A year ago we released baby orangutan Liesje and her mother Tanjung back to the rain forest in the Betung Kerihun National Park. Liesje was named after our friend and former Sintang Orangutan Centre volunteer Liesbeth van der Burgt, who passed away four years ago today. She founded the Weesaapjes foundation that to commemorate her love and dedication for our orphaned orangutans funded the Liez Centre in our Jerora Orangutan Forest School compound. A group of Liesbeth’s friends joined us during the release deep in the heart of Borneo.
On the left we see Liesje on the head of her mother who is busy climbing into the canopy. It is really hard work for the field staff to spot the orangutans in the dense green foliage. We try to follow each released orangutan for at least three months after release but often this is not possible when the staff has to cross big obstacles in the forest and an orangutan can escape the observations. But then regularly we see them coming back to the release site sometimes with a big surprise like Juvi, who came with a wild born baby in her arms. We saw both Liesje and her mother Tanjung eating various fruits and leaves for 17 days of observations during a period of six weeks after the release and they did both extremely well as far as climbing and nest building was concerned, 
which we already knew from her time in the forest school in Tembak where we observed her in action for 771 hours! On the right some of our staff making observations in the jungle which is very heavy work! Tanjung clearly remembered her lessons in the forest school very well, directly going for many of the at least 50 different kinds of leaves and fruits she had encountered before. Liesje also already ate various items independently identifying them. We feel confident Tanjung will be a great teacher for baby Liesje and they both will do great!
On the right and beneath the extension of the orangutan Clinic at our Jerora Orangutan Forest School compound next to the already operational Liez Centre facility. Gradually all facilities will be transferred from the old location in the city of Sintang to the Jerora compound which is located far away from the buzzling streets of Sintang.
We hope that the SOC Jerora compound, and in it the Liez centre, will be a place of transit that can help many more orangutans return to the wild in the coming years and be a place of inspiration for the supporters of our red-haired friends.
Willie Smits,
August 24th, 2020
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