Gonda, born in 2017, was found by farmers in their oil palm garden while he was crying next to his dead mother. The farmers looked after him for about 2 months, treating him like a human child (even letting him sleep in their bed). When the cost of care grew too expensive, he was rescued and brought to the ORANGUTAN FOREST SCHOOL which is conducted by our partner Yayasan Jejak Pulang, in cooperation with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry. As he had been held like a human baby, his muscles were underdeveloped, and he had difficulty using his hands and feet to grab and swing.

Gonda is named after a person who makes expeditions into impenetrable forest and does orangutan surveys and censuses.

Gonda is currently in Level 2 in the Forest School, together with Tegar, Kartini and Gerhana. Showing more and more confidence, he has started the process of transferring to Level 3. We had a lot of work to do to build up his strength and locomotion – and Gonda still has a long way to go to unlearn human behaviours. He is making good progress with the help of his best friend Tegar, whom he chases through the trees and wrestles to the ground – all while laughing constantly! We need to build more platforms in the trees to encourage them to take their play skywards like wild orangutans.