Welcome to Eco Wild Adventures
Eco Wild Adventures (EWA) was formed by a group of Australians with the aim to help protect, the endangered species and forests of Indonesia - 
especially the orangutans which are being eradicated by the burning and logging of forests in Borneo.
The islands of Indonesia are renowned for the richness of their biodiversity. It is an acknowledged biodiversity hotspot that is home to some of the rarest animals and plants on the planet. Nowhere else but in Borneo and Northern Sumatra can you see orangutans wild in their natural forest habitat. These large red apes, so much like humans, are threatened to extinction by deforestation, mining, poaching and the illegal pet trade in young orangutans.
Borneo is one of only two places in the world where you can see orangutans in the wild. The other place is Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra.
Tanjung Puting, in Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), was declared a national park in 1982 and designed to protect orangutans and proboscis monkeys (endemic to Borneo). The park is also home to wild boars, monitor lizards, estuarine crocodiles, false gharials, sun bears, tapir, gibbons, macaques, silver langurs, hornbills, kingfishers, clouded leopards, spotted leopards, flat headed cats, and many more.
Indonesia is home for the Asian Elephant, the Sumatran Tiger and for two rhinoceros species, the Sumatran and Javan rhinoceros which are the most threatened and least known of the five surviving rhino species on earth.
There are around 1600 species of birds with about 400 endemic to Indonesia. Borneo alone supports 600 species, including 37 endemic species. Indonesia boasts over 25,000 species of plants with many more being discovered each year. One species of plant, the Rafflesia, has the largest flowers in the world, measuring up to one metre in diameter.
Although Indonesia has an extensive system of parks and reserves, many of the more important and diverse areas such as the lowland forests are under-represented and are vulnerable to agricultural and timber development. Even so there is a wide variation in the level of protection and management of the reserves and encroachments, poaching, illegal logging and mining threaten their integrity. .
Research centres were established in the park for the rehabilitation of primates.
Camp Leakey was the first centre founded in 1971 with assistance from the Leakey Foundation.
Camp Leakey is where Dr Birute Galdikas, one of three anthropologists to study the great apes, started her study on orangutans.
Dr Galdikas founded Orangutan Foundation International and is the world's leading expert in orangutans' behaviour. Incidentally, the three anthropologists who had been chosen by Dr Louis Leakey were Diane Fossey (study of gorillas), Jane Goodall (study of chimpanzees) and Birute Galdikas (study of orangutans). They are known as Leakey's Angels or as Leakey's trimates.
EWA members together with its associated organisations of Save Indonesian Endangered Species Fund (SIES) and Ecolodges Indonesia (ELI) is committed to promoting conservation and helping to safeguard the rich biodiversity of Indonesia’s unique natural heritage. Through ecotourism, sustainable employment is provided to local communities and awareness and pride of the benefits of natural areas is engendered in the local population.
EWA can help you experience the natural wonders of Indonesia by assisting with travel arrangements and accommodation. Ecolodges Indonesia has a number lodges close to national parks that can be used as bases for exploring the wonders of these natural areas.
ELI owns and manages 4 lodges which support local employment and conservation.
1. Rimba Orangutan Eco Lodge on the banks of the Sekonyer River in Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo you are inside the lowland peat forests of Tanjung Puting National Park, not far from Camp Leakey
where you can see orangutans, gibbons, proboscis monkeys, silver leaf monkeys, long tailed macaques and many more monkeys. 
When staying at Rimba, you can travel to Camp Leakey on a klotok (Indonesian riverboat) where you can enjoy watching rare birds flying over the Sekonyer River. At your return in the evening, along the river you can see proboscis monkeys and orangutans busily nesting in the treetops, settling for the night.
2. Satwa Sumatra Elephant Ecolodge is situated in a natural garden setting near the entrance to Way Kambas National Park, in south eastern Sumatra where the Elephant Conservation Centre and sanctuary (ECC) and the Sumatran Rhinoceros Sanctuary (SRS.) are situated. Working holidays are possible at the ECC. You can visit the elephant training centre (ECC) which is home to 66 domesticated Asian elephants and take a ride on their back into the surrounding grasslands. The Sumatran Rhinoceros Sanctuary (SRS) is not far from Satwa lodge and a visit to see the highly secretive and threatened Sumatran rhino is a “must do” activity.
From Bandar Lampung airport one of our cars will be waiting for you and you'll enjoy an easy drive on good roads all the way to the lodge.
3. Bajo Komodo Ecolodge is on the island of Flores near Labuan Bajo in western Flores. The lodge has a bar and restaurant that offers magnificent views of the adjacent islands in the Lesser Sunda group.
Just a short boat ride from the lodge is Komodo
National Park, located in the Lesser Sunda islands, which include Komodo, Rinca, Padar, Flores, Gili Motang. Komodo National Park is located between the islands of Flores and Sumbawa. It is the only place Komodo dragons inhabit. It is also a favourite for scuba divers since its marine biodiversity is spectacular (Ocean sunfish, coral, blue-ringed octopus, tunicates, pygmy seahorses, manta rays, eagle rays, false pipefish...). Alternatively you can laze on the many sandy beaches close to the lodge.
4. Udayana Kingfisher Ecolodge, Bali, is conveniently located 9 km from Ngurah Rai (Denpasar) Airport. It is set in a sylvan area in the grounds of Udayana University. It has expansive views over Jimbaran Bay, and is a conservation area for birds and butterflies.
On the map below, you can see Kalimantan in Borneo where Rimba Orangutan Ecolodge is situated near Camp Leakey on the Sekonyer river, and where Satwa Sumatra Elephant Ecolodge is situated at the entrance to Way Kambas National Park in South East Sumatra. You can also see Bajo Komodo Ecolodge on Flores and Udayana Kingfisher Ecolodge in Bali.
Interactive map (courtesy of Google)
Rimba, Satwa, Udayana and Bajo are part of Ecolodges Indonesia.
By Staying at Rimba, Satwa, Udayana or Bajo Ecolodge you will be supporting our programmes and investing in the "saving and protecting" the endangered wildlife (Orangutans, monkeys, tarsiers, rhinoceroses, elephants, slow loris, tapirs, Sumatran tigers, clouded leopards, spotted leopards, flat headed cats, binturongs, sun bears etc.), plus all the fragile flora and amazing birds.The Ecolodges are supporting the local community by providing jobs for locals in the lodges and as guides
To find more on the different projects and activities, please check our next pages: SIES and Events/Trips, where details of trips and fundraisers are available.
Please keep checking our site for updates.
Updated 27-04-2011 (new trip click events)
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