As an active research facility, Camp Leakey welcomes day visitors with local guides. Visitors are not allowed to overnight at Camp Leakey. Orang Utan Foundation International staff ask that you come with the appropriate permits, check-in with the rangers, observe the Orang Utans from a safe distance, and do not disturb the scientists conducting research.
Protecting the forests where the Orang Utans live is the first priority in terms of ensuring Orang Utan survival as species in the wild. Illegal activities, such as logging, clear-cutting, and poaching, represent real and constant threats to the survival of all wildife in the forest, including Orang Utan populations.
When forests are damaged, fragmented, burned, or cut, Orang Utans are exiled from the only life they know. Orang Utans driven out of their arboreal homes are slow, helpless, and extremely vulnerable to people, disease and starvation.
By visiting the National Park and therefore paying the park fee, the fees are used to patrol Tanjung Puting National Park and its surounding forests!
Community
The people we work with on this trip get an honest pay. Because we only employ local guides and we use local accomodation, the money you spend benefits local communities directly.
During the whole tour our guides will explain our guests about the local culture and appropriate behaviour towards the locals and wildlife. It is important that the local people and cultures are respected and not damaged.
We often use small and local owned hotels. This way we make sure that locals benefit from tourism and not all the money goes to the foreign travel organizers. We always make sure that the people we cooperate with get a fair share for their effort. On this trip you will spend a few nights on board and our cook prepares you delicious meals. This way you support the local community as well.
The mission of the Orangutan Foundation International is to support the conservation, protection and understanding of Orang Utans and their rain forest habitat while caring for ex-captive orangutan orphans as they make their way back to the forest. Besides, it strengthen the sustainable alternative income for the local communities surrounding the National Park. By visiting the National Park you do not only help to protect the Orang Utan but you create income for the local communities as well.