Nikon D300, 270 mm, F/7.1, 1/250 s, 800 iso

In recent years I visited Borneo twice and was deeply impressed by the beautiful rainforest with her many exceptional animals. But the look in the eyes of the Orang-utan at the picture is one I will never forget. From his cage, he had a view of the rainforest, his rainforest! But now, sitting in a cage, his habitat is limited to a few square meters. How sad! And also sad is how quickly the rainforest disappears. Scientist have calculated that most likely over 10 years no more orangutans are living in the wild. Then we find them only in cages, such as the Orang-utan in this picture.

As a photographer I have affiliated with Orangutan Outreach Netherlands who supported the work of Willie Smits. Willie is one of the leading conservationists in the world and leading several major project like the project DeforestAction. National Geographic US is making a movie of this project. Currently Willie accompanied Crown Princess Gusti Pembayun during a trip in Europe. She is the eldest daughter of the Sultan of Yogyakarta/Indonesia and also president of the Conservation Foundation Yogyakarta. At this moment she visits the Netherlands to raise awareness for the DeforestAction project.

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