Jennifer Riis Gotrik

Tour guides wait for orangutans to come down from the trees on the Bukit Lawang Orangutan Viewing Platform. Feedings are twice a day. Tourists pay around Rp 20,000 to witness a feeding, though an orangutan spotting is not guaranteed.

Bukit Lawang is a popular tourist destination in Gunung Leuser National Park, situated 90 kilometers northwest of Medan. In addition to a range of outdoor activities, tourists can come and see the Sumatran Orangutan in the forests enveloping the village.

At Bukit Lawang National Park, tourists pay to see orangutans in the wild. Experts estimate that the orangutan species may be extinct within the next 25 years.

Boy is an infant orangutan who was found by a Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program rescue team member after his mother was killed by poachers in the forests of Sumatra. Adult orangutans are rarely found without bullet wounds. Despite SOCP's efforts, it is estimated that no less than 5,000 orangutans are killed each year.

Tourists take photographs of a descending orangutan in the trees of Gunung Leuser National Park in Sumatra, Indonesia. The park attracts tourists from all over the world and the economy of the village is fueled by this.

Orangutans come down from the trees for feeding at Gunung Leuser National Park. Although feeding the orangutans is strictly forbidden, rangers and guides often allow tourists to feed the orangutans for an extra fee. Feeding the orangutans leads to dependence of the species on humans.

Bodong Saidi, 32, is a jewelry merchant living in Bukit Lawang. Saidi sells jewelry to tourists visiting Gunung Leuser National Park. If the orangutan species is extinct within the next 25 years as experts predict, Saidi and the rest of the village will likely be left unemployed.

The Malay word orangutan translates literally to “man of the forest.” Asia’s only great apes share 97% of DNA with humans. One hundred years ago, 315,000 orangutans lived in the wild. Today, there are only around 40,000 total.

Harta Pinem, 7, is the son of a palm oil farmer on a plantation near Bukit Lawang. When he is not at school, Pinem helps his father with various tasks on the palm oil plantation.

Sedarta Pinem, 31, works on a palm oil plantation harvesting the fruit to support his family. The making of palm oil plantations is one of the driving forces of deforestation today.

Ramali, supervisor of palm oil mill PTPN2 in Sawit Seberang, North Sumatra, runs the government-owned company. He chose not to make a statement on the environmental impact of palm oil and its effect on the orangutan species.

The island of Sumatra has lost 85% of its forests due mainly to the harvesting and production of palm oil. Logging and agricultural companies have been rapidly cutting down rainforests in exchange for palm oil plantations.

Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program near Medan, Indonesia began in 1999 in an effort to prevent the extinction of the orangutan species. SOCP has rehabilitated over 200 orangutans that have been rescued from palm oil plantations, poachers, and pet owners and re-released them into the wild.

Dr. Ikhsan Surya Hidayat of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program is the primary veterinarian at the quarantine center near Medan, Indonesia.

Elvi is a caretaker at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program quarantine center and lives at the center, devoting a majority of her time to caring for young orangutans. Most young orangutans at the center were rescued from illegal pet markets.

Adult orangutans at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program quarantine center stay at the center until they are ready to be released into the wild.

Dr. Ikhsan Surya Hidayat of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program cares for infant orangutan, Boy, in his office. Ikhsan is the primary veterinarian at the quarantine center near Medan, Indonesia.