This morning when we entered the centre there were two random people with cameras talking to Elis. We found out later they were just tourists who had wandered in to try and get close to the orangutans. Even after they were told to leave, they returned in the afternoon with more people and tried to offer the staff money to let them see behind the scenes and touch the orangutans. It is incredible that people think this kind of thing is acceptable. On the other hand, we have also heard people saying the centre is all a sham and very touristy – so you literally can't win! It is hard to strike that balance between conservation and awareness.

Everyone was very well behaved today – Sepilok came back once, but that was it! At one point, he slid down the pole of one of the platforms and disappeared into the bush beneath. He came back brandishing the purple cloth that had been dropped down there by one of the other orangutans the day before. He was enjoying playing with it, and flapping it about, until Alagu decided to swipe it from him. She is way too fast for him, so when she ran up into the trees with it, he gave up chasing her. He later decided he would keep climbing down the same pole and then when he was about half way down, he would just slide the rest of the way and disappear. He repeated this quite a few times, and the others started to watch him, which Ibri said wasn't good, because they would copy. Sure enough, Bakut decided to head down the pole too, and when he was only about a third of the way down, he just decided to let go entirely, and flew backwards into the scrub. Thankfully he emerged pretty quickly afterwards, and was fine. Then we made the decision to take them back inside, before Bakut continued practising his new move! We could hear a lot of growling and yelping from the jungle today, apparently Yokmil has found the big male orangutan who escaped, and they were fighting, with the latter receiving a cut to his lip in the process.

Ibri was saying how difficult it is for the centre to get land. In the wild, there are a variety of trees that the orangutans eat, which they can't always get access to at the centre, and when trees are lost, they take such a long time to replace. So as a result, the young orangutans' anti-bodies are not as strong as they should be (coupled with the fact they have lost those provided by their mother's milk). Even when they are first released into the wild, they often come back with diarrhoea and illnesses, and they need to learn from the wild orangutans about the best things to eat to prevent this. Sepilok, Archie and Koko are all babies of rehabilitated orangutans, who simply weren't capable of looking after them. At the end of the day, nothing will be the same as an orangutan mum. Although the centre does a fantastic job at helping them through the process, it is no easy task.

After lunch (consisting of leftover buns) a new baby was brought into the centre. She was handed in by someone who was keeping her as a pet. She was super tiny (only 2.5kg) with such little legs and a face full of curiosity. Bakut tried to make a run from Steph, but his legs were so short and stumpy he waddled more like a penguin. It was hilarious to watch. Sepilok was up to his usual tricks and was determined not to go back out on the ropes - he can be truly exhausting. Alagu and Bakut decided to sit in one of the platform boxes – they were so cute to watch, sitting practically on top of each other, holding hands, and both looking out at the same things in unison. As we took them all back inside, it didn't really sink in that this is probably the last time I will hold an orangutan's hand. But it has been a total pleasure working with them in any way, and while they will forget me in a heartbeat, I will never forget working with them.

In the evening we went out to the back of the resthouse to a concrete basketball court within the ranger's village. The boys had been asked to play football again with some of the rangers and local kids. It was just a friendly game, but it was good fun to watch and cheer them on. Jack, one of the staff from the resthouse, is a particularly good player. Then Amoy received a call to say Ceria had turned up at the Rainforest Discovery Centre and was causing havoc, trying to grab hold of people. So two of the guys had to leave the game to go and collect him – a ranger's work is never done!