Camp Leakey

Camp Leakey is situated at a branch of the Sekonyer river in Tanjung Puting National Park and was founded in 1971 by Canadian researcher Biruté M. Galdikas. She named it after the Kenyan anthropologist Louis Leakey, who supported her in her endavour to study orangutans.

Camp Leakey served B. Galdikas as base camp for orangutan observations and over the years became a desination as much for scientists as for tourists.

Typical for Camp Leakey are the visits of some of those orangutans who were reintroduced into the forest around the camp between the 1970s and mid-1990s. It should be emphasized though that only a few of the re-introduced animals still visit. Most of them were never seen in camp again.

Close to camp there is a feeding station for rehabilitated orangutans. This is set up to discourage competition between them and the wild population for food. The feeding platform is situated in the forest so that the animals can approach through the tree canopy. For visitors to Camp Leakey this provides a great opportunity to observe these wonderful animals from a relatively close position. Of course there is no guarantee that there will be animals at feeding time, but with some luck, four or five animals can sometimes be seen.