Since I was a little girl I’ve had a very special soft spot for primates…I don’t know quite where it came from but I have loved monkeys ever since I can remember and later on fell in love with the adorable orangutans. I can remember going to my grandmother’s house as a little girl and reading the Jungle Book…I never had it at home but my grandmother had it in her basket of kid’s toys {for all us grandkids} and it was always the first thing I reached for. I loved it!
And from I don’t know when I’d been dreaming about going to see the orangutans in Kalimantan, in their natural habitat.
It wasn’t until 2011 when I finally made my big adventure dreaming come true…I planned a one week trip to the jungles of Tanjung Puting National Park to ACTUALLY see the orangutans in Kalimantan. I’d done a lot of research and I’d found that Tanjung Puting was the place where there was the biggest population of orangutans to be found, in Indonesia…with an estimated 35,000 individuals found in and around Tanjung Puting. So, this was definitely the place that I wanted to venture to.
Overall, numbers of Bornean orangutans have declined by more than 50% over the past 60 years, while the species’ habitat has been reduced by at least 55% over the the past 20 years.
– World Wildlife Foundation
Yes, it was a big {and far} journey to venture on my own but I was so determined to see these guys in their natural habitat…before they disappeared. I had this deep desire to see them frolic in the high trees of the Kalimantan jungle.
I had the most amazing adventure in Tanjung Puting National Park and you can read about my big jungle adventure here…and Day 2 here… and Day 3 here… and Day 4 here and finally Day 5 here. And after meeting these guys face-to-face, I just fell in love even more!
But ever since coming home from that big adventure {and yes I realise that it’s been quite a few years now…} but I haven’t forgotten about those beautiful creatures and I always planned to do SOMETHING to raise awareness of their plight and raise support for them and their habitat. I’ve worked on several educational projects through the Department of Education Victoria and Zoos Victoria {Melbourne Zoo} where I was able to focus on raising awareness of the plight of the orangutans but I still felt that I could try to do more.
Which brings me to today’s post and a small project idea that came to me late last year in 2014, which was to produce some blank greeting cards using some of the beautiful photos that I managed to capture of the orangutans that I unforgettably met who lived in Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan.
I feel like over the five days that I spent in the national park that I got to know some of the orangutans, I knew their name by their faces and I got to see a little or a lot in some cases, {depending on the orangutan} of their personalities. Each so individual and so beautiful. I definitely fell in love and when I look at the many photos that I captured on that journey, it takes me straight back to the jungle and these awesome orange men {and women}.
Orangutans share 97% DNA with humans.
I have picked ten of my favourite photos of the orangutans of Tanjung Puting and designed them onto blank cards, in the hope that these cards will be sent to many people nationally and internationally to raise awareness of the plight of the orangutan and their desperate situation to hold onto their habitat; the jungle…as well as an opportunity for you to send a little love in the mail to someone you know and care about. {It’s a win-win really, isn’t it?!}
I hope that by selling these cards I can give a little back to the orangutans to protect them and their natural habitat. I’ve done some research on various different orangutan foundations and organisations, and even though I am sure that they all do amazing work to support the orangutans, I have decided to focus my support on the Orangutan Foundation International {OFI}, which was founded by the all-famous Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas {I’m a big fan!} and it’s sister foundation Orangutan Foundation International Australia; both working towards the Orangutan Legacy Forest Campaign.
From all proceeds raised, $2.00 from each pack sold will go directly to the OFI Care Centre in Central Kalimantan, to provide the orphaned orangutans with food, shelter, love and attention until they are old enough to be released back into the wild and to purchase land in the Orangutan Legacy Forest.
It’s a small start but it’s a start nonetheless to supporting and giving some aid to these beautiful creatures. I hope to build on this small idea in the future so that more awareness as well as funds can be raised to support them and protect their environment. Oh BTW, if I won Tattslotto, I’ve always said I’d buy a large chunk of land in the jungle that would be protected just for the orangutans…but in the mean time this is one small way we can help OFI do just that.
A 10 pack of blank orangutan greeting cards with white envelopes are available for ONLY $35 including Postage & Handling within Australia {this also includes the $2 donation to OFI}. For International postage, please contact me.
If you’d like to purchase a 10 pack of blank orangutan greeting cards then please email me at [email protected] and include your name and mailing address. I will respond to your email with my banking details and once payment has been made then I will post out your goodies. And just think, we’ll both be supporting the orangutans in Kalimantan and raising much needed awareness.
I hope to hear from lots of you – let’s support the orangutans together! 🙂
Do you have any other ideas on how we can help raise awareness and funds to save the orangutans and their natural habitat?
I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.
Leave a Reply