ABOUT JENIE SUBARU

My name is Jenie Subaru, born on June 5 1982. I have 9 siblings and 4 of them are local guides in Tanjung Puting National Park. My oldest brother was also the first guide there. The first time I worked there was when I was still in junior high school, especially during the long school holidays. I did all that for my and my siblings' school fees and to help my family financially. At first I only worked as a kelotok (wooden ship) crew, but I focused on completing my high school. After that in 2001, I returned to work in tourism as a cook and kelotok captain.  A few months later I learned English and started a new job as a tour guide in 2002. I got my official certificate as a legal tour guide a few years later.

Me with the Orangutan Baby

I used to work as a freelance guide who works at a travel agent here even though they are not local agents, today I decided to work alone because I was not too happy with the increasing number of foreign agent which is not employ local peoples .I want to establish my own travel agent so i can invite local people to work with me as a guide or klotok crew. 

Work in Tanjung Puting National Park not only to earn a living but because this place is my life. My parents lived here a long time ago, so I was born and raised in Tanjung Puting National Park before it even became a National Park. This also made me think about helping other local people, especially young people, to study and be able to do work in our own area to help our family's income and a better life. Just like I have done since I was young.

Teaching about english together in a small hut in my yard. 

Many things are not easy when teaching and training young people around the Tanjung Puting National Park area. I not only teach them how to speak English, but also how to survive. This is done so that these people are able to meet standards and safety when they carry out their work as tour guides.

Teaching how to survive with dangerous animal

Then, my goal is not only to focus on empowering local communities, but also on the environment. Therefore, together with friends with the same goal, we formed an association to protect the environment, especially in the Tanjung Puting National Park area. Sadly, we lost large area of our forest because the expansion of Palm Oil plantation company, and now we can found the palm oil plantation near the national park. And about 4 months ago I started to collect donations from all peoples and tourists that I used to buy land to save the forests and habitats around the Tanjung Puting National Park, now I've managed to buy 2 hectare of land for animal habitat , and hope i can expand more land soon. i will use some of the tour profit for the conservation, and if you want to donate you can contact me by email at jeniesubaru@gmail.com . we will be grateful for all of your donations and help.

Exploring the Sekonyer River with Getek (boat with engine)

Now I am one of the boards of the Green Orangutan Foundation, as a technical field coordinator who is responsible for managing and administering people who work according to the program. Yayasan Orangutan Hijau Kalimantan (YOHK) is a non-profit organization based in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, dedicated to the conservation of orangutans and the tropical rainforests of Borneo. This foundation is based on sustainable ecotourism.

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