The heat has been unbelievable the last few days. Nearly 40 degrees. This morning I loaded up with a basket of bananas and we headed to the outdoor nursery. As we approached, we could see Yokmil sitting on the platform. James was up ahead of us with a jug of milk leading a few of the semi-wild orangutans away from the indoor nursery. Yokmil saw them and decided to step down from the platform and amble towards James – he was only going slow, but sneaking up fast. So we took the opportunity to duck inside.

When the guys went outside to clean the platforms, Yokmil stayed watching from a safe distance, with James also close by, acting as bodyguard. Poor Beryl has malaria, so she is in the clinic now. She did look very unwell yesterday! I took Peanut out, along with the bucket of fruit. He was very clingy again this morning, always trying to eat the lock and grab my t-shirt. We had just taken everyone out, and I had put the food out on the platforms, when Yokmil emerged from the undergrowth, walking along the ground on all fours, slowly towards the platform. Goman freaked again, and April had to take him inside as he won't stay out at all when Yokmil is around. Gelison also decided he wasn't keen, and headed up towards the visitor centre again, so Jack collected him and put him back inside too. Chiquita took the opportunity to drop to the ground and wave her arms and legs outwards and inwards, as if making grass angels. James said it wasn't worth the risk to go out and get her. Yokmil sat on the platform quietly and ate some fruit. Mimi was there too, but she soon decided to head back into the forest, and Yokmil followed the way he had come. Slowly ambling along the ground, before disappearing into the undergrowth once again.

Excitement over, we headed inside to clean the cages – all the time keeping a look out for the wandering hands of Goman and Gelison, which is no easy task. Any opportunity to grab a shirt, or a sponge or some soapy water is definitely worth trying!

Once we were back outside, Kacy decided to wander over and investigate one of the gumboots I had taken off, as they were roasting my feet in the sunshine. She decided to keep kissing and gently biting my leg before slapping a dirt covered hand over my knee and running off. Chiquita had decided to come down at this point (jealous Amoy said) and from that point on she decided to act up a bit. She kept dropping down from the platform – or hanging just underneath, and then dropping every time we turned our back. She loves to gesticulate at you and form her mouth into a yawn shape, with her teeth hidden. She is very expressive with her face.

When it was time to collect everyone, I headed towards Peanut, but he wasn't interested in coming down. Kolapis (a semi-wild orangutan) was there, so he extended a hand to me as if he wanted to come inside. As soon as Peanut saw this he shot over and outstretched his hand – a bit jealous that all of a sudden someone else was the focus. He loves the tap, and kept trying to drink the water. So I would scoop up a handful of water and press it against his face - he just loves sucking the water off my glove. Once inside he decided to grab my shirt again and pull it into the cage so he could bite and suck it while I was locking it all. He is so strong, it was not easy to get it back again! He had a rock in his mouth that he'd picked up on route. He was rolling it around in his mouth and sucking it. I tried to get it back, as he doesn't mind his mouth being played with, but he wouldn't relinquish it. That is until his milk came, and he spat it right out!

It chucked it down with rain during our break, which did wonders for cooling everything down!

When we arrived back after lunch there was no sign of Yokmil. So we took everyone out. I had Bidu Bidu this time, and as we went around the corner, April and Jack (who had gone on ahead) were returning with their orangutans in hand. Yokmil had appeared again on a rope at the edge of the outdoor area. They went to ask Amoy what to do, and she sent out two of the new recruits to scare him back into the forest – but he wasn't going easily. The upside of this was I got to spend about five minutes with Bidu Bidu while we waited. He had found a leaf and kept pulling it in and out of his mouth. I placed it on his head and then found him a fresh one, which he proceeded to nibble on, before also placing it on his head, and then was taking them on and off. He was very wary of Yokmil's presence and kept looking over to see what he was up to. He also kept looking at me and nibbling and pulling my trousers, then opened his mouth wide and decided to lick my glove and poke his tongue out. He kept punching the grass with one hand, as Yokmil was starting to retreat and he was anxious to get going. So we all headed out, but it didn't take too long before Yokmil headed back in after seeing the food being put out on the platforms. He proceeded to eat pretty much everything himself, so our guys couldn't do much apart from get out of the way. Goman did his usual stunt of refusing to climb and clinging to whoever was nearby, while Gelison decided it might be safer to be on the roof of the visitor centre.

We tried everything to get Goman to climb, and eventually he did sit on one of the platforms and swung right out to the 'naughty tree' (the big tall tree where the rangers take the orangutans when they refuse to climb). Problem is Mimi and Yokmil decided to head the same direction along this rope, so Goman had to summon up all his courage to climb around the big tree with the rope attached, before sliding down the naughty tree at record speed. Mimi and Yokmil decided to just sit there in wait for the second round of fruit – but we didn't end up putting it out, as we didn't want to encourage them back. He is proving himself a nuisance now.

Finally he headed into the forest, and then all the juveniles started to go a bit mental and run around, refusing to come in. So we play a trick that we sometimes do and pretended we were leaving them and headed back towards the centre building. They all eventually made their way over and there was relatively little fuss getting them all into their cages and feeding them their bottles.