We just received our “adoption papers” for baby Sen. But unlike with a human baby, we’re not going to be taking him home! This is a baby Orangutan and its place is in the wild, so our adoption is to help him grow up in a sanctuary and adapt to living among his kind before being released to the wild.

Apart from having more hair, baby Sen looks a lot like a human baby. And like human orphans, this baby has lived a tragic life. Sen’s mother was killed by workers in a palm-oil plantation which had encroached into the Orangutans’ natural habitat (which is tropical rainforest), and if Sen hadn’t been rescued by the Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary (which we visited) in Sandakan, Borneo, he most likely would have suffered the same cruel fate.

Every week, 50 Orangutans are cruelly murdered by loggers and palm oil plantation workers. They are shot, knifed, or burnt to death in most cases. There are now only 7,300 Orangutans left in Sumatra and around 45,000 in Borneo, and while this may seem like a lot, at this rate of slaughter, there will be none left by 2026.

Palm oil plantations and illegal logging are largely to blame for this genocide. Many government designated national parks are being encroached upon by illegal loggers, and due to corruption and lack of resources in much of Indonesia, little is being done to stop it!

In Sandakan, (Malaysian part of Borneo), we were told that there was no more logging going on. But if that is the case, why are these barges, which we caught on camera, leaving the port full of logs?

Both palm oil and wood are essentials and it would be ridiculous to want to stop them altogether, but what is needed is sustainable approach! Wildlife friendly palm-oil plantations that don’t encroach into the rainforest (see www.rspo.org), and sustainable logging where trees are replanted and none of the rainforest is cut down!

The world is being destroyed in front of our very eyes, and those that could do something about it, are too busy with power games and the pursuit of further wealth to do much. The only way that we can save our planet is by doing what we can as individuals.

There are many ways you can help! You can adopt an Orangutan for around US$50 (it’s only as much as what a decent meal at a restaurant would cost) at: www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk, you can write to super-market chains like Walmart, Tesco, and others and ask them to only sell environmentally friendly palm-oil products, or you could even blog about this on your own blog or forward this to a friend by email (use “Email This Post” button below)!

If you do post a blog about this and link to our site, or if you forward this to a friend, you will stand a chance to win a Sony Photo Printer!

Whatever you do, it’s better than doing nothing!

After a quick lunch with our guide we set off to the Kinabatangan River in the hope of seeing as much wildlife as possible. And boy were we lucky! Not long after setting off down the river we got our first glimpse of a family group of proboscis monkeys!

Proboscis Monkeys are only found in Borneo, they live in family groups of one male and a harem of females. There is also a bachelor group where grown males live, they stay in that group till the leading male of the bachelor group is brave enough to challenge the alpha male of a family group. If he wins he gets the wives, if not, well it’s back to his bachelor group!

You can tell the males apart because of their long noses! Much larger than the females.

In our next video we’ll be showing you some of the other wildlife we saw along the river!

We were on our way to the Kinabatangan River in Borneo when our guide asked if we wanted to stop by his house as they were celebrating Hari Raya. How could we refuse an invitation like that, after all, what better way to get to know the culture than seeing how a local family celebrates a festivity?

Hari Raya is the Muslim feast which marks the end of Ramadan, which is the month of fasting. It is also celebrated a bit like the Malay new year by Muslims in Malaysia. By pure chance, we happened to be in the Malaysian part of Borneo during this celebration.

For westerners, you could say the celebration is a bit like Xmas, minus the tree. All the family comes to visit, and they give each other gifts (usually money), eat good food, and chill out and enjoy themselves. It’s also a bit like the Chinese New Year since many times they dress in new clothing and give each other Hong Bao’s (envelopes with money)!

Our guide was from Kuala Lumpur but settled in Sandakan around 20 years ago. When at his house he introduced us to his wife and 5 kids, all boys, who were playing with all their relatives in the family gathering.

Our first impression of the third highest mountain in South East Asia was that we had somehow entered Jurassic Park. Fog and Mist seemed to rise from the ferns and other prehistoric looking plants. (The blury parts on this picture are droplets of rainwater on the water-proof case our camera was in.)

Mt. Kinabalu National Park was the first UNESCO World Heritage site of Malaysia. It is known for its wide biodiversity in both flora and fauna. So it sounded like a great place for us to visit! At first we wanted to climb to the top at just over 4km high, but since it’s been raining every day, and reaching the top requires a two day trek, we decided to just see what we could in a day and go home to a warm dry bed!

It’s a good thing we didn’t stay the night, since most of the time it was pouring while we were there, and that made climbing conditions dangerous due to slippery soil and rocks! Most of the time we were sweating under our raincoat though, but it did feel colder at higher altitudes (especially when our clothes were soaked despite our raincoat)!

Despite the rain making the climb a bit more difficult and slightly less enjoyable, we were lucky that we got to see a rare Red Leaf Monkey! Even our experienced guide seemed excited at having spotted it. This was one monkey we hadn’t seen so far in Borneo, and even in Mt. Kinabalu it was very elusive and we only got a short glimpse of it (and one quick picture above), before it disappeared into the canopy of trees.

We saw and filmed some interesting species of plants including two different species of pitcher plants (the picture above is one) and some flowers which are only found in Mt. Kinabalu.

Overall we trekked non-stop for 5 hours and went about 3.5km each way, reaching an altitude of just over 2.6km high. Interestingly enough, the speed record for climbing to the peak and descending again, was set at only a bit over 2 hours by a Spanish climber! Amazing!

And since we’re exhausted after the climb, I’m gonna keep this post short and get some much needed rest!