Well, the November volunteers have jumped in with both feet and have started ticking jobs off our 'To Do' list at a great rate! We are getting toward the rainy season here so most days provide us all with a cooling shower (well, downpour is more realistic!) but that hasn't stopped the troops carrying on! Here is a brief outline of what has been achieved to date (just 10 days!):

Doris the Diva, our 6 year old Orangutan, has had even more climbing structures added to her ever increasing play area. She is suitably impressed and regularly treats visitors to her gymnastic display worthy of the Olympic Games, delivered with her winning smiles!
She also now has a red bedroom floor...and matching red hands and arms as she managed to poke through the temporary 'paint protecting partition' in her excitement!! We will be more diligent with the second coat; hopefully she may be distracted by the new climbing ladders outside...She also decided that the red broom matched her decor and so swiped that for a play, a brush of her hair and then a good chewing! Bless...

Mother and baby Orangutans, Chiam and Mamu were thrilled to have a new firehose cargo net to climb through (Mamu) and recline or rolypoly on (Chiam). The have inspected each and every nut and bolt (over 20) and are disappointed at the high standard of volunteer workmanship...they can't desproy it (yet...)! They seemed to approve of the location of it, hanging near the front of their outdoor enclosure where they can have a good gawp at the visitors in comfort; however they were not so keen on the positioning of the barrel swing hung by plastic tubing and chain...so Chiam reached through the roof, undid the nuts and bolts and now the swing can be moved wherever they fancy...the favourite spot seems to be on the cargo net. It can even act as a shelter so they can stay out in the rain! Much better than just hanging it from the roof...

Aman, our 18 year old chubby stud Orangutan delighted us all, and hopefully himself by enjoying the new firehose cargo net/hammock that the volunteers created. Having very poor sight, he needs stimulation of new smells, textures and so on to encourage him to explore his enclosure and that is exactly what happened. He even sat up on one of his old platforms, that we have never seen him use, thanks to a nice new chunky rope link. Great stuff! The new structures help all the orangutans to gain height and see out and about more and also catch the refreshing breeze, as it can get very steamy in their high-walled enclosures.

Aman can be seen dreamily gazing out at the trees in the forest and he may well be thinking of his two orangutan lady friends, Lena and Ganti, that are recently out of the enclosures and in the forest. We were very happy to hear that one of our volunteers caught a definate sighting of one of them nearby, so we all hope that they are fine and well out there! They have not been visiting the feeding platform, but this is probably due to the abundance of jungle fruits at this time of year.

In brief, the other animals: today we welcome three visitors from Zoo Negara who will help us to sex, and relocate some of our saltwater crocodiles to a larger enclosure that was rennovated by our September volunteers. It will be an exciting weekend! Wish us luck!!! We are hoping to transfer Keith Jnr, our hand raised Sambar (marsh) deer into a larger enclosure with other deer (and Doris) as companions. Boboy, one of our ex pet long tailed macaques has had a makeover to his area of which he seems to thoroughly approve! However, I have a sneaking suspicion that his favourite part is when we are all in his enclosure and he is locked in his den...he just loves to grab at arms, legs, shoes, drills, etc and really gets involved with the decision making!!

That's it for now, animalwise. We are also busy organising an education day at the centre for 36 children from two local villages in ten days time. We will all be very busy doing 'animal activities' around the enclosure trail that day! The children are also about to become involved in a penpal scheme initiated by a former volunteer from Texas! So we truly are a global project with local benefits that are far reaching and we are lucky to be a part of it.

Until next time, Caroline

Volunteering can be a frustrating good deed to participate in. Paying money to work on your favourite cause and find that you achieve a limited amount during your time. How much will painting a wall achieve, how will building one platform really improve that orangutans life, why does the volunteer have to clean that enclosure? Well, as the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. Most projects consist of baby steps, which consistently applied over time, which result in big gains over time.

One year ago, when we started the Borneo Wildlife Centre project and set out to contribute to orangutan rehabilitation, we had grand dreams. Volunteers would come in, contribute manpower, money and enthusiasm and the orangutans would be released and happy once again. When we woke up we realised that working in a semi-dysfunctional wildlife centre in a developing country with untrained staff was not going to as easy as we thought.

As changes were slow, and for every two steps forward, we took one step back, we developed a long-term strategy which would allow us to prioritise what needed to be done, and break it down into manageable stages. This strategy is divided into 3 phases, and will last until 2011. Although there are 3 distinct phases, there will be overlap with some jobs ongoing (such as enrichment) and others coming in early as we prepare for the future.

Phase 1 - For the first 2 years, 2005-2007, we will prioritise the Centre, making sure that the holding areas and enclosures are brought up to an adequate quality. In the beginning it was quite distressing to see the quarantine area with bears in tiny cages with nothing to do, crocodiles in tubs barely big enough to turn around in, and animals with nothing to entertain them or keep them occupied. Whereas we started working with orangutans, we soon ended up working with all the animals. We were very lucky to have Keith Lloyd and Caroline Bellhouse, both former London Zoo employees, come over to Borneo to work to achieve this.

Phase 2 - The second phase lasts from 2007-2009 and will concentrate on reestablishing rehabilitation and release. This will involve building new infrastructure such as feeding platforms and boardwalks in the rainforest, getting specialists to work with young orangutans for months on end to acclimatise them to their new surroundings and teach them how to find food and the like.

Phase 3 - The final phase will involve locating new, safe release areas in Sarawak and possibly further afield, and establishing new orangutan populations there. This will also take a lot of specialist knowledge and volunteer work. Translocation, moving animals from one location to another, is an expensive and difficult procedure, with global guidelines and regulations. This is planned for 2009-2011, but we already identified suitable release sites.

At the centre of the Great Orangutan Project lies our volunteer programme and the Borneo Wildlife Centre Project. This is of such great importance because we need more viable rehabilitation and release centre for orangutans.

There are a few in Indonesia that have performed an amazing job but are fighting a losing battle against a Government that talks big but does incredibly little on enforcement. a few years ago, forest fires rages in Indonesia and an estimated 500 orangutans perished. This year, the forest fires burned once again, and whilst the resultant smog carried over into Malaysia and choked our lungs and reduced visibility to 0.6 km, an estimated 1,000 orangutans died.

Malaysia has its problems, but they are minor in comparison with Indonesia, and the Government is far more committed to protected our great ape cousins. This is why we at the Great Orangutan Project believe that the future of wild orangutan populations lies in Malaysia. If we can rehabilitate and release orangutans into the jungles of Malaysia, then their descendants will live to thrive, unlike in Indonesia where their survival is endangered.

So establishing new populations in Malaysia is important, and this is only possible with functioning rehabilitation centres. Sabah has a great rehabilitation centre in Sepilok and it is up and running successfully. They have a volunteer programme but since Sepilok as all the resources and finances it needs, it is difficult to see why they need volunteers. Sarawak, the neighbouring state in Malaysian Borneo, has a rehabilitation centre called Matang wildlife Centre but it has been virtually dysfunctional for the last 3 years. Sarawak also has new areas into which orangutans can be released which have not been looked at.

When it was first opened Matang Wildlife Centre was a great success. The enclosures and visitor centre took years to build and were state of the art for Borneo in 1998. Animals were brought over from the old rehabilitation centre at Semonggoh (which still bares the name Semonggoh Rehabilitation Centre though it hasn't released orangutans for years) and a small number of orangutans were released, 7 in all. However, big changes in the management shook Matang and virtually the whole staff resigned, took redundancy or were sacked. It was a time of great upheaval and the staff that came into replace the old staff were not qualified in animal management. Although they have done a great job considering they were planners, former loggers, draftmen and the like, Matang Wildlife centre descended into a state of disrepair.

When we arrived last year, we found animals being kept in conditions that would not be acceptable in the UK, with no rehabilitation programme and animal management practices that were lacking. This is the main reason why we now work with all the animals at Matang, not only the orangutans. For all the bad points however, there were some very good points too. We found staff and management to be welcoming, aware of the deficiencies and willing to work hard with us to improve the situation and turn the Centre back to its former glory days.

The people of Sarawak are warm and friendly, and care deeply about their natural heritage. The will to protect and preserve the orangutan is present, and in a country the size of England there are areas for new introductions, and that is why we send volunteers to work with orangutans there. We also have a great team of experts at Matang that work to improve conditions. The project is tough and we have had our ups and downs, but it is above all meaningful and can act to safeguard future populations of orangutan. As long as we continue to strive for realistic conservation goals, with the help and cooperation of local communities and the Sarawak authorities, with respect towards their culture and their developments needs too, then volunteers will achieve a great deal at Matang.

This is cheeky Doris being a diva for our volunteers. She has been released 3 times before but keeps coming back to the Centre where she loves to entertain the crowds. We love Doris.

Caroline Bellhouse is one of the team at Matang Wildlife Centre and works with volunteers. She used to work at London Zoo as an explainer before working for Way Out Experiences and making her way to Borneo. This is her first blog ever and she describes how work is progressing at the Centre up to the 15th October 2006.

Well, finally I get to sit down and write a blog…so much to say and want to keep it brief!
Guillaume has filled you in on a lot of the recent happenings and progress, so I will try to fill you in on other areas.

Mamu, the baby orang utan, is showing the world that she is her mother’s daughter by escaping from her enclosure frequently…but rest assured, to those who helped with the interior design, she always pops back to chat to the parrot you painted on the wall!!

Recently one of our volunteers sent out lots of squeaky toys to amuse the (volunteers and) animals. Well, Chiam (Mamu's mother) and Mamu liked their spiky plastic fish but poor Doris (young orangutan) cowered from the likes of a smiling squeaky aubergine, banana, tomato and garlic!!! Once the squeaker was taken out of one she enjoyed puffing cool air on her face with it and then figured out that she could also use it to suck up water from a puddle! Bless her!

Baby Keith should probably not be called that any more as he is quite a young man now! (He is a handsome Sambar deer who was rejected by his mother in March, and who we have hand raised) He still loves green beans the best and watermelon skin too. The plan for him is to move in with Judy and Jacob (other Sambar deer in Doris the Orangutan's enclosure) when we get back from the UK, so it will be exciting to see how they and Doris all get on together!

The other herd of outdoor deer were looking pretty poor and we started scatter feeding them to give them all a fair go. The vet came (HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR!!!) out and made recommendations which hopefully will be followed, including a salt lick (to provide minerals) and an increase in food. The volunteers this month will build troughs for pellet to be fed in, spread out for them all to share nicely!

The vet also looked at all the bears and agreed that they look anemic and some are underweight. Once again, their food has been increased and enriched with more bulk and protein. Hurrah!!!

The other bears in quarantine are enjoying their enriched areas and their iceblocks, eggs and other treats. The aim is still to get them outdoors and we are all excited about James and Lisa coming out in January to help coordinate that with us.

As you can tell, we enjoyed the vet’s visit! He reiterated a lot of the things we had already said, but, when backed up with a vet’s report it carries more weight. All great news for the critters!