Press Camera Club member Alex Reynolds spent part of last summer volunteering with an orangutan rescue project in Borneo. He spoke to STEPHEN LEWIS

MEET Bujang. The full-grown male orangutan wasn't the most communicative of creatures, admits Alex Reynolds, who spent part of last summer volunteering at an orangutan reserve in Borneo. But he was certainly impressive.

Just getting this full-on photo of him looking to camera was quite a challenge. Bujang is a dominant male - so he tends to play dominance games.

He's a solitary animal. "He's quite quiet, and he seems shy," says Alex, 39, a member of the Press Camera Club. "But it isn't shyness at all. It's dominance. He won't look you in the face, because it's a sign of dominance to look away. It is saying 'I don't need to look at you'."

Alex, who in his day job is business manager of Stoneacre Ford at Monks Cross, has always been fascinated by orangutans.

"They are so human," he says. "They share 97 per cent of their DNA with us."

He'd always wanted to go out to Borneo to see them in their native environment. When his grandmother Stella left him some money, the dad of four decided the time had come.

He went out as a self-paying volunteer last June to work at the Samboja Lestari orangutan rescue centre in Borneo run by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF).

It was very much not a holiday, he says. He and other volunteers at the centre worked from 7am until teatime every day in 40 degree heat, gathering food for the orangs, who live on islands surrounded by a moat.

The volunteers didn't set foot on the islands - that would be dangerous, because adult orangs can be four times the size of a human and seven times as strong, Alex says. Instead, they tossed the food onto the islands from boats - sometimes 'entertaining' the animals by hiding pieces of fruit for them to find.

There was no direct contact - and not just because orangs can be dangerous to humans, but because humans can be dangerous to orangs, too. "They can pick up every disease that we have," Alex says. But he and the other volunteers got to observe the great apes close up in their natural habitat in a way he never could have done otherwise.

He was humbled at just how clever and human they were: hugely nimble and dexterous, and able to fish out pieces of fruit and other food hidden away in hollowed out bamboo stalks. "They are very, very clever," he says. "One of the few animals that can recognise themselves in a mirror."

He spent ten days or so at the rescue centre all told. In the evenings, he and and the other volunteers would have dinner together in the eco lodge where they were staying, and they'd get talks about the history of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, the fight to save orangutans, and the threat to their habitat from things such as palm oil plantations.

He also found time to take a series of breathtaking photos, of Bujang and other orangutans - including a cheeky young baby named Marlon.

It was, he says, an unforgettable experience. Partner Katie and children Lucia, Ellissia, Cohen and Flynn permitting, he hopes one day to return.

In the meantime, he plans to 'adopt' an orangutan: which means sending a regular some of money which will go towards efforts to care for and rehabilitate the animals. "They are just extraordinary creatures," he says. "So like us."

Saving Orangutans

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is an Indonsesian non-profit organisation which runs rescue centres where orangutans are cared for, rehabilitated and prepared for reintroduction into the wild. The Foundation also does research on the conservation of orangutans and their habitat. To find out more or to 'adopt' an orangutan, visit orangutan.or.id/

Alex Reynolds arranged to visit Borneo with The Great Projects: thegreatprojects.com/