Bill Bailey opens free exhibition of Sumatran wildlife photos

Comedian, tv personality and orangutan champion Bill Bailey visits the More London Riverside stretch of London’s South Bank on Thursday 1 May (12 noon) to officially open a free outdoor exhibition of giant photographs of Sumatran wildlife that is being staged throughout May by the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS).

For the ceremony, Bill Bailey will be joined by some of the many beard-growers and red heads who are supporting SOS’s Go Ape in Ape-ril fund-raiser and by a volunteer in an orangutan costume!

The exhibition features giant images by a line-up of the world’s best wildlife photographers highlighting the natural riches of Sumatra – the only place in the world where elephants, orangutans, tiger and rhino still roam wild together.

The free outdoor ‘Spotlight Sumatra’ exhibition is being staged by the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) in association with The Forest Trust (TFT) to let more people know about the irreplaceable nature of Sumatra’s wild animals and places, the threats they face and what is being done to safeguard the island’s unique species.

The pictures will be displayed on 24 panels – each measuring 2 metres wide – with the internationally acclaimed Susi Eszterhas (US), Paul Hilton (Hong Kong) and Craig Jones (UK) among the many top flight photography contributors.

Running alongside the exhibition will be a range of hands-on activities for children and adults, meet-the-photographer events and talks showcasing the frontline conservation programmes bringing hope for the survival of Sumatra’s ‘big four’ species – all of them critically endangered.

There will also be panels explaining a SOS project which has already planted more than a million trees to restore damaged orangutan habitat, and how new technology is being used in the fight against deforestation.