Wishing you a very Happy, Healthy Year of the Tiger, Gung Hei Fat Choy!
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For Friends of Masarang Hongkong
Dear friends of Masarang HK
The last few hours of 2021. And despite all challenges during the past year we are still alive and kicking. We know how hard the year has been for everyone, here in Indonesia and abroad. That is why we are so grateful that you have still been there to allow us to keep rescuing and releasing orangutans, confiscating smuggled wildlife, helping hundreds of thousands turtle hatchlings, planting almost one hundred thousand new trees, helping and educating the younger generation about nature’s way of true sustainability and so much more.
2022, will we be able to receive volunteers again? Will we be able to expand our projects? Will the pandemic finally be over and will we be able to make a long term plan for a more secure future of our organization and activities? So many questions without clearcut answers. But what I do know is that we will not give up and that as long as we have friends that support our vision and mission we will do it with the highest possible motivation.
For now we just want to extend simply a huge THANK YOU to our friends and supporters and our best wishes and hopes for a much better and healthy 2022 with nature based solutions for a secure and sustainable future of us and all other life on this precious planet.
Willie Smits
North Sulawesi, 31-12-2021
Christmas in Borneo’s jungle also for our orangutan friends
Thanks to our supporters that have donated to Masarang HK we were able, like last year, to send funds for the staff as well as the orangutans at the Sintang Orangutan Center in the heart of Borneo, to have a Christmas celebration. We also donated to the animals at Masarang’s Tasikoki wildlife rescue and education center and for the small Christmas gathering of the Masarang staff coming together in Tomohon. Both the Dayak people in the interior of Kalimantan and the people in the mountains of North Sulawesi are predominantly Christian and they celebrate Christmas as in many western countries. The staff really appreciated that even though they did not dare dream of it, they could gather in prayer and for a simple meal during these difficult pandemic days. On behalf of all of them as well as the animals a heartfelt thank you.
In the pictures below we can see some images of how the orangutans got interesting Christmas gifts from the staff. Seeing them testing and enjoying the many different Christmas themed treats was wonderful. Also have a look at this link
On behalf of the Masarang HK Volunteer Team we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year.
Willie Smits
Updates on Sintang Orangutan Centre
World OrangUtan Day 2021
Manfred, Update News
Manfred is just 3 years old, he has grown as a brave little orangutan. He is very good at mingling with other orangutans who are in the same group as him at forest school. Almost all the orangutans in the group are close to Manfred and seem to love him very much. The development of Manfred’s forest school also increased quite a fast from before. His closest friend till now is still Tom (male, 4 years old), although he has made a new friends such as Victoria (female, 7 years old), Boss Benni (male, 8 years old) and Jacques (male, 7 years old) who is recently joined Manfred’s group at the end of April 2021. Manfred still looks for Tom if he feels they are too far from each other, although sometimes he forgets with him when he is too busy playing with Victoria and other orangutans.
While at forest school, Manfred spent a lot of time exploring the forest with Victoria and Bos Benni, he learned a lot about finding food from them who have good forest school skills. They will explore the forest in the morning when the weather is not too hot and during the day they will play a lot on the forest floor when the weather is too hot due to the current dry season in Sintang. Usually, when other orangutans are playing wrestling, Manfred will look from afar like he is predicting the right time to join and when the time is right he will suddenly come forward without fear and join in the wrestling. But usually, he will immediately run if he feels the opponent playing wrestling is too stronger and not comparable to his strength. He is very brave and fearless even though he is the youngest orangutan in his group.
Update news of Victoria
In the rainforests of Borneo, temperatures rise quickly to a sweaty 30 degrees Celsius. Many orangutans will build a nest in the afternoon and have a nap. In the forest school, the youngsters like to play in a puddle to cool off.
Victoria and Hope probably have the most fun. They like to wrestle in the water until they are covered with mud. One time, Hope and Victoria were seen lying stretched out in the cool water, like old ladies in a spa. Recently, they have discovered another puddle.
Victoria (7) is close friends with Beni (8). Recently, Beni decided to take their relationship a step further: he tried to mate with Victoria. Victoria didn’t appreciate it and cried out loud when Beni made his move. Although both are close to puberty, Victoria is too young to become pregnant.
Victoria and Beni recently played a game that came straight out of a Hollywood movie. Holding a liana tightly with two hands they swung back and forth between two trees. After that they went to play in a puddle, which is quite the thing do now among the youngsters at the forest school. Sometimes Victoria is so occupied with playing with Beni that she even forgets to build a nest.
Every day, the orangutans are offered leafy branches. They can eat the leaves and the bark, play with them, or they can use them to for practical uses, like building nests. Victoria likes to use the leaves as a hat against the sun or as pillow to lie on as well. The leafy branches are meant to stimulate this kind of creativity and problem solving, so we are very happy to see that Victoria is making good use of them.
Still struggling after all those years
World Oceans Day 2021
May 2021 Update from Tasikoki
Pictures by Billy Lolowang
Posted in Hong Kong, International, Masarang Club, Supporting, Tasikoki Project