A video has surfaced online showing a man saving a wild orangutan from drowning. He had got trapped after crossing the Gorilla Waterfall in Lesan River in Indonesia and had become stranded in a current. Members from The Centre for Orangutan Protection, OWT, BKSDA and Nemdoh Nemkay were out on a survey of the protected forest area when they stumbled upon him.

One member of the team grabs a large branch and feeds it towards the orangutan. Amazingly the orangutan starts to help him, as the man tries to make a makeshift bridge with the branch. Other members of the team then try to help by holding out branches for the orangutan to grab hold of:

It’s incredible to see how much faith the orangutan puts in his human saviours. He also proved just how intelligent his species is, as he knew exactly what the man was trying to do and helped him arrange the branch into a bridge. A lucky escape and a heartwarming ending for this orangutan.