Leonardo DiCaprio visited orangutans and elephants in Aceh Gunung Leuser National Park

Leonardo DiCaprio visited Mount Leuser National Park in Aceh on Sunday, March 27, 2016. The Hollywood actor known for his role as Jack Dawson in Titanic has traveled to the conservation center with his fellow actors, Adrien Brody and Fisher Stevens, and some other crews.

The trio flew to Gunung Leuser directly from Singapore to check out the wildlife around Ketambe Research Station . While meeting with researchers Leo and his buddies got to hang out with elephants, orangutans and other endangered species that live inside the protected park lands. According to the official Gunung Leuser website, Leo spent nearly two hours watching the orangutans.

Picture: Balai Besar Taman Nasional Gunung Leuser

DiCaprio and crew also got a warm welcome from local residents, including students from the local elementary school in Ketambe.

Leonardo DiCaprio visiting the elephants and conservationists at Gunung Leuser National Park in Aceh last Sunday. Photo: Instagram / @leonardodicaprio 

A well-known environmental activist, DiCaprio has taken up the cause of protecting Aceh’s natural resources, which are threatened by deforestation and palm oil production. In the tweet above, he linked to a Change.org petition, titled “Save The Leuser Ecosystem, Save Our Planet!”, addressed to President Joko Widodo and asking him to cancel a spatial plan which would put the area’s the North Aceh ecosystem in jeopardy.

Through the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, the actor actively supports conservation activities worldwide. In Indonesia, the foundation is supporting conservation efforts in Bukit Tigapuluh National Park and the forests of Aceh.

DiCaprio also recently reposted this Greenpeace photo on Instagram highlighting the destruction of rainforests in Sumatra for palm oil production.

The Leuser ecosystem is last place on earth where orangutans, rhinos, tigers and elephants still live together in the wild, and it is currently being threatened by Palm Oil agricultural destruction.

“As the forests of Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem continue to be cleared to meet demand for Palm Oil, the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan is being pushed to the brink of extinction. At the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP)’s Orangutan Quarantine Center, rescued orangutans are rehabilitated so they can be released back into the wild,” the 41-year-old Oscar winner wrote on his Facebook, along with a link of how to help the species.

Source : http://goo.gl/hX4nis