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Rod Brindamour

Co-founder, Camp Leakey

Rod Brindamour co-founded the orangutan research and rehabilitation project at Camp Leakey in Tanjung Puting in 1971 with Biruté Galdikas. His firsthand accounts document the early challenges of studying wild orangutans and returning formerly captive orangutans. His photography has been on the cover of two issues of National Geographic.

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Stories and Updates

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Field Stories

October 13, 2026

Left in the Dark Jungle

By Rod Brindamour

There were a number of things we learned fairly quickly about working in the jungle. Studying wild orangutans involved quietly walking the…

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August 11, 2026

Akmad

By Rod Brindamour

In 1971, Biruté Galdikas and I embarked on a project, funded primarily by the National Geographic Society and the Louis Leakey Foundation,…

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