It was a very productive day today. In the morning we made a new hammock to put in the bottom of Nonong's cage, so she doesn't have to keep sitting on the bars. It is made from old fire hose, which is very tough. James used his machete to cut off a bunch of strips the same size, and we had to weave them together then bolt them at the end of each join – you have to do this very tightly to ensure the orangutans can't get it undone and pull the whole thing apart.

We took all the pieces to the jetty for construction, and Kalabatu decided to follow us and watch from the railing – his head resting on his folded hands. It took us forever to figure out the drill, and James needed to get Boney and one of the wildlife rescue guys involved before we finally worked it out. We had both Kala and Itinban watching us by this time. Kala had now moved to a beam above our heads, and kept reaching his hands down to try and grab one of us. Once we got the drill working we moved fairly quickly – with April, Jack and Ibri working their way around drilling holes, while Steph and I did the bolts – me holding the top tightly in place with a spanner (most of the time) while Steph tightened the bolt with a spanner underneath. As we were nearing the end, the guys brought out all the elephants, so they were all around us, trumpeting and blowing dirt on themselves. They all decided to run in the direction of the ranger at one point and if I was him I would seriously be terrified – just because of their size! They were only playing, but they did push him around a bit. Then one decided to slide into the water. The others all hesitantly stood on the edge, like they weren't sure what to do, but eventually another one of them nervously slid in too. It was great to see them so closely. It was sweaty, dirty work, but very satisfying once we completed the hammock. We sat down to get a picture of our completed masterpiece, when a liquid started dribbling down from the ceiling. Turned out Rosa was perched on the beam above us and decided to wee. Some landed on my hand, and April's shirt, but we managed to dodge it before there was too much damage.

In the afternoon we were very busy. When we went to walk out to the big cage, the elephants were right there. The rangers were leading them into the forest behind the baby's area for a bit of further recreation. It was amazing to see them so close, but we stayed behind the gate just in case one decided to go rogue!

First we cracked out the powerful jet washer and cleaned our new hammock, and the one from the quarantine area (which was absolutely filthy!) Then we cleaned the cage as per normal before we hung the hammock back inside, which had been taken down several days earlier for cleaning. It is really heavy, so it took all four of us (and James) to lift it into place and secure it. Just as we were doing up the last bolt, Ibri walked past and told us we had done it wrong – there was another fold required to ensure there was no loose end bit for the orangutans to grab. So we had to undo them all and start again! By now it was pouring with rain, so when we were done we got totally drenched on our way back to the resthouse. It was very refreshing though, and we were quite grateful. When we arrived it was ridiculous photo time – so we got one photo in the rain before we all decided to go one step further and do a stupid dance under the overflowing drainpipe. Such fun, ridiculous times I will always remember!