Making tracks: how linking patches of wilderness is saving Borneo’s wildlife

A pygmy elephant, Borneo’s unique subspecies. New forest corridors let the animals roam more widely through Malaysia’s Sabah state. Photograph: Hemis/Alamy

In 2011, the German conservationist Robert Risch was hiking along the banks of a river at the northern limits of Tabin wildlife reserve, home to pygmy elephants, orangutans and the Bornean banteng, an endangered species of wild cattle. Risch was expecting to see long stretches of wilderness but instead saw a swathe of palm oil plantations and electric fences.

“I found elephant tracks coming from Tabin following the river to the north until they reached the electric fence. Then the tracks turned around back to Tabin,” says Risch. “No choice.”