To maximise our chances of spotting wild orangs, our group was split into two – one heading first to the mountains, the other via the river. Our paths would cross on day two of the trek - the mountain team would head home via the river and vice versa.

Up at 6am, controlled chaos as our diminuitive but extraordinarily strong porters packed all we needed into rattan carry baskets and nervous trekkers checked and rechecked our boots, walking sticks, packs and water supplies. We were carrying up to 8 kgs each – our porters baskets weighed in at more than 30kgs!

And then we were off – back into the longboats for the mountain crew, a 15 minute trip downstream, briefing at another local longhouse, meeting with the local head man (an Iban tradition) and then off up the steepest, slipperiest hillside you could imagine! It was a stern first test and I for one was immediately aware all the training in the Adelaide Hills had indeed been necessary.

We walked for 7 hours – the last hour in driving, tropical rain and arrived just on dusk at our campsite – a roofed, jungle timber shelter with distant primitive outhouse and open fire cooking facility. Our beds were canvas slings we suspended on sapling frames and our mozzie nets were slung over the top. The porters slept alongside us – but their roof was a massive roll of colourful plastic they carry to drape over a sapling frame.

The jungle scenery is breathtaking – so many variations on green, mottling lichen camouflage colouring tree trunks, the fecund leaf litter literally alive with colourful funghi and vines draping the steep hillsides and ridges – it’s all perfect for keeping shy orangutans out of sight.