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Climbing down from our dusty jeeps, we first of all stopped to refresh ourselves with the water that we were carrying. The temperature was in the high nineties and the humidity level was also very high.

This meant that our forearms were constantly covered by a shimmering surface of water and so were our clothes, which made it appear as if we were covered in perspiration.

A short way along the jungle path we were met by our local guide, who had been specifically assigned to our party for this expedition. He was a very friendly, smiling individual with a big round shiny face and a similar shaped body to match.

His name was Lopi and he constantly chattered away to himself, even when he was not talking to us. He had spent most of his life, living in this jungle area and knew it like the back of his hand.

He greeted us all warmly and checked that everyone was alright and that we were all feeling fit enough to make the rest of our journey. Indicating our confirmation to him that we were, we then began to proceed on foot.

As we walked through the jungle on what Lopi called well defined paths, which it was apparent only he could clearly see, we would occasionally see large snakes hanging down from the trees.

And even as we were walking, we could detect the glistening backs of the snakes as they passed across the path at our feet. Lopi said that we did not need to worry a lot, because the snakes would only try to wrap themselves around our legs if we stopped moving forwards.

This was obviously his way of making sure that we kept on walking and moving forward at the speed that he decided upon. There were seven of us in total with Lopi and we all followed his directions intently.

We finally came to a clearing where there was a small wooden hut; Lopi told us that this was the end of our walking and that we could wash our hands and refresh ourselves inside his hut.

He used the hut for keeping tools and supplies close to where he did most of his work, which was, apart from being a guide, the person who feed the Orang-utans that inhabited this part of the jungle.

After we had all refreshed ourselves, we went outside and Lopi told us all to keep very quiet, he then proceeded to make an immense amount of noise, calling into the dense jungle for the Orang-utans to feed.

He whispered to us that the Orang-utans could detect if there was any danger to them by the different sounds that they could hear all around them, but he had learnt to communicate with them and keep them calm.

Slowly we heard the sound of slight movement in the trees above us and we peered into the dark green foliage of the jungle, but without any idea as to exactly where we were supposed to be looking.

Then over my shoulder I saw a tiny movement of the leaves of a tree, I turned and found myself looking into the eyes of an Orang-utan. Then it just reached forward and took the banana from my pocket that Lopi had given to me earlier.

Peeling it immediately, the Orang-utan took a bite and then offered it to me to have some. Lopi had told us that they would care for there family members in this way and for some reason the Orang-utan thought I was one of its family members.

For the whole time there was eye to eye contact between us and I would have sworn that the Orang-utan was looking deep into my soul. A truly once in a lifetime amazing experience, which I know will stay firmly in my mind forever and so will the image of the eyes of that Orang-utan.