Weeks 7 and 8
1st June 2006
Week 7
This week started with a great surprise! As I am coming up to the end of my secondment in Borneo, I had a meeting with Sue Sherward, the founder of the Sepilok Orangutan Appeal UK who organised my secondment to Borneo. She wanted to catch up on the progress we have made, so my colleague Judith and I went to the very swanky Rasa Ria Resort where she was staying.
After the meeting she told us that she had arranged for us to stay the night in the 5-star hotel as a thank you for the hard work over the last seven weeks! All I can say is Nice One!
Back at the Zoo, this week marks the 97th day of Claudia, the tiger’s, pregnancy, so we should hear the patter of tiny striped feet anytime now. Everything is ready for her, so I hope she has a successful birth and manages to raise the cubs. She has never managed to successfully rear cubs before, so hopefully the changes we have made will make her feel safe, with disturbance being kept to the minimum in the area. I leave Sabah a week tomorrow, and she has promised to have them before I go! Fingers crossed…
This week I have also had the opportunity to go to a festival called ‘Sabahfest’, which is a celebration of the many cultures that are found in Sabah. It was interesting to find out about the different tribes and customs of the different towns and villages. Although some of the dances were lively and vibrant, others did seem quite dull and repetitive. However, I did enjoy the free sampling of the local tipple, rice wine, afterwards!
Week 8
I have now finished my last week here in Sabah, and I can’t quite believe it is all coming to an end. There is still no sign of any tiger cubs, but she seems quite restless, so I don’t think it is long to go now.
I am disappointed I have not managed to climb Mount Kinabalu whilst on this trip to Sabah – it was one of my goals as I started out. However, I will definitely be returning, and I will remember to book it well in advance.
I had some amazing experiences this week. On Monday, the head elephant keeper offered me the chance to ride on one of the elephants! I’ve had bad experiences with elephants in the past, and although they are still favourites of mine, I have not had any contact with them since. And when Jiberius, the Head Keeper told me I was actually riding ‘Rocco’, the 3-ton, 29 year old bull, I almost walked out again! However, Rocco lumbered up next to me and lay down, waiting for me to climb on board. It was a magical experience I won’t forget in a hurry, so thank you to Rocco and Jiberius.
This week also saw the official launch of the Sabah Wildlife Department’s new boat that will now enable them to patrol the waterways in the south of Sabah looking for signs of illegal logging, poaching and wildlife crime. Anything that will help protect the magical wildlife here gets a thumbs up from me.
At the end of the week, I had a meeting with the heads of the different departments in the Zoo, and presented them with the report of my findings for the two months I have been at Lok Kawi.
The meeting was only scheduled to last for an hour, but it ended up going on for 2 ½ hours. I guess I had a lot to say… It was very productive though, and I was very careful of not criticising their work – just encouraging them to look at other methods and come up with different ideas.
I was told I had a meeting with the Minister for Tourism again on my last day, and realised just too late that I had been stitched up! There was no visit – just a party with a buffet and drinks to say thanks for the hard work over the past few months. It was really nice to be able to say bye to all the great people I have met here.
I am proud of what I have achieved during my time here – some changes were big, others small – but they all helped improve the quality of lives of the animals in this zoo. There were things I wanted to do, like see Claudia have her cubs, but this will happen in time. I will remain as a consultant via email, fax and phone as long as they want me.
I won’t hide the fact that there is a lump in my throat as I say goodbye to this beautiful place that has been my home for the last two months. During my time here I have eaten a range of exotic food, including stingrays, porcupine (it came with its own toothpicks!), Samhar deer, king prawns, lobster and wild boar. In one restaurant I was even offered the opportunity to try Macaque meat, but you will be happy to hear I declined the opportunity to eat a fellow primate.
I would like to thank Chessington World of Adventures for supporting this opportunity of a lifetime. I would also like to thank the Sepilok Orangutan Appeal UK for not only funding my stay and organising the secondment, but for their tireless work to raise awareness and funds to help save the beautiful orangutan and the habitat it lives in! Please visit www.orangutan-appeal.org for more information.
Lastly I would like to thank all the two and four legged friends I have made at Lok Kawi Zoo. Best of luck and keep in touch.
Nick is now back at Chessington World of Adventures, looking after his favourite tigers, lions and leopards.
Claudia gave birth to four healthy cubs two days after he left, and is reportedly nurturing them well.
Check out Nick’s Diary next week for an update on his return.
Weeks 5 and 6
2nd May 2006
In the last two weeks I have really been settling in to life here in Lok Kawi, working hard to complete several enclosures and create more enrichment activities for the animals. I have even been trying to learn Malay, and can now quite successfully manage the important phrases such as ‘thank you’, ‘please’ and ‘how much’. The text book I am using isn’t that great, though. It is full of pointless phrases such as ‘itu adalah sehelai selendang’, which translates to ‘that’s a long scarf’! As the weather here on a cold day is around 23 degrees, I am not entirely sure when I will use this phrase…
When I returned from my trip to Sepilok, I had expected to find the Civets happily settled in their new enclosure. However, it turns out that the contractor who made the actual enclosure needed to paint the inside of the mesh (you would have thought they’d do this before we created all the perches and let the animals move in, but hey!), so we had to move the animals to a nearby enclosure so that they could paint the mesh. I also have to say that – even with having left my copy of ‘Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo’ at home – I am not convinced both the animals are Short Toothed Civets. However, I will have to wait until I find a bookshop to be proven right on this one!
Raynir tries his hand at papier-mâché
This week we have worked on creating some great new enrichment toys for the animals – out of papier-mâché! We bought some balloons and a bag of flour, and along with old newspapers from the store we spent ages creating some fun ‘balls’ for the animals. The hole that is left after the balloon is popped can be filled with food treats or interesting smells, causing the animals to ‘kill’ the object to find out more. And they really seem to enjoy it. We gave the new devices to the tigers, binturongs and civets, and although it took a while for them to figure out what to do it was great to see them solving the problem and ‘killing’ the balloons to get to the food inside.
Talking of the tigers – I am delighted to say that the four week diet seems to have made a big difference for Bayo, the male tiger. He is on great form at the moment, being very playful, pawing at a coconut, chewing a tyre we put out for him and running around a lot more. He was obese four weeks ago and showed signs of discomfort when getting up. I am adamant that he still has got arthritis, but it seems the diet is doing him a world of good.
We are still working on creating better enclosures for the tigers, and for the last couple of weeks we have worked on building some platforms in their inside dens for them to sleep on. This will not only help Bayo, but the platform in Claudia’s den will also act as a cubbing den, where she will hopefully rear her cubs when they come along.
This project has turned into one of those that you just have to chuckle at otherwise you will despair! Everything is really slow, and finding the right tools for the job is really a struggle. It started with my two colleagues Raynir and Jalumin going off to get a chainsaw to cut three pieces of log each measuring 3ft to act as a support leg to each platform. It took them 45 minutes to get back. The wood chosen for the platforms is called ironwood, and I quickly discovered why: it took 10 minutes to cut the first segment. And then the chainsaw ran out of fuel! At this point I gave up and left them to it, and went to feed the Binturongs instead…
When I got back they had put up two pieces of wood forming the frame of the shelf. However, they had not taken into account the size of the tiger, and had cut it too small!
It has all taken a while, but we got there in the end and all three platforms are now finished. I am especially happy with the cubbing den for Claudia, which we covered with plywood on one side to create a shelter where she can feel secure and relaxed with her new family.
‘Hope’ admires her new platform
Had a very interesting encounter with one of the Small Tooth Civets as well. After we had fed and cleaned them, one of them turned from a laid back, well fed Civet into a spinning ball of furry fury! He launched himself at me and attached himself firmly to my right foot. I had to prize him off with my left foot, which made him latch onto that instead. I ended up doing what must have looked like a surreal jig, hopping from one foot to the other with an irate civet on my foot. My colleague Raynir thought it was highly amusing – until I managed to offload the Civet in his general direction and it was his turn to do the jig!
He looks so sweet and innocent!
I have not really left the zoo for the last two weeks, apart from a quick trip to a supermarket stocked with imported food. I am not a typical tourist who demands English food wherever I go, but after six weeks away I cannot tell you how nice it was to have a bacon sandwich. And Heinz Baked Beans!
Week 4
12th April 2006
Have had another busy week in Borneo – but it has been absolutely amazing, too! At the beginning of the week we managed to finally complete one of the Civet enclosures and start on a second one for a pair of Short Toothed Palm Civet arriving from another mini zoo close to Kota Kinabalu.
I am finding that pre-planning is not a big thing here – something this gets quite tiring as nothing is very straight forward. It was, for example, decided at the last minute that we should put sand at the bottom of the Civet enclosures along with dry leaves, which meant we had to shift tons of sand into the enclosure. This might sound like an easy task, but not when the enclosure is on top of a hill and the lorry couldn’t get there to dump the sand. It also didn’t help that the sand had been dredged from the river that morning and was still wet and heavy!
It took a couple of hours and some well-directed team work, but we got it done in the end and the Masked Palm Civets have now been successfully moved to their new enclosure. It might not be the best enclosure in the world, but it is 100 times better then what they were in!
One of the Binturongs we were expecting last week has now also finally arrived. He is a young male about two years old, and he has already been mixed with the other Binturongs –something I said was a bad idea as the other Binturongs are a pair. And it turned out I was right as mixing the binturong went exactly as I’d expected! The new arrival spent the night in a separate part of the enclosure so the other two could smell him and get used to him, but when he was let out, he immediately climbed up to the ceiling of the enclosure and proceeded to climb out of harms way as the other Binturongs had decided they didn’t like him.
I had to grab him and get him into his box and to safety as soon as I could, and he was not best pleased about being caught! At one point he climbed his own tail to try and bite me. Once again my trusty hat came the rescue and he chomped on that instead!
Resisting the temptation to say ‘I told you so’ to the Chief Vet, the new arrival has now been relocated to the enclosure we prepared for him last week. We had been expecting a pair, so hopefully another one is on its way.
This week I have had one of my most amazing adventures so far! On Thursday at 7am we took off for a 35-minute flight to Sandakan, where we were to visit the fantastic Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Although I am not a great flyer, I have to admit it was the most stunning journey I have ever been on, flying over Kinabalu National Park and over mountains and oil palm plantations. It was stunning, but also a bit sad. We flew over miles and miles of oil palm plantations, where as recently as 10 years ago rainforests would have stood. It really makes you think when you see something like that.
As you may remember from earlier in my diary, I have visited the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre once before, when I won a trip to Malaysia on a game show. There are around 70 Orangutans currently living in the reserve, along with many other stunning animals ranging from the Malayan Sun Bear to the Pangolin, an animal sometimes called a Scaly Ant Eater. In its 43-year history, Sepilok has rescued and rehabilitated well over 600 Orangutans, many of which have been relocated to other reserves in Sabah. I was very keen to see how everything had changed since I last visited and especially to see the difference made by funds raised by the Sepilok Orangutan Appeal UK.
Our visit started with a quick tour behind the scenes and a meet and greet with some of the Rangers, before we headed to the viewing platforms in time for the afternoon feed. All the Orangutans at Sepilok – and there are about 70 at the moment - have been rescued and rehabilitated before being released into the 43 sq kilometre reserve. Whilst they are encouraged to fend for themselves, a limited amount of food is supplied twice daily – deliberately kept bland to encourage them to forage in trees for nicer food! When I was there they served banana and milk – mmmmm!
On my first visit to the public viewing platforms there were only five Orangutans returning for a feeding. This is a good sign, as it means the others don’t feel the need to return as they have found plenty of food for themselves.
I got the chance to go for a proper behind the scenes tour with one of the Head Rangers, and this is a day that will stay with me for a long time to come. Orangutan rehabilitation is a complicated process – with several stages that can take up to eight years before they are out in the forest permanently. I got the chance to meet Orangutans at every stage of this process – from tiny babies to almost mature ones. There was a strict ‘no touch’ and ‘no photography’ policy but I was literally inches away from these beautiful animals and feel very privileged.
I am very pleased to have found out that the number of infant Orangutans handed into the Sanctuary appears to be declining – hopefully a sign that the Wildlife Protection policies put in place by the Malaysian government are working and that the Orangutans may now be safe in what remains of the Sabah rain forests.
As part of the visit, I was also taken to the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. Proboscis Monkeys are unique to Borneo and are also endangered and protected.
Labuk Bay is a mangrove bay situated at the tip of a palm oil plantation. This area was originally home to many troops of Proboscis Monkeys. The owner of the land had been intending to fell the trees to make way for his plantation, but became fascinated by the unique creatures and instead created a 400 acre sanctuary!
There are possibly as few as 2000 Proboscis Monkeys left in Sabah, so the work they do here is vital for their long term survival.
Weeks 2 and 3
3rd April 2006
Week 2
Following on from the visit by the Tourism Minister last week it has now been decided that there is more to do than first planned to get the zoo to the standard they want, and the opening has been delayed until the end of the year – possibly even January 2007. I have to say I think this is a great idea, as it will give us more time and space to plan and build the enclosures, rather than having building works when the zoo is open.
In the last week we have spent a lot of time planning the enclosures for a selection of animals that have just ended their quarantine period. These include Masked Palm Civets – an animal related to the binturongs – and leopard cats. We sketched some rough ideas and scouted around the zoo for fallen trees to use as logs and perches, and we have now developed some really great enclosures. Excitingly enough it seems the female Civet is heavily pregnant, so we have also worked on finding her a practical, yet natural box to make a nest in.
I have to say it has been a bit frustrating at times, as it has taken a long time to get anything done. Some of the keepers don’t seem so interested in what they are doing, and would probably prefer to still be in the national parks, as the pace is a bit easier there. Zoo keeping is a vocation – you have to live it and breathe it. I am often tempted to storm in to tell them to get more involved, but I have to step back and allow them to develop their own ideas and perhaps plant some ideas they can develop into their own! It is a challenge, but we are definitely getting there.
We have also just discovered that the female tiger appears to be pregnant, which is very exciting. I had my suspicions last week, and these have been confirmed as she has really swollen nipples. The tigers were last seen mating between the 15th and 21st January, which means she is already over 60 days into a 98-104 day pregnancy, so watch this space!
Another great development has been the improvements to a male orangutan in the zoo’s clinic. The poor animal was up a tree when illegal loggers cut it down. He sustained horrific injuries, with several breaks to his right leg and arm. He has been unable to use his right hand and foot as a result of these breaks, but I have now seen him supporting his weight on his leg in a rather unsteady walk. This is incredible and gives us a glimmer of hope that he can have a decent quality of life here in the zoo – and is a major win in the conservation of these beautiful animals.
Being here is a bit of a learning curve! So far I have learnt that when taking a rest after cutting down a tree, it is important to check what you’re leaning against, as my arm was swarming with fire ants after just a couple of seconds… It’s not dangerous, but the pain from their bites is similar to a bee sting. Also, I have realised that in Kota Kinabalu it seems the local residents have taken to stealing manhole covers to melt down as scrap metal! So yes, you guessed it: I was ambling along minding my own business talking to a colleague, and the next minute I was 3ft down a hole – much to the delight of the many onlookers!
I had a couple of days off this week, and went back to Kota Kinabalu to experience more of this exciting place. Took a day trip to Mamutik, an island not too far from the last island I went to during my first week in Borneo – together the islands and the seas surrounding it form the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Parks. I have never seen such amazing coral reefs – they are just stunning! And guess what – I even met Nemo! The clown fish is just one of the many colourful and exciting species living here and I loved snorkelling around the reef. I also got the chance to visit one of the famous street markets in Kota Kinabalu – a hurly burly collection of stalls selling souvenirs, fruit, clothes and livestock. There were also a lot of puppies, mice, hamsters and rabbits, and an alarming number of turtles for sale. Asian fresh water turtles are in great danger in the wild as they are routinely harvested both for the pet trade and the dinner plate. Last year the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (E.A.Z.A) of which Chessington Zoo is a member, raised hundreds of thousands of pounds towards their aid and conservation - lets just hope its not too late.
Week 3
This week we found out that two more binturongs would arrive in the zoo, and we spent some time creating a temporary exhibit at the zoo’s clinic as they would be in quarantine for a while. They are coming from a mini-zoo down the road which is closing down. It is 38C here at the moment, and I have to say I am suffering a bit working in the heat!
For some reason we have now been given new bikes, and I was hoping the ride downhill in the mornings and after lunch wouldn’t be such a death defying challenge anymore. However, my new bike was not the trusty steed I’d hoped for, as the pedal crank fell off this morning! But on a positive note I made it all the way UP the hill for the first time, so I am mighty proud of that.
The chief veterinary officer made a visit at the beginning of the week, as he wanted to check on the pregnant tiger. You might remember I mentioned that the male tiger is suffering from arthritis? Well, the vet was not so convinced at first, as he has improved so much over the last couple of weeks! However, I explained that the new and improved diet means he has lost some weight, and he has also got a better appetite. Because of his appetite he is now keener for food, and because of this he is more active. In return he is exercising his muscles and bones more, which has improved his condition enormously. It is a great result so far and just shows you what can be achieved.
A tropical storm mid afternoon on Tuesday meant my house in the zoo grounds filled with wasps! Not sure where they came from, but when I got back to my house I had to use my trusted hat to swat them away from me! It provided a great show for the other zookeepers and their children – an ‘orang putih’ (white man) running around like a mad man swatting at wasps!
We have also now finally got started on the Civet enclosures. There were a few holes in the meshing, which was our first project. We then put in the main network of branches and the planned nesting box for the pregnant female. Although this was then covered with more branches, it didn’t look right, so we have decided to replace it with a hollow log or something similar.
Civet enclosure finally starts to take shape!
I’m returning to Kota Kinabalu for the weekend so am looking forward to trying more of their sea food dishes! In most of the stalls you pick the seafood straight from a tank – now that’s fresh!
Natural Borneo Thriller
27th March 2006
Until a couple of weeks ago my trip to Borneo on secondment to Lok Kawi (pronounced Low Cowie) Zoo seemed like a distant dream, and I guess it did not really hit me until I was thundering down the runway at Heathrow that I was going away for two whole months! This sort of thing surely only happens to other people?
Having arrived at my final destination I have now spent a few weeks settling into my new home of two months: the Lok Kawi Zoo in Borneo. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located on the equator, between Singapore and Sumatra in the South China Sea. This is an island with a rich and diverse climate, culture and, above all, wildlife.
Before I was taken to the zoo I got to spend a few days exploring, visiting Kota Kinabalu, the largest city on the island. I did a bit snorkelling and topping up of my tan at a beautiful island off the coast, where I also tasted some of Sabah’s speciality seafood: King Prawn, each one weighing 250g! It’s a hard life, but someone has to do it!
I was finally taken to the new Zoo by Kristina from Sepilok Orangutan Appeal, the charity who brought me out to Borneo on behalf of the zoo. My first introduction to the new zoo was an eye opener – it is so big and has such a natural terrain that the keepers go around on mountain bikes and in golf buggies! I got the grand tour and judging by the amount of work still going on the zoo will not be opening to the public for another month or so.
The main reason this zoo has been developed is to introduce and educate the local population about the amazing array of wildlife on their door step, and show them that if natural habitats are not preserved, these animals will not survive. Most of the animals in the zoo are native to Sabah or other parts of Borneo, which makes it a really new and exciting experience for me, too.
The list of animals and enclosures here is huge, but so far my favourites include the amazingly huge walk-through aviary, which has masses of potential and is really impressive. I have also formed a special attachment to the three Malayan tigers that are part of an international breeding programme, just like our Sumatran tigers Ratna and Batu at Chessington. I also absolutely love the herd of pygmy or forest elephants here, which belong to a distinct sub-species of elephant native to Borneo.
Week 1
My first week at work in this Zoo has been one of discovery. I was so excited to finally get involved after spending some time just looking from a far.
My first introduction to the zoo involved the tigers. I spent the first few days with my new colleague Raynir, who looks after the big cats. He is so keen to learn and was asking me all kinds of questions about everything we do for the tigers at Chessington. I told him what I know about enrichment techniques – where you change the animals’ days as much as possible to vary their existence, using herbs and perfumes, changing feeding times and so on. This is a new concept for this zoo, and one of the reasons why I am here.
As an example we chopped some meat into small pieces and hid them in different places around the tiger enclosure. The reaction of the tigers (or lack of it) was a bit of a surprise – but the reason soon became apparent: the animals are clearly overweight and by quite a big margin. So now they are on a diet – although of course we haven’t told them that! In addition I have noticed that the male tiger, Bayio, who is 15, seems to have trouble walking, and I suspect he has arthritis. This is not uncommon in elderly cats, but although it is not curable, there are several things that can be done to ease the symptoms. I think the new diet will definitely help, as well as some more activity.
Throughout the week I spent time showing Raynir different ways to enrich the animals, whether it was through feeding or changing the actual set up of their environment. This included making feeding a bit more interesting for a beautiful black panther – we simply suspended his dinner of half a chicken from the roof of his den with some rope and he had to catch it. It took him a while but after about 10 minutes he got his reward.
My next project became the Binturongs – or Bear Cats. These animals are a distant relative of the mongoose or meerkat, and can best be described as an animal the size of a badger with long tails! They have been one of my favourite animals, ever since I first encountered them about 12 years ago, and I look after the two Binturongs at Chessington.
Their enclosure was incredibly bland, and after a short discussion we had drawn up some plans to revamp the enclosure, making it more suitable for climbing animals. So after lunch - which lasts for two hours, as it is so very hot here – we gathered adequate branches and tree trunks that would make the enclosure a bit more exciting.
One day there was a lot of excitement in one part of the zoo, when a baby king cobra was found in the Orangutan house. King cobras are native to Borneo and are the longest venomous snakes in the world – apparently they can get to 15ft and their venom is fatal. This one was just a baby, however and ‘only’ about 1ft long! He was captured in a handy water bottle and re-located later in the day. I just can’t stop thinking that his mum and dad might be around too – but I guess that’s a risk you take when you live in the jungle!
Friday was a very exciting day for the Zoo, as the Sabah Minister for Tourism arrived for a special visit. He went on a tour around the zoo and welcomed my fellow UK zookeeper Judith and myself to Malaysia on behalf of the government. He was a lovely man and very interested in everything we were doing here. He also suggested that the Director of the Zoo, Patrick, should send me to The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre and the Danum Valley Conservation Reserve, so fingers crossed that will happen in the next few months!
I am returning to Kota Kinabalu for the weekend as the zoo is half an hour away from the city. This has been an enjoyable first week and I think as we get to know the keepers and other staff here, our stay will be come more fun and beneficial. We have arranged a little BBQ next week so we can all let our hair down and mingle a bit, and then we are heading into the town of Donggongon to socialise using the internationally recognised medium of beer and karaoke, which is still very popular here… I will have to unleash my legendary rendition of Suspicious Minds to an unsuspecting crowd, so watch this space!
Off to Malaysia
13th March 2006
Nick Simpson-Eyre
Age:
29
Job Title:
Senior Carnivore Keeper
Favourite Animal:
Lion (but love all animals!)
Childhood Ambition:
I wanted to be a zoo keeper since I was about three and watched Animal Magic on telly!
Any Pets:
I have a pet tarantula called Tammy.
Hi, my name is Nick Simpson-Eyre and I am one of the Zoo Keepers at Chessington World of Adventures. I have worked at Chessington Zoo for eight years now, and in that time I have had the opportunity to look after some truly amazing animals, including our two Sumatran Tigers Batu and Ratna and the majestic Asiatic Lions Devika and Ashok. I am pretty lucky, I know!
And now I am off on another adventure! I have been offered the chance of a lifetime: A two month trip to Malaysia to help the Malaysian government set up a brand new zoo on the island of Lok Kawi! You see, several years ago I entered a television game show, and walked away with the grand prize of a trip to Borneo! I had a fantastic time in Malaysia, and whilst there I got the chance to visit the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Sandakan - a sanctuary for orphaned or hurt orangutans. I absolutely loved everything about this sanctuary, which is owned and run by the Sabah Wildlife Department. Back in the UK I got involved with the Sepilok Orangutan Appeal UK, which is the only charity for this cause. They do not donate money - instead they raise funds to improve the centre and the living conditions for the animals rescued. Unfortunately I lost touch with them after a while, until a charity event was held about a year ago. And hey, presto! I got the chance to go to Malaysia again.The Sepilok Orangutan Appeal are helping the Sabah Wildlife Department with setting up a brand new Zoo in Lok Kawi, as there traditionally have not been any facilities like this in the area and need experienced keepers to help them.
Basically I have been seconded to the new Lok Kawi Zoo to help the zoo keepers there - people who have worked with animals in the wild but not necessarily animals in captivity. As I have a lot of experience in this field I will be able to help them set up the zoo and share my knowledge of animal husbandry, research and zoo management.
So there's a bit of background for you. I have now left the UK for my big adventure, and I am getting settled in over in Malaysia. I will be able to share my adventures with you through this online diary, so look out for an update soon!
If you have any questions about my trip to Borneo or would like some more information about the charity involved, visit www.orangutan-appeal.org or email maria.hamilton@chessington.co.uk.
