BORNEO RAINFOREST 0°57’42.8”N 114°33’17.3”E
LISA SIHLBERG
“Choose the tough path rather than the easy one. If the tough one leads to a happier, fulfilled life with purpose”
” miss lisa , miss lisa , orangutan ! ” I woke up in a heartbeat, I was lying on the hard wooden floor of our cabin in the Borneo rainforest, and now I was awake and full of excitment about the day. I had spent two weeks in the heart of southern Borneo with the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Indonesia team, documenting how they were analyzing the habits and movements of the orangutan. However, the favourite fruits of these primates were all gone, and the primates had migrated further north, and I had almost given up any hope of seeing them. In the meantime, I had been shooting snakes, frogs, and spiders during the night with my camera. Gliding slowly and silently along one of the many rivers, using only a headlamp to discover the abundance and diversity of wildlife that are active during the night. Again, the walkie-talkie we used to communicate with each other, blared out my name. I quickly got up, removed the insect net that protected me against the poisonous spiders during the night, and checked that no snakes had moved into my shoes. I grabbed my camera gear and headed out, meeting the day team, who were to bring me to the spot where the night team had encountered the orangutans. The jungle was still dark, but the morning calls of the Gibbons from afar told us that the sun was on its way up. The rainy season had left its marks, significant parts of the rainforest were still drenched and areas were waist-deep in water, turning the whole forest into a swamp. I replaced my rubber boots with knee-high socks and sneakers since often I would sink into the muddy ground so the water would creep up to my waist, forcing me to carry my camera gear above my head. Even though it was still early morning, the high humidity with a temperature close to +30 °C degrees made the hike through the swamp slow and exhausting. But that didn’t bother me because I was finally on the expedition I had been planning, for such a long time. My objective was to document the hardships that the orangutan population was facing, while their habitat was shrinking at an alarming rate due to deforestation. Beams of sunlight were already playing light on the tall ancient trees when my colleague, one of the rangers of WWF, lifted his hand, signaling me to stop. As soon as I stopped, the aggressive mosquitos started attacking every inch of my body but this didn’t bother me anymore. Because there they were; a mother with her four-year-old baby. Everyone of us held our breath, waiting to see what their reaction would be to our presence. Would they let us stay in their space for a while, or would the mother aggressively show us the way out from her temporary home?
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MOTHER VOLUME ONE
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