Orangutans in Malaysia

Without personal experience one would never believe how these magnificent creatures wish to touch and have contact with you. It seems almost impossible to describe the emotion and instant attachment, the bond and soul touching experience of having close contact with these wild apes. Their human like looks, behavior and characters leave you speechless and in awe. I am not sure where to start or explain the experience I had in Malaysia with the orangutans and large chimpanzees. I wanted to take them all home, I wanted to rescue them all from their cages. I wanted to grab every man and machine that is destroying their rain forests leaving them homeless and stop the carnage. Their deep soulful eyes have touched me forever, I will remember and feel their huge leatherlike hands on my skin until the day I leave this earth.
The birthday gift my beautiful Becky and AJ gave me was the most valuable and priceless gift imaginable. No diamonds, Bollinger or 5 star hotel can compete with the impression these animals leave on your soul. I was a little afraid at first, especially the huge chimpanzees, they can be aggressive; I felt weary to touch their hands when they reached out but within a very short time I "knew" I was safe with them. The look that passed between our eyes choked my throat. We were told not to touch them at first. But very soon we responded with trust and reached back to them. On the second day the keepers allowed us to enter the compound of "Tsunami", a 5 year old orangutan. We were told this was rare as it takes weeks for these apes to trust you enough to come close. On entering the cage, Tsunami, who is stronger than I, walked straight up to me and put her arms on my shoulders. The following photos are a minute by minute diary of our experience.







The keepers told us this was rare and for some reason Tsunami trusted us so quickly. She was so relaxed, she was cheeky and would look deep into your eyes whilst trying to pinch your skin. We laughed and cried and will remember every second forever! Later on she tried to pull off Becky's gumboot - This little 'girl' is VERY strong, she can pull your arm under a cage if she wishes. Our days began with cleaning out cages and raking the public viewing area; this volunteer organization is doing everything they can to save these special creatures but funding is always short. They rely on volunteers like us to keep their work going. Contact me if you wish to volunteer and work with these apes, most volunteers come for one month and the time is split between Kuala Lumpur and the jungles of Borneo. They made an unusual exception for us at Becky's request as it was a dream of mine and for my birthday. The cages are far too small but the apes are loved and cared for. One can see how devoted these keepers are! They are doing their best with limited resources. After cleaning the cages we washed and chopped their food and fed them. They REALLY do love bananas! In the midst of their confinement, they would still play with you, offer you the food back and talk. There was more communication and contact from these creatures than from many humans I know!

There are so many photos and so many priceless moments, like "Anna" when she found the fruit porridge inside the pumpkins and little "Inda", only 6 months old, swinging down from a hammock near her mummy.

Then there was Joe, my beloved Joe, my favorite one, the huge chimpanzee, who licked his giant leather fingers to reach out and pick the freckles off my arms, shoulders and face. I guess he was grooming me. I stroked his head and face and he would angle himself for the right spot. Sometimes we sat for ages just looking at each other holding hands. I knew that he knew, that I knew his plight and couldn't change it. The compassion shared between us was one of the most endearing experiences I have ever felt. I will never forget you Joe and hope to sit for hours with you again.