To carry out orangutan rehabilitation, the security and needs of the orangutans must be prioritised. This must then be done while balancing the welfare needs of unreleasable orangutans and the capacity to educate the public on the importance and urgency of orangutan conservation. The BOS Foundation has decided to move the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Central Kalimantan, to a new location that better serves the above requirements.
The Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre is made of several complexes across various locations. Originally, the main Nyaru Menteng complex consisted of an office, clinic, fruit warehouse, forest school, information centre, and employee messes. At the second location, referred to as Nyaru Menteng 2, is located the baby house and cage complex for unreleasable adult orangutans. This is adjacent to Nyaru Menteng 3, which are the quarantine cages. Lastly, there are the two sets of pre-release island clusters. Three of the islands, namely Kaja, Bengamat, and Palas, are located in Tangkiling village and the Salat Island Cluster is over in the Pulang Pisau District. These scattered locations require the Nyaru Menteng staff to travel extensively and costs more than IDR 40 million every month in fuel and transportation.
To increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our daily operations, the BOS Foundation plans to move the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre to a centralised location which is only about one kilometre away from its current location. This new complex will be adjacent to the existing facilities at Nyaru Menteng 2 and 3 and only a short drive away from the pre-release islands in Tangkiling. This newly acquired 132-hectare plot of land will accommodate various facilities such as a clinic, an office, two employee messes, a guest house, an information centre, a fruit warehouse, several cage complexes, and even seven manmade islands.
Construction of The New Nyaru Menteng Complex (Photo credit: BOSF 2024)
Construction of The New Nyaru Menteng Complex (Photo credit: BOSF 2024)
Construction of The New Nyaru Menteng Complex (Photo credit: BOSF 2024)
Construction of The New Nyaru Menteng Complex (Photo credit: BOSF 2024)
The work started in mid-2023 with the construction of 0.7-hectare Island A to break ground on the whole project. We continued with the construction of two employee messes which were completed in June 2024. The next project is building the supporting infrastructure for Forest School for groups 3, 4, 5, and 6, as well as the clinic and office.
In the future, the New Nyaru Menteng complex will accommodate roughly 150 employees along with more than 200 orangutans who are in lifetime sanctuary or still undergoing the rehabilitation process. To support the daily operations of the new complex, the BOS Foundation plans to utilise solar power in addition to operating a rainwater collection system that will provide clean water.
The building of the New Nyaru Menteng complex will only be realised with the help and support of all partners, both international and domestic, who are highly committed to protecting Bornean orangutans and their habitat.
To complement the BOS Foundations wildlife conservation activities at Samboja Lestari, a new solar system now produces clean solar energy that will power the centre for years to come as well as contribute to the global shift towards renewable energy.
The Mawas Conservation Program is a proven model for large-scale forest restoration. With our project partner Weleda, our teams on the ground are actively assisting in the management of 309,000 hectares of peatland to reduce the risk of forest fires,
Due to generous donor and partner support, the BOS Foundation finally had the funding to improve the functionality of our Animal Clinic in Samboja Lestari.
