Gunung Leuser national park - Meet Wild Animals

Gunung Leuser national park is the wild place where the following pictures have been taken by Olivier Horiot.

Olivier Horiot travels extensively to Indonesia to photograph its incredible fauna and flora.

“Like in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, poaching is a major problem here, but in Sumatra, animals still have (but for how long ?) some space left to roam. For example, Sumatra is still home to at least 400 tigers, while the species is probably extinct in Cambodia and on the brink of extinction in Vietnam and Laos. “ says Olivier.

Sumatra, the second biggest island of Indonesia, still hosts some of the largest populations of southeast asia’s mega fauna such as asian elephants, tigers, tapirs, clouded leopards, and the severely endangered Sumatran rhinoceros.

Photographs featuring in this article (except for the tiger) has been taken in the Gunung Leuser national park, one of the largest remaining wilderness area of southeast asia.

The photo of the elephant has been taken during a ranger patrol to mitigate human elephant conflict. This elephant was part of a group that repeatedly raided an oil palm plantation on the border of the national park. It was the only one that showed up in the open for a few minutes, allowing this photograph to be taken, shortly before sunset.

The Rangers of Tangkahan is a non profit organization that fights against poaching and animal human conflicts at the border of the Gunung Leuser national park in north Sumatra.