Nyaru Menteng

28km from Palangka Raya in Borneo, lies a haven for orangutans.

All ages live here from orphaned babies, barely a month old, to large, adult males that have lost their homes from the unbelievably rapid deforestation that is taking place on this Indonesian Island.

Here there are a few buildings and some dedicated staff whose goal it is to save this species from extinction.

The orangutan survival centre lies in a forest area that has a rich diversity of fauna and flora. The location was chosen by Lone Droscher Nielsen and BOS with great care. It needed to be central to Kalimantan, where many captured orangutans come from and it needed to have access to towns and have enough undisturbed forest for the succesful rehabilitation of the orangutans.

The centre even has its own 3 hectare fruit planation which produces pineapple, rambutan and mango among other fruits. This is a key part of the centre as it is one of the primary suppliers of fruit to these orangutans.

Over 150 people work at Nyaru Menteng and include babysitters, vets, guards and assistants.

The amazing work that all of these people do is not cheap and BOS rely on donations to help keep this work going. Whether knowingly or not we are all contributing to the destruction of the orangutan's habitat by our consumption of palm oil which is driving companies to increase their plantations through deforestation. Palm oil is in so many products and without companies needing to detail its inclusion in ingredients, it is hard to find a way around the problem. For the time being the orangutans have Lone and her team at Nyaru Menteng, but this is not a solution. We all need to act, we need to write to MPs, MEPs and companies to demand change.

For more information please visit www.savetheorangutan.co.uk