We spotted him perched on a tree, a thick head of reddish fur with very long arms moving leisurely from one branch to the other. With rapt eyes, we watched as the male orangutan descended the trunk, his feet clasped like hands, his body hanging like a trapeze artist's; confident, slow movements, nothing like the hustle and bustle of other apes. He touched the ground and began to walk on all fours a few meters from us. Enormous, majestic, indolent, he let us admire him for a few more moments before disappearing into the forest. We remained motionless, excited, savoring the image in silence. We had seen him! We had been able to contemplate one of the rarest and most endangered animals on the planet: the orangutan, which in Malay means "man of the forest." Pongo Abelii, according to the taxonomy.