It was supposed to be a short holiday, but 26 years later, I still work with the Balinese family I met there all those years ago. Putu was then the driving force behind a successful ethically run silver manufacturing business. He is an exceptional man – one of the originators of the Bali Bird Park, a conservationist who always had room for rescued animals who he gently restored to health and either released into the wild or handed over to quality zoos. I never knew what I’d find in the large enclosures in his garden -one year it was orang utangs (that was before Sepilok was built), another it was mouse deer, the size of small rabbits, a honey bear a porcupine and a fish eagle. His beautiful younger sister Komang now runs the business with the help of her daughter Meidy who I first met when she was four years old!
