This is an image that resulted in me returning to the base absolutely filthy.
I often come home to London or Los Angeles with suitcases that smell and possessions that need to be tossed, but I think Borneo wins the gold in the medal podium of countries that have destroyed the working life of some of my clothes. I am not good in a jungle—the humidity is energy-sapping—but on this occasion, in the charred forests of Southern Borneo, it was all worthwhile.

There is no doubt these images have made quite an impression and are raising awareness of the plight of the orangutan. This mother looks more human than a number of Scots I know. The mother and child were much easier to work with than the big male. She seemed largely comfortable with our presence. My instinct was to work with my go-to 58mm lens and set the camera for as much detail as possible. The trick was to be in the water and make myself look small and unthreatening (harder now than it once was!).

But I needed some protection because on the way upriver I had noticed several crocodiles, and I am terrified of crocs. They could have been anywhere, skulking in the water reeds, but after some maneuvering, my team’s two motorboats formed a V-shape and blocked off the water behind and to the left and right of me. It was only later that my lead guide told me, with a mischievous grin, that there had been a recent crocodile attack nearby. He didn’t tell me beforehand because he worried I wouldn’t get the shot. Good card players, the Indonesians! After all—no shot, no bonus.