Rainforest activist

Previous Next

Bruno Manser in the Swiss Alps in 1982 Bruno Manser Fonds

In 1984, Manser went to Borneo for the first time. bmf

He was looking for the nomadic Penan, who live in the rainforest. BRUNO MANSER FONDS BASEL

Bruno Manser in a 1986 portrait by Alberto Venzago Bruno Manser Fonds

Another shot by Venzago for a report in GEO magazine in 1986 Bruno Manser Fonds

Immense rainforest destruction bmf

Cabinet minister Ruth Dreifuss and Bruno Manser knitting sweaters for the Swiss cabinet in Bern in March 1993 bmf

Construction of a new gas pipeline in the northern part of Sarawak requires major cuts through the rainforest. bmf

Pictured in Bern in April 1993, Bruno Manser and Martin Vosseler went on a hunger strike to call for a Swiss embargo on tropical wood products. bmf

Manser returned to Europe regularly to campaign for the rainforest and its inhabitants. Keystone

The Penan blocking loggers in Sarawak, Malaysia, near the community of Long Ajeng Bruno Manser Fonds (Jeff Libman)

Bruno Manser as a Penan-like fisher and hunter bmf

A Penan woman feeds a hornbill, known as Metui in the Penan langauge. bmf

The late Ara Potong, leader of Ba Pengaran Kelian bmf

Bruno Manser with Penan leader Along Sega bmf

Peng Meggut from the Limbang region still lives as a nomad. bmf

Bruno Manser pictured in Sarawak in May 2000, shortly before his disappearance bmf

Twilight skies above the rainforest bmf

• Picture 1
• Picture 2
• Picture 3
• Picture 4
• Picture 5
• Picture 6
• Picture 7
• Picture 8
• Picture 9
• Picture 10
• Picture 11
• Picture 12
• Picture 13
• Picture 14
• Picture 15
• Picture 16
• Picture 17
• Picture 18

Swiss shepherd Bruno Manser was working in Graubünden when he decided to move to Sarawak in 1984. He won the trust of the Penan, adopted their simple lifestyle, and ended up staying for six years before returning to Switzerland – from where he launched a tireless battle against the logging industry and its destruction of the jungle.

He became a household name in Switzerland in the 1990s when he staged a 60-day hunger strike outside the Swiss parliament to highlight the plight of the Penan.

Manser disappeared in the Malaysian jungle in 2000, and a Swiss court declared him dead five years later. The work he began continues through the Bruno Manser Fund, based in Basel.

(Images: Bruno Manser Fonds)