Author: Justine

I wanted to write a non-kayaking blog about one of the other aspects of my life. I’ve recently got back from producing a TV programme about orangutans in Borneo. I know it sounds glamorous and I’m not complaining but the experience made me feel strongly that I shouldn’t just shut my eyes to the destruction and greed that is going on all around us in the world. Our newspapers are full of horror stories of rainforest about to disappear, animals about to go extinct and people made homeless by money-driven developers and it’s easy to turn the page quickly and just go paddling.

I don’t claim that I’m about to drastically change my lifestyle but I was inspired to make a modest donation to some people in Borneo who are really making a difference and I’d encourage you to do the same.

The orang utan is the only great ape which lives in Asia – there used to be hundreds of thousands of them but as their forest home continues to be logged, they are only about 50,000 of them left. 5,000 of those are disappearing every year.

Most of the rainforest that remains in Indonesia is being chopped down to make palm oil plantations. This is a very profitable industry for the country, but the crazy thing is that there is no need to chop down primary forest to make new plantations. We saw thousands of acres of degraded land in Borneo which could easily be used for palm oil plantations. The sad truth is that developers would rather chop down primary rainforest so they can make a profit from selling the timber first. The local government is all too often bribed to allow the deforestation to go ahead.

We were filming at the Nyaru-Menteng orangutan rescue and rehabilitation centre run by BOS – The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation. They have their hands full looking after over 400 orangutans, with the eventual aim of releasing all of them back into the wild where possible. All the oragutans have a sad story – most have seen their mothers murdered before their eyes.

BOS are really making a difference– their work involves lobbying the government to protect the remaining forest, rescuing orangutans who have been made homeless by deforestation and teaching baby orangutans the skills they need to live in the wild. At the moment they have nowhere to release their rehabilitated orangutans. They are working hard to pressure the government to protect an area of forest which would be perfect, but until this happens their orang utans will have to stay in cages.

A small donation can make a big difference to BOS. For example, our presenter, Iolo Williams, arranged for some binoculars to be donated to BOS. The binoculars were recently used to spot a missing orangutan. She was found severely dehydrated high in a tree and might have died if she hadn’t been found.

If you want to read more about the orangutan and the work of BOS then go to

http://www.savetheorangutan.info

To donate, go directly to this page.

http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/donate.php

The programme that we made will be shown on S4C, Channel 4, in Wales, this Autumn. People throughout the UK can watch this on Digital TV. I’ll post details nearer to the time.

‘This is the Sea 2″ has won 2 awards already which is very exciting. It won ‘best seakayaking film’ at the Reel Paddling Film Festival in Canada, which had it’s premier in Ottowa last weekend. The festival is now taking the best films on tour to over 20 locations in Canada – so watch out for it at a location near to you – you can see where by clicking the link below.

http://www.rapidmedia.com/web_site_pages/world_tour_schedule.php

The 30 min Tasmania documentary, which is part of “This is the Sea2” won 2nd prize at the biggest European kayaking film festival. 750 people attended the 9th annual kayak film festival, held in Rosenheim in Germany on 21st January. I’m thrilled that ‘Tasmania’ came 2nd out of 15 entries, especially since there was a mainly whitewater kayaking audience. The winner was ‘David Arnaud’ with his new film ‘In flux’, and third was ‘Young Gun Productions’ with ‘Dynasty’. You can see a few photos from the festival by clicking the link below. I couldn’t attend, but there is a photo here of Paul ‘Cheesy’ Robertson picking up my silver camera prize for me – he tells me he did a lovely curtsey, in true British style!

http://www.big-o-productions.com/9_kayakfilmfestival.html

The photo is of a paddle to Penrhyn Mawr on Saturday. Alun was taking some photos for a magazine article, but the conditions weren’t big enough!! Next time!

I’ve just returned from 10 days in Jersey. That’s the ORIGINAL Jersey – in the British Channel Islands, home of the famous Jersey cow and Jersey Royal potatoes! And my parents. I managed to combine the family trip with a bit of a paddling holiday with Gemma Rawlings. We took the ferry to Jersey so we could take all our toys. Jersey is a very pretty island with 40 foot tides and strong currents so we were looking forward to some fun exploring. We were hoping that we’d be able to paddle to some of the other Channel Isalnds which are lovely – in particular we wanted to make the 12 mile paddle to the small island of Sark where the only means of transport are tractor, horse and cart, bicycle and foot. Unfortunately it was too windy to make in to Sark but we enjoyed some good sea paddling aswell as some lovely walks and a bit of bouldering. The pictures are of Gemma and Kevin Mansell exploring the cliffs and caves near Greve de Lecq beach, and playing in ‘the Tour de Rozel’ tidal race on a particularly windy day!

Sorry I’ve been silent for a while. I haven’t been ignoring you on purpose, I have just been too busy doing things to write about any of them! I’ve decided to make a very short post just to make sure that I write something! I’m delighted to say that ‘This is the Sea Two’ is selling really well – it’s even more popular than the first DVD. All of the feedback that I have had has been positive.

I haven’t been seapaddling much for a month but on the weekends I’ve been enjoying walking, climbing and bike rides. This weekend Alun and I went for a lovely walk up Snowdon. Every day, we look out of our window at this mountain – the highest one in Wales – but (as is often the case with great things on your doorstep) we don’t go up it very often. This weekend was clear, cold and crisp with a few inches of snow on the top – definately a good day for a walk up a big hill. We avoided the main paths up the mountain but followed a sheep path up a pretty valley and then scrambled up a gully on ‘Cloggy’, a dramatic cliff covered in incredible moutain climbing routes ( a bit cold and icy for that at this time of year though ). Once at the top of Cloggy, we were walking down alongside the railway line which takes tourists to the top of the mountain. I mentioned that it must be possible to make a contraption to allow us to slide down the railway track all the way to Llanberis at the bottom! Alun looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and said “You don’t need to make anything”. I had forgotten that he grew up in Llanberis and spent his childhood exploring the hills and climbing venues in the area. A bit further down the track he started lifting up large rocks and eventually found one he liked. He carried it over to the railway track and started turning it around, turning it one way and then another. What a journey down!! You wouldn’t believe how well they slide….. I should mention that no trains run up the track at this time of year, and the stones don’t do any damage……..
(click on the photos to see them bigger! The top ones are of me stood on top of Cloggy on the way up Snowdon)