Our presenter was Gayle Neufeld, who shared photos from her trip to Borneo last year! Gayle talked about photographing the unique wildlife of Borneo in a dark, wet environment with a malfunctioning camera, and the conservation activities taking place to preserve this wonderful diversity.

Located in Southeast Asia, Borneo is the world’s third largest island and is part of the 17 megadiverse countries. Most notably, it is home to the orangutan, proboscis monkey, 8 species of hornbills, and the pygmy elephant. The rainforest here is around 130 million years old, making it one of the oldest rainforests in the world, more than twice as old as the Amazon. While parts of these rainforests have not been logged, 50% of Bornean rainforest was lost to deforestation between 1973 and 2015. The entire island lies within what is called the ‘ever-wet zone’, receiving between 79 and 158 inches of rainfall each year. Between the density of the jungle and a climate that ranges from wet to very wet, photography in Borneo is challenging.