A group of trekkers had a once-in-a-lifetime experience when they encountered a family of endangered orangutans in Indonesia.

Footage captured in North Sumatra province shows close-ups of the orangutans climbing trees and hanging from liana vines.

The clearing of rain forests for oil palm plantations in Indonesia has destroyed the habitat for endangered species like the orangutans, which has been pushed to the verge of extinction.

The species has been assessed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000.

The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) at Mount Leuser National Park at Bukit Lawang in North SUmatra province, Indonesia.
More than a third of large-scale oil palm expansion between 1990 and 2010 resulted in direct forest loss (about 3.5 million hectares in total) in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, according to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Clearing rain forests for oil palm plantations has destroyed critical habitat for endangered species like rhinos, elephants, tigers and Orangutan, which have all been pushed to the verge of extinction. The species has been assessed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000.