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Banana skins and broken branches near a home indicate orangutan activity, including chewed bark and a constructed nest high in a tree during October’s fruiting season. A pile of half-eaten bananas lies within a minute’s walk of where a family sleeps. Edi, who farms sweetcorn with his wife Siti and their adult children, continues daily tasks until late afternoon when a neighbor’s frightened child reports seeing an orangutan near the river. Edi runs with the farm’s guard dog, spots an adult male orangutan weighing about 90kg, and recognizes its strength and cheek pads. The dog chases it, and the orangutan disappears into the undergrowth.

"The banana skins were an ominous sign. As was the branch that had been broken off to get to the fruit. Had Edi Ramli walked into the forest, he might have seen scattered balls of bark that had been ripped off trees, chewed like gum, then spat out. It takes a powerful jaw to do that. Closer to Edi's home, there was an intricate construction of bent and broken branches high in a tree. The nest. It was October, the fruiting season. The pile of half-eaten bananas was less than a minute's walk from where Edi and his family slept. He felt nervous."

"He got on with his day. He picked sweetcorn and sold it at the market. He bought a carton of chocolate milk and biscuits for his grandson. He and his wife, Siti Munawaroh, ran the farm with their three adult children. They prepped the land, sowed seeds, tended crops. Survival depended on what they could grow. Now, at five in the afternoon, the light was beginning to fade. Suddenly, Edi heard a cry. A neighbour's child who'd been bathing in the river came running back, frightened. He said he'd seen an orangutan."

"Edi ran towards the river, the farm's guard dog at his heels. In a clearing barely 100 metres away, he saw the reddish bulk of the orangutan. It was an adult male; he could tell from the large cheek pads. The creature was huge, about 90kg, and a good deal stronger than he was. One swipe and he'd be knocked to the ground. The dog ran after the orangutan, barking ferociously. The orangutan disappeared into the undergrowth."

"Edi, 55, and Siti, 51, live on a small farm on the southern, Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, called Kalimantan, in a remote spot on the west coast. They are originally from Java, the island that is home to more than 157 million people. A decade ago, Edi was working as a builder and Siti as a machinist in a garment factory. But they found Java stultifying, and disliked the crowds, the noise and the pollution. Then they discovered the government would pay to move them elsewhere. In 2016, Edi and hi"

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