Time to say good-bye

As I sit on the plane during my flight back to Jakarta I become overwhelmed with a mix of emotions. We only have few days left in Indonesia, a place that I have called home for the last eight months. I feel a great sadness leaving this country and the wonderful people I have met along this journey, but I am also faced with emotions of happiness and excitement, as I will soon see my family after being away for a year. Most of all I begin to feel anxious as this chapter in my life starts to close and I don’t know what the future will hold. An experience of a lifetime has passed me by in the blink of an eye!

Recently people have been asking me how this experience has been and I have one word – life-changing. This journey has helped me restore confidence in myself and at the end of it I emerge from the forest as a stronger, more self-assured and fiercer woman than when I first entered. 

I have encountered many obstacles, however, I fought each one down and overcame them. I can proudly say I was the first researcher in Sikundur to catch a fungus! It is the large red rash on my neck in the photo. I needed to take two types of antibiotics to get rid of it! Also, the boys finally had enough confidence in me to allow me to use a parang, which is equivalent to a machete. I cut ourselves a few trails and felt really proud of myself! Furthermore, this experience has helped me become more cultured since I have been able to experience a completely different way of life. Their attitudes towards life and happiness are completely different from the western world. In the midst of poverty and desperation, people here always seem to make the most of their life and don’t dwell on what they don’t have.

What I will miss most of course is the forest and the camp assistants.  Listening to the forest wake up is one of the most amazing experiences one can witness. Every morning as I sat on the camp steps drinking my delicious instant coffee, a sense of calm always washed over me as I listened to the sounds of the forest. Each morning I was greeted with the smiles of the assistants, ready to tackle on a new day. The guys at camp (Loga, Ricki, Irfan, Ben, Supri, and Supra) always went out of their way to make us smile, to make our favorite Indonesian dishes and to make sure we were happy with everything. They were our go-to-guys when we had any insect problem, especially with the massive spiders hiding underneath our beds or the venomous centipedes lingering in the bathroom! During our time together in the forest, the camp assistants helped us with the identifications of important plants, animals and fruits, even during the days when the weather was miserable and all you wanted to do was lay in bed listening to the rain hit to the tin roof.  Their help in the forest was indispensable and made this master’s experience truly unique.

 I must say that this journey would not have been the same without my side-kick Helen Slater. She has seen me at my worst and also at my best. We have been side by side (literally) for 8 months and only a few days ago did we spend our first night apart. Helen and I met as complete strangers, but this experience in Indonesia has made us soul sisters, best friends and some people even think we are lovers! We have encountered wild animals such as elephants, we have pulled each other out of swampy water, while being stuck in the mud knee-deep, we have hitched rides on motorbikes and we have survived a tropical storm in the forest all in each others company (plus many more adventures). I never thought that by completing a master’s abroad I would end up meeting a diamond of a friend/sister and end up building a friendship that I know will last a lifetime. Friendships as ours are truly rare and I am forever thankful for this experience we have shared together. I know when we are old we will laugh about many of our adventures together such as that time when a monkey fell out of a tree and almost knocked me out! The company of John and James were also a blessing and were often sources of entertainment for Helen and myself as they behaved like an old married couple. All four us got on exceedingly well and this experience together has allowed us to form a little family unit. These bonds we have formed will keep us united even though large distances will lie between us. 

 I am incredibly sad to leave this country and its wildlife. 

Life in the forest is one that I highly recommend if you ever feel like you need a fresh start at life. Living in the forest gives you perspective on life and on the things that really matter. Also, immersing yourself into a different culture and a different way of life is a really great way to remind yourself of all the blessings you already have and to not take your life for granted at any moment. What we may consider difficulties in our lives may in fact be luxuries for others and it these realities that will keep you grounded for years to come. Encountering wild animals on hikes throughout the forest is a feeling like no other and I am going to miss every single smell, noise, and view I have witnessed over the past eight months. I am finding it incredibly hard to describe what this experience has meant to me, as I am unable to wrap up everything I have experienced into words. I only have one piece of advice for you all: 

Go out there and challenge yourself. 

Put yourself outside of your comfort zone and I can guarantee you will be rewarded beyond your expectations with the adventures you will experience and the people you will meet!

Camping in the Rainforest!

So my last few months in Sikundur have been full of adventure, laughter, many great memories and some animal sightings of course! The data collection for my thesis is halfway through and the next phase of the data collection is the really important stuff – the data collection of gibbon and siamang vocalizations, which will allow me to determine their group densities in the different habitat types within Sikundur. This data that I am collecting on siamang and gibbon group densities is the first of its kind for the Sikundur field station!

Left: Collecting vocalization data
Right: Field equipment 

The auditory sampling methods used in my study will depend on the morning vocalizations made by siamangs and gibbons. They use these vocalizations to defend their territory and to strength pair bonds with their mates, as these primates are monogamous and usually only have one partner at any given time. I am very excited to see the results of this data collection, but before this can be done I actually had to go out and collect it! (I tried to upload the songs of gibbons and siamangs and it didn't work but the video will not go away. The video does not work!)

The data collection for the morning vocalizations was not physically tiring like the vegetation transects and it rarely involved walking long distances. Instead, we had 3 pre-determined listening posts in each habitat site that we were stationed at for 4 consecutive days. What does this entail? Well, we had to be at these listening posts for the entire singing duration of gibbons and siamangs. This meant we had to be at the listening post by 5 am and we usually remained at the listening posts until 11:30 am. Due to the early start, we decided that camping by the listening post sites would make our lives easier, as well as drastically reducing the walking distances we would have to walk in complete darkness.

Although Helen and I are fierce jungle explorers (this is what I like to think at least!), we hired local villagers to accompany us during these night walks as nobody, not even our field assistants, wants to be walking alone in the jungle and potentially encountering wildlife in complete darkness! Thus, our camping trips were made much more lively by the company of the local villagers. I can honestly say that camping out in the middle of the rainforest is an once-in-a-lifetime experience and these camping experiences have helped me grow as a researcher. Furthermore, these camping experiences have acted as a reality check for me --“Yes Rosanna, you are really doing this. You are in Indonesia living amongst some of the wildest animals and this is a unique experience available to few people.” I think about those camping trips when I am eager to go back home or when I am feeling lonely and pathetic because they remind me of how lucky of an individual I am and how blessed I have been with this Indonesian adventure and experience.

Now, back to the camping trips! I like to refer to our camping trips as “old school” as our tents were constructed with tree trunks and those big blue tarps. We definitely did not do “glamping” -- camping with all your everyday commodities and comfort.  However, our campsite served its purpose for sleeping and eating. Best of all, the tent was a perfect napping station amongst everyone on hot afternoons when there was little to do. Hygiene of course was a concern, but since everyone is in the same situation you come to accept that everyone will smell. When there were surpluses of water sources nearby that could be used for other purposes than just drinking water, we treated ourselves to a nice wash in the small streams or large puddles!

Some of my most memorable experiences during the camping trips are related to the storms we weathered under our blue tarps. On three consecutive days, massive thunder and lightening storms occurred throughout the night. When I am back home, I really enjoy thunderstorms and I usually sit on my veranda with a sturdy roof above my head and a warm beverage in my hand.  However, when you are in the middle of the jungle with a flimsy tarp as your protection, these storms are very dangerous and potentially deadly. On the first night, I proudly told the boys I really enjoyed storms. They all laughed and couldn’t believe what they were hearing. By the third night, I can say my opinion changed, as I did not feel safe under the tarp that was swaying with the viscous winds. On the third night, the level of the storm skyrocketed and the whole lot of us literally sat under the blue tarp for a few hours simply waiting for the storm to end. The slaughtering rain instantly flooded the camping grounds and our sleeping areas. The thunderclaps crackled right above our heads and the thunder vibrations were bone deep and made the ground tremble. Lastly, lightening struck nearby trees and we remained helpless as we watched trees 20 meters tall crash to the ground all around us. At one particular moment I remember looking around and I noticed that all the villagers and field assistants’ heads were in their hands. It only occurred to me then that they were in the midst of praying!!! In a way I feel that my naivety towards tropical storms and their dangers is what allowed me to get through the night with relative-calmness and not become overwhelmed with fear. As we left the forest on the last day, the forest was unrecognizable from its previous self.  All around tree trunks were split right down the middle and massive trees were uprooted from the ground and were shredded into pieces. It has rained so much in those three nights that the river had swelled 5 feet or more! We had to shuttle our bags across the river on a rubber ring in order to get back to camp! As we had to cross a river to get I thank a higher power for keeping us safe during those storms!

Left: Heading to our camping site with all our supplies!
Right: Supra to the rescue! Ready to shuttle our bags across!

The rest of our camping trips were relatively uneventful, except for a few animal sightings, which are always welcomed and of course fun! The first animal sighting was a lone wild elephant, however, the excitement factor was above normal as this sighting occurred during the night! As Helen and I, along with our four other assistants, were walking towards our listening posts around 4 am, we ran into the REAR-END of an elephant only 5 meters away. We literally almost ran into the BUTT of an elephant!!!!!!! Initially, Helen and I were shocked and remained quiet, but we remembered the advice of others and instantly began making noise and shouting. The next remarkable animal sighting was a wild orangutan arousing from its nest in the early morning. Within Sikundur, they have habituated a group of orangutans and follow them frequently. Current researchers, such as James Askew and John Abernethy, are conducting research on their behavior and ecology. However, a portion of the park that lies across a wide river remains unstudied and the orangutan population on the other side of the river remains unknown. As you can see where I am going with this, this camping trip happened to be across the river as we were sampling this region’s gibbon and siamang groups. Thus, this orangutan I was watching has never been seen before by any of the field assistants and was entirely mine for approximately 20 minutes. The orangutan and I shared a few special moments together.

The orangutan and I sharing a moment

Social times while camping

What I have gained from these camping trips are memories that will last me a lifetime. Surprisingly enough, I must admit that my favorite moments from camping are not related to the amazing animal encounters or the terrifying, yet exhilarating tropical storms, but the interactive moments I got to share with the local villagers and field assistants. I was given the opportunity to immerse myself into the Indonesian culture through cooking food with them, sharing childhood stories, and connecting with them on a personal level. Most of our nights were spent teaching each other our native languages, as all the villagers were very eager to learn English, and I Indonesian.  Helen and I even introduced them to marshmallows, which they thoroughly enjoyed!!

All in all the camping trips were a huge success and all that is left to do is analyze the data! Until next time….

Animal Encounters

So I am back in the city after another month of hard field work in the forest. This past month I have completed density transects. Density transects can be used to determine approximate population densities of mammals in the forest. Typically, researchers walk transects and while doing so they are looking or listening for any animals. Accordingly, Helen and myself walked every transect twice (60 transects in total = 30 km transect distance), once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and we looked for any primate species and upon a sighting we recorded a bunch of data, such as height above ground and distance to primate. This sounds fairly simple and easy to do; however we finished with little data as the primates fled upon hearing us approaching. Furthermore, both of our focal primate species, the Thomas langur and gibbon and siamangs, are highly arboreal species and consequently they behave cryptically in response to human presence. So even if they were close to our transects they made it impossible for us to spot them. After finishing our transects, our bodies are sore and we are completely exhausted, since on average we walked about 10-15 km a day in rough terrain, mainly hills and steep slopes.  All I can say is that I felt my buns burning while climbing the hills and the only way I got through to completing the transects was thinking about the thighs of steel I must be getting!! The lack of success on our density transects dampened our mood at times, however, we bit the bullet and finished them.  On the bright side, we strengthened our friendship even more (if that’s even possible since we are practically attached at the hip 24/7) and also gained some incredible memories with some close animal encounters!

Enjoying the torrential downpour 

Helen and myself experienced one particular animal encounter that was both fantastic and terrifying. We were returning from a density transect that was particularly difficult and we had no luck in finding any primates. We walked in silence back to camp, as we were annoyed and frustrated with our fieldwork. As we were walking, we heard a loud crashing nearby. We stopped dead in our tracks and took a look around. To our surprise, there was a herd of WILD elephants only 10 METERS away from us. The herd of elephants included about 4-5 adults and 2-3 young. The presence of the young elephants made this situation much more dangerous as the mothers can become aggressive. Without thinking properly, we remained silent (you should make noise to alert the elephants of your presence) and watched the elephants eat. However, in the midst of eating a plant, the elephant closest to us turns its head and stares straight at us. Next thing we know, the elephant is trumpeting and within seconds the entire herd charges. It is by the grace of god that the elephants charged in the opposite direction of us or else we would have been trampled and possibly not alive. Our hearts were beating wickedly fast as we ran for our lives away from the elephants and once we stopped running we both looked at each other in disbelief and laughed nervously. 

This experience was an important reminder for Helen and myself – we are working in a forest with many wild animals and we must remain informed as to how to behave if and when we encounter any kind of animal. Putting the element of danger aside, I must say that this experience was life changing and will be a story I tell for many years to come. What strikes me the most is the simple fact that it is possible to encounter wild animals, such as elephants, in this forest. This makes me tingle with excitement from head to toe and gives me hope for the future towards conserving forest habitats for all animals.

An orangutan casually passing by camp!

 After being in the forest for so long, we sometimes forget all the magic that the forest has to offer us, as well as how lucky we are to be surrounded by the wonderful works of mother nature. Living in the forest isn’t always a breeze -- compromises have to be made to survive, such as having cold showers, eating a monotonous diet of rice, being sweaty 24/7 or best of all being revolted by your own smell. On the other hand, what the forest gives back to you is much much more rewarding and the drawbacks of forest life become negated. One particular morning I woke up on the ground, my body aching after a rough night sleep. My bed (air mattress) had broken for the second time within 3 days of purchasing it, whilst all the mattresses’ of everyone else were perfectly fine. The mattress breaking AGAIN makes me infuriated for some reason and I decide I need to be by myself for a little while. I gather all my dirty clothes and go down to the river to wash them by hand. After an hour of scrubbing and rinsing my clothes I am finally done...that is until a bunch of butterflies come over and decide to poo all over my clean clothes. My day off has not started on a good note. I decide to just rinse them and let them be. I go back to camp and begin organizing my field bag for the next day and while doing so I drop my Swiss-army knife on my big toe. I moan in pain and decide to sit still by the camp kitchen for a while. After a few minutes, I begin to calm down and soon I hear a rustling in the trees. I immediately think it’s just a squirrel and pay no particular attention to it. It is only until I notice the branches moving wildly that I notice it is a wild orangutan, approximate 5 feet above me!!! WTF, how can this be happening!?!?! The wild orangutan moves from tree to tree, directly in front of me in clear view, like its no big deal. It even decides to rest in a tree and look directly at me. As the orangutan looks at me, I realize how silly I was acting for being angry over little non-important things. I decided to embrace this orangutan encounter as a reminder that life could be worse. I am incredibly blessed to be in such an enchanting place and I have been offered an opportunity of a lifetime. I am also so thankful for having such a supportive family that encourages me to follow my wild dreams of working with primates. 

Another, but similar encounter I have experienced relates to a siamang, which is one of two primate species I am researching. Siamangs are highly arboreal primates and are typically found in the higher canopies of forests, which can reach heights up to 60 or more meters. Siamangs use brachiation as their method of locomotion, and accordingly move swiftly between trees with gracefulness and ease. 

photo credit: Thomas Geissmann Gibbon Research Lab, www.gibbons.de/

The siamang ready for its photo shoot!

This primate encounter starts off once again with Helen and myself walking towards one of our transects for a morning walk through. As we are walking, I hear a very faint rustling above my head. I look up and it is a bloody siamang hanging right above my head. I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS!! This primate encounter is very special for me, as I have only seen siamangs on few occasions in the forest and for only brief seconds before they brachiate away. This siamang is hanging by its obscenely long-arms (an important anatomical adaptation for this species related to brachiation) and looks at us like it is ready for its photo shoot. I continue to take pictures for 10 minutes or so until Helen has to pull me away so that we can continue going towards our transect. I am unable to put it in words how heart-touching this moment was for me. In a way, this encounter validated all my hard work thus far and gave me a new wave of energy and motivation for the next phases of my fieldwork.

All in all, this past month has been incredibly difficult for Helen and myself; however, these numerous animal encounters have made every moment in the forest special and memorable.

Living the Jungle Life!

So a month has passed and I have been living the jungle life. A month in the jungle seems a lot longer than it really is but it’s an experience I wouldn’t trade for the world. This month has been hard work but we have made lots of progress with our research.

Going into the field
Top Left: our 8 month supply of stuff. Bottom Left: My custom-fitted mosquito net!
Right: Opening my backpack that has been packed from Canada for 6 months already! It has been on 4 planes in this condition! 

For a quick recap, my research is interested in determining the densities of gibbon and siamang groups across 3 sections of different forest types. Once we determine primate densities in each forest type, our data will help elucidate if they prefer one forest type to another and higher densities in said forest would demonstrate this. We are also collecting vegetation data within each forest type so that we will be able to characterize the types of trees found in each forest and what tree characteristics the primate may be actively selecting.

Spatial organization of our 30 vegetation transects in three different forest types

That is the premise of my research and so what have we done during this month? Well, so far we have completed collecting the vegetation data. We spatially organized and laid out 30-vegetation line-transects (10 in each forest type). For those who don’t understand what I mean by a transect: a transect is essentially a straight line that is cut through the forest. However, the cutting of transects is very minimal and it is just enough to be able to walk. Each transect is 500m long and on each transect we collect vegetation data for 40 trees. Examples of the type of data I collected include: tree height (some reach heights over 50 m!), canopy width, % canopy connectivity, branch sizes etc…. This means we have collected data for a total of 1200 trees! The work itself is not laborious but it is time consuming as it takes us about 6-8 hours per transect. Also, getting to and from each transect can be a nightmare as we are going off-trail the majority of the time and have to work our way through fallen over trees, massive spines, tangled vines and much much more! On average, we walked approximately 6-8 km a day, however it was not a straightforward path like one would walk on the road. Our 6-8 km hike entailed climbing and descending steep-vertical slopes, walking across landslides with fallen debris, walking through knee-deep mud, hopping over or crouching under fallen over trees (some trees can have diameters over 3 meters!), and fighting your way through walls of entangled vines. To top this off, we hiked in 40°C heat with high humidity and a limited water supply. However, a valuable field lesson one learns while in the field is that half the battle of the getting through difficult field days is remaining mentally strong. As one can imagine, these hikes change you as a person and they help build your mental strength in times of giving up.

A typical field day.
Bottom right photo: I am looking worried because I
had to collect data amongst thorns and spines that were at least 2-3 inches long

Many people ask me what a day in the forest for me is like? Well, a day in the forest for me is not complete without ants in my pants (literally, and ant bites are VERY painful, more so than wasp stings, but I have also experienced those in the forest), losing one or both rain-boots (wellies for those English folks) in the mud, getting entangled in vines, and subsequently landing face first on the ground. As those of you who play soccer (football) with me or have watched me play, I spend a good majority of my time rolling on the ground and bouncing back up. Well, not to worry, this has also been happening in the forest. The field assistants simply laugh at me and don’t even bother to ask if I am ok as it happens so frequently.

After a long day of work we finally return back to our camp. Our camp is simple, yet so wonderful. Our camp is a wooden cabin alongside a beautiful river. The first thing we do when we return to camp is take off our sweat-drenched clothes and jump into the river for our daily bath. We relax and decompress in our natural bathtub! After that, we go back up to camp and we usually enjoy a nice bowl of mie (noodles, even though I am gluten intolerant! Hahaha) and we spend the rest of our evenings listening to the field assistants playing guitar, reading a book, playing with the field station’s cats, Raquel and Lucy, or watch a movie on our laptops. Lastly, my time spent in the field has allowed me to form special bonds with the field assistants. They are able to relate to my field experiences and the daily struggles I encounter more deeply than the average day person would and so these bonds between us eliminate the need for vocal communication. Instead, a simple gesture like a grunt, or a smile, or a tired nod of the head will deliver and express a message and we are all comfortable sitting in each other’s presence without speaking and just enjoying the sounds of the jungle and the peacefulness of it.

Top Row: Helen relaxing after a long hard day, Lucy in a rainboot, Logga playing guitar
Bottom Row: Ricky by the fire cooking our dinner, and Irfan and I getting ready to go out far into the jungle.

As I have described above, life in the jungle is simple and basic, but so relaxing as it is free from drama and the everyday commodities that tend to make our lives more complicated like the Internet. It is rare that we have any truly exciting events such as special animal sightings, however, one did occur while we were sleeping. To make a long story short, a wild elephant tried to break into our camp during the night!! As we were sleeping we heard crashing sounds and at first I thought it was thieves trying to break into our camp as our wood wall was smashed in and our clothing lines outside (with all our clothes) was destroyed. Only later did I understand that it was a wild elephant that did the damage. This sneaky elephant also happened to bugger off with our papaya plant! This is both exciting and scary news because wild elephants are very dangerous and encountering one in the wild alone is different than the elephants we see in the zoo. However, I find this event to be more exciting than scary as it reminds me that we are living a jungle with wild animals even though we don’t get to see them very often. 

A wild elephant's footprints in the mud

For those of you interested in wildlife and conservation, attached below is a link to a documentary about Indonesia's orangutans. My research is made possible by the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), which is the NGO featured in this film, which is called: The Last Orangutan Eden. 

Please watch and enjoy! :) 

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365432375/