File:Kutai Orangutan 2008.jpg

I was based at Camp Kapak and the rangers was all to pleased to see a westerner visit the park and help me find these illusive creatures. They were doing behavioral research at the time using video cameras. After long sweaty days and plenty of mosquito bites we found this Orangutan high in the canopy. Conditions were near impossible for photography. The animals were too far away. The canopy layers were impenetrable, the light levels were low, but the gaps that had light had direct sunlight. So everything was under lit AND backlit. Flare problems. But at the end of this encounter the Orangutan came down to the first layer of canopy and we got a good close look. Unfortunately, just after this was taken we got drenched with urine. Maybe it was trying to tell us something! Seeing these creatures was amazing. To see such a large animal swinging through the trees, using its body mass to bend the tree and get propulsion to the next. They even cross small rivers from the canopy!