Helping Out with Orangutans – A Holiday with a Difference - Test 3

C1 Advanced · Gapped Text · C1 Advanced Trainer 2, Cambridge University Press

You are going to read a magazine article about volunteering at an orangutan research centre in Borneo. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A–G the one which fits each gap (1–6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

Helping out with orangutans – a holiday with a difference

Given that most of the work is done by people like me who know little about construction, these are impressive achievements. The main motivation is to do something positive for the beleaguered orangutans, although, naturally, we all want to actually see some. Two people in my group are so committed that they have come back for a second year.

The centre staff make sure we are aware of the difficult issue. They also take us on trips upriver to a long-established primatology site. Daily feeding time there draws a crowd of orangutans. It also attracts day-tripping eco-tourists on boats from the regional capital Pangkalan Bun.

A fellow participant has personal experience of such dubious schemes elsewhere. He says it’s hard to find programmes with the high standards of the Orangutan Foundation. ‘Finding eco-trips where you can make a real difference isn’t simple. But with this one, you’ve got a clear, physical outcome at the end of it.’

Apparently, every volunteer group is different. Ours ranges from 18 to 60 years old, with eight women and four men when we begin. Despite the supportive atmosphere, the basic conditions are hard to cope with: one volunteer takes a boat back to civilisation within a day of arrival, and two more return home after a week.

And that’s just in the daytime. At night we go on walks to spot tarantulas, civets and tiny huge-eyed tarsier primates, and we take boat rides at dusk to look for saltwater crocodiles. We become accustomed to the low-riding, wobbly motorised canoes that ferry everything along the rivers.

It’s Rimba, a 17-year-old male, and he doesn’t disappoint. He circles the camp, going from tree to tree just a few metres above our heads for almost 30 minutes. The spectacle is a well-earned reward after a week of hard physical work in the 32°C heat and extreme humidity of the jungle.

So remote is it that there’s no mobile signal. Our luxuries are rationed biscuits, sliced watermelon and oranges, and the conditions are so draining that by the end of the first week we feel as though we’ve sweated out more toxins than in a year of hot yoga.

I’ve got a hammer in my hand when the cry goes up: ‘Orangutan in the camp.’ Nine people down tools and grab their cameras. This is a chance to snap one of the critically endangered primates that we are here to help at the Pondok Ambung research post run by the Orangutan Foundation in Indonesian Borneo.

It’s not the first time it’s happened since our arrival at the research centre, which is surrounded by towering ironwood trees forming a canopy 50 metres above our heads, blocking out sunshine, but trapping moisture and heat. We had reached it after a long drive and a four-hour boat ride along the Buluh Kecil river in central Borneo.

That said, we know we are privileged to be here. The volunteer programme runs every summer, attracting adventurers to spend three weeks sleeping in basic accommodation and building infrastructure for the full-time Indonesian research staff. Over the past 15 years, volunteers have built facilities in Tanjung Puting National Park, further south in Borneo, and the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve to the east.

Others have previously given time elsewhere in animal welfare and environmental programmes. We are a part of volunteer tourism, a global business estimated to be worth up to

bn a year. It’s also highly controversial: many volunteer placements are not much more than ‘expensive holidays’, providing healthy returns to travel companies while doing little for the causes they are meant to benefit.

The rebuilding of the main building housing the laboratory and offices is an example of this. Our work enables researchers to study the wildlife of this protected area and to educate people about the risk of extinction faced by the apes and other animals. It’s a delicate mission: the palm oil industry is destroying animal habitats; on the other hand, it has dramatically raised the standard of living in the region.

It may not be too long before the orangutans start coming to the site we are working on. It’s certainly popular with orangutans. In the three weeks I am there, we get several visits from the fascinating animals as they forage for food and good nesting sites. Proboscis monkeys and macaques also regularly hang around in the trees opposite our jetty.

What I don’t get used to is the mosquitoes, the one thing I am glad to escape when my stay ends. On the final day, the centre director tells us we have surpassed his expectations for this year’s programme. We know we haven’t solved the socio-economic problems that are driving orangutans to extinction, but we have made a difference to people who are working to save them.

I’ve got a hammer in my hand when the cry goes up: ‘Orangutan in the camp.’ Nine people down tools and grab their cameras. This is a chance to snap one of the critically endangered primates that we are here to help at the Pondok Ambung research post run by the Orangutan Foundation in Indonesian Borneo. ___ It’s not the first time it’s happened since our arrival at the research centre, which is surrounded by towering ironwood trees forming a canopy 50 metres above our heads, blocking out sunshine, but trapping moisture and heat. We had reached it after a long drive and a four-hour boat ride along the Buluh Kecil river in central Borneo. ___ That said, we know we are privileged to be here. The volunteer programme runs every summer, attracting adventurers to spend three weeks sleeping in basic accommodation and building infrastructure for the full-time Indonesian research staff. Over the past 15 years, volunteers have built facilities in Tanjung Puting National Park, further south in Borneo, and the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve to the east. ___ Others have previously given time elsewhere in animal welfare and environmental programmes. We are a part of volunteer tourism, a global business estimated to be worth up to bn a year. It’s also highly controversial: many volunteer placements are not much more than ‘expensive holidays’, providing healthy returns to travel companies while doing little for the causes they are meant to benefit. ___ The rebuilding of the main building housing the laboratory and offices is an example of this. Our work enables researchers to study the wildlife of this protected area and to educate people about the risk of extinction faced by the apes and other animals. It’s a delicate mission: the palm oil industry is destroying animal habitats; on the other hand, it has dramatically raised the standard of living in the region. ___ It may not be too long before the orangutans start coming to the site we are working on. It’s certainly popular with orangutans. In the three weeks I am there, we get several visits from the fascinating animals as they forage for food and good nesting sites. Proboscis monkeys and macaques also regularly hang around in the trees opposite our jetty. ___ What I don’t get used to is the mosquitoes, the one thing I am glad to escape when my stay ends. On the final day, the centre director tells us we have surpassed his expectations for this year’s programme. We know we haven’t solved the socio-economic problems that are driving orangutans to extinction, but we have made a difference to people who are working to save them.

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