By Xavier Smerdon
A TARNEIT resident is hoping to swap the suburban lifestyle of Wyndham for the dense jungles of Borneo.
Twenty three-year-old Victoria University student, Joshua Nicolaou, has wanted to do his bit to save the endangered orangutans ever since he visited Bali two years ago.
While at a safari park one of the creatures ran into his arms and refused to let go.
“It suddenly ran from its carer, jumped on to me and clung on like I was a tree. It wouldn’t let go for at least five minutes,” Joshua said.
“He was a cheeky one and it was an amazing experience because we had an instant connection.”
With the numbers of wild orangutans dwindling, Joshua decided to do whatever he could to help.
He created a video by donning an ape suit, holding a sign which read “save the orangutans” and skating around the city while a friend filmed him.
Joshua submitted the video to a worldwide competition in the hope of being selected to travel to Borneo, star in a 3D movie, make a documentary and build a safari park to help save the great apes.
TakingITGlobal (TIG) will select 10 young leaders to live in the Borneo jungle to help create the world’s largest most technology-rich orangutan sanctuary.
Joshua said if people voted for his video, he might be able to live his dream and help save the orangutans.
“It would be a life changing experience to be part of this very worthwhile project”, he said.
“I’ve always been interested in the environment and I loved animals when I was growing up.
Orangutans are so full of emotion and so majestic. They’re an incredible animal and the Indonesian translation of orangutan is ‘forest man’ because they are so human-like.”
Visit gg.tigweb.org/snazo/52449/ to view and vote for Joshua’s video.
