and maintenance project along the Kinabatangan River replacing the gaps in the forest canopy, destroyed by palm oil plantations. Since orangutans and other wildlife spend almost their entire lives in the trees, not coming down to the ground unless they absolutely have to (they get water from leaves and by licking their hair), gaps in the tree line make it impossible for them to travel through the trees. Every morning, after an early breakfast at 6am, we would leave the village by seven and travel to the designated site by boat spending about 3 hours working during the “coolest” part of the day before returning for a much needed shower and nap. The highlight of every day was the afternoon boat ride to observe wildlife along the river. We initially saw lots of macaques, and also proboscis monkeys – the fellas with big noses – only found in Borneo. The island is home to eight species of large birds called hornbills and we had many sightings of the Rhinoceros hornbills. Speaking of rhinoceros, the Sumatran rhino stands about 4ft high so is much smaller than the African and Asian variety. Sadly, they are feared to be almost extinct. However, the description “pygmy elephant”, is misleading and I was expecting to see elephants the height of my hips paddling in the river. They may be about 4ft shorter than their African cousins, but nothing can prepare you for seeing several 8 ft giants emerge out of the canopy to drink at the riverbank. That was a definite “wow” moment. When working and trekking in the jungle, we saw many signs of elephants – footprints, disturbed foliage and poop – and were warned to stand well back if a herd came our way. I felt completely safe the whole time except on one occasion towards the end of a boat trip when it started to rain heavily. Think you’ve seen torrential rain? Think again! The boatman put the motor on full and we bounced over the surface of the river for about 20 minutes, cold and soaked to the bone. My next trip with The Great Projects is to see the gorillas in Uganda but I also have my eye on The Orangutan and Tribes Tour which includes spending time living in the long houses with the Iban, who are now the custodians of wild orangutans. (Show More)

The team at the project were superb, I cannot recommend this project highly enough you can see just how much it is benefiting the community and environment. Everyone is very knowledgeable and passionate about what they do and are keen to grow and expand their work. The project is really interesting and varied and my time with them just absolutely flew! I’d love to go back one day and see how the work is progressing.