Rutgers-Primates, Ecology, and Conservation in Indonesia

I have been back in the States now for a few days, and I have really enjoyed reliving the memories of the trip, looking at photos, and telling stories to all my friends and family. I am very happy to say I have been in consistent communication with some of the friends I made in Indonesia, and it seems like we will actually spend significant time together during the school year.

I am really glad I went on this trip. It has provided me with great new friends, an updated world view, and a little more life experience that will certainly come in handy down the road. My favorite moments of the trip were the unplanned moments, as I think it usually goes for a lot of people. You can plan the most amazing sequence of events imaginable, but without wonderful people to share it with, it is never as memorable. All the travel days, and the in between moments, which could have been unbearable, were moments I thoroughly enjoyed and have many fond memories from.

Of all our scheduled events, watching the silvery gibbons was my favorite. They were very active and unusually close, so we had a great view from the forest floor. I still can’t get over the fluidity with which they moved through the trees. It was impressive; they were truly adapted to their environment. Besides that, I loved swimming in Seribu, in the the crystal clear ocean, among all the coral and reef fish. I am very grateful to Dr. Vogel, Rebecca Brittain and all of the UNAS faculty for the opportunity to go on this trip and it will be a trip that I will not soon forget.

Enjoy some photos of the goofy young people that we are! I am really grateful that I will now get to share my final year as an undergrad with all of these wonderful people.

                 

Primates in Indonesia 2018

Written July 22nd

Our last leg of the trip was a wonderful closing to a great trip. We visited Seribu Islands, a national park north of Java. The Seribu Islands are known as the Thousand Islands, but really there is a little over 100 islands. We stayed on Palau Pramuka, which most Americans would consider remote, but after my experiences the weeks prior, the air conditioning and working shower were luxurious.

Ending the trip on an island setting was beautiful. The water was bright turquoise and crystal clear, and the ocean breeze was a relief from the sun and humidity. During our stay at Seribu, we visited an eagle rehabilitation center, a sea turtle rehabilitation center and other remote islands and coral reefs. We got to plant mangrove trees and transplanted coral to try to create a new reef. At the turtle rehabilitation center, we each got to release a baby hawksbill turtle into the ocean!

  

Of all the amazing things we got to do on the islands, my favorite was when we went snorkeling at a coral reef. I spent hours in the water, watching the fish and marveling at all the coral. It was awesome to dive down and get a closer look at all the life. Afterwards, just swimming and doing flips off the boat was a great finish to the day.

  

Photo credits to Alli Burchardt for the great underwater shot!

The whole trip was amazing, but I am excited to be back on a plane tomorrow morning headed back to America. It was a long trip with less relaxing than one might have initially expected. I am excited to share my stories with family and friends and reflect on my trip as a whole.

Written July 19th

I’ve had a busy few days in Indonesia since we last caught up. The first few days were spent in Halimun, a protected natural wildlife park. We stayed in a research station similar to the one at Tuanan with some slight improvements, like soft couches! Halimun is a montane forest at an elevation of 3000 meters, so the air was much cooler. It was great to escape the heat and humidity for a few days.

Halimun was an amazing experience. The first thing we did was follow silvery gibbons through the forest, and this may be the absolute coolest thing I have ever witnessed. The gibbons were much more active than the orangutans, and they moved swiftly and effortlessly through the treetops. It was like we were watching a dance. The researchers told us we were lucky because gibbons usually kept more of a distance than we were experiencing. We also lucked out because we saw multiple groups interacting, and two males from one group chased away a male from a different group, which is also very rare since interactions usually don’t escalate to action. Watching the gibbons, I couldn’t help thinking about how well evolution has adapted them to their environment. If I haven’t driven home the point enough yet, I was truly mesmerized by their movements as they swung and jumped from branch to branch.

 

Again photo credits go to Andrea Pfaff for another professional quality shot of the silvery gibbon.

Halimun had more that just gibbons too. The forest was surrounded by tea plantations, which I thoroughly enjoyed exploring. There was a waterfall with a pool where we got to bathe and swim, which I made sure to utilize because you tend to notice the cold less when you’re having fun splashing around in a river. At night, we went on a hike to find fluorescent mushrooms. On our way to and from Halimun, the rocky mountain road bounced us to delirium and we all ended up laughing the whole bus ride. It’s funny that the bouncing is what made the ride difficult and uncomfortable, but at the same time, made it go faster because it got us all stir-crazy, literally.

  

Our next stop was Yogyakarta, which is where I am right now, waiting to fly out to the Seribu Islands for our final destination of the trip! Our first day in Yogya was jampacked with amazing experiences. We first visited Borobudur, a Buddhist temple built in the ninth century. Then we visited Prambanan, a Hindi temple also built in the ninth century. Both were constructed out of black lava stone and interlocking parts; no cement was used in either structure. Both told amazing stories of each faith with the stone carvings along the walls. Finally, we ended the day with a traditional ballet at Prambanan that told a Hindi story about a kidnapped princess.

    

Our second day, we visited the Batik Village. Batik is an art form where they use wax to design and dye fabrics for clothing and tapestries. We got to learn how it was done and even got to try our hand at batiking some cloth ourselves. We also visited the coffee shop of the researchers friends, who is using coffee to raise awareness and funds for the silvery gibbon. The coffee harvesting also creates an alternative livelihood for the local people, so they don’t destroy the habitat for timber and to farm.

The rest of the day was ours to explore Malioboro Road, a two kilometer strip filled with shops and stalls selling clothing and many forms of art. We ended the night at a bar where I got some much missed Western food. I also got to indulge in traditional Indonesian beer, which unsurprisingly I guess, was normal beer. Back at the hotel, the group capped off our night with a late night dip in the pool! Wow, I told you a lot happened! Our trip is still going strong and everyone is excited for our final stop, the Seribu Islands, and the beach time that is waiting for us there!

Written July 13th

We have just started our bus ride to Halimun, so I have decided to dedicate the time to pen my next post. The last few days, we have spent time in Palangkaraya and Bogor. Palangkaraya was pretty relaxing because half the day was travelling back from Tuanan. The night held our major event for the day, because after dinner, most of the group went to karaoke. It was awesome to let loose and belt out classics with the group.

 

Bogor was also a treat. Our hotel was quite fancy, even for American standards. There was a pool, which of course we utilized right away. The pool area was shaded, so the water wasn’t too warm, but no one was complaining after our time in Tuanan.

Our first day in Bogor was short because most of the day was lost to travel, so our second day was jampacked with events. First we went to a museum where we learned about the history and ecology of Indonesia. Our next stop was the Bogor Botanical Gardens. Fun fact: The president of Indonesia (who I think looks a lot like Barack Obama) lives in the palace at the botanical gardens. The gardens were beautiful, full of many native Indonesian and other beautiful exotic flowers and trees. Some of the trees were gigantic and the orchid garden was gorgeous. We also got to see a large colony of giant fruit bats that roost in the gardens. Besides the views, it was also refreshing to just walk around outside in a shady place, enjoying the breeze. Our last stop was to the cultural village, where we learned traditional dance, martial arts, and music.

  

The last few days of our trip were significant for the change of pace. We spent our time in cities and civilization as opposed to deep in the forest. It was great to have amenities because it led to my favorite moment from these past few days.

The first morning in Bogor, I went to shower, so I turned the water to the hottest setting to heat up before I adjusted to the correct temperature. Well, the water in this hotel gets way hotter than the water in the US and in seconds the room was filled with steam. The water could “boil a chicken” as I so eloquently put it to my roommate Jon.

Later, Jon and I had the brilliant idea to make our bathroom into a sauna. We also were hungry and knew a McDonald’s was next to our hotel. So Jon and I ran down to Mickey D’s, each got a burger, headed back to the hotel and turned on the shower. Jon had not seen how hot the shower could get because I warned him that morning, so seeing his face when he opened the bathroom door was priceless.

Jon and I laughed and laughed as we sweat out the toxins of the burgers we were consuming at that moment, and the rest of the group laughed at our stupidity the next morning. All and all, the last few days were a great reset before heading back into the forest at Halimun.

Written July 9th

The last three days have been amazing experience. The first two days were spent in the forest with the assistants following orangutans. The research assistants are men from the village and they follow the orangutans from the time it wakes up to the time it goes to sleep. We joined them for only half a day, spending six hours each day helping them collect behavioral and dietary data. Led by the fearless team of Abuk and Idun, I followed Ekko, the biggest flanged male in the forest. He is estimated to be around 300 pounds! He was very lazy, mostly eating and sleeping all day, but it was amazing to have him above us. An awesome moment was when he got territorial and scared off a rival male by knocking over a massive tree!

Photo credits to my professor Dr. Erin Vogel. (Don’t worry Ekko just has a broken finger, he is usually very well mannered.)

At first it was awkward to be around the assistants because they only spoke Bahasa, but now I enjoy being around them, even if we still can’t communicate well. All the people in Pasir Putih were fun and welcoming, and I was impressed because they are all just really happy people. There was rarely a moment when someone was not laughing.

Today, we helped install three water pumps, the cost of which was covered in our tuition. The men drilled into the ground with a jet of water that was being pumped from the river. It was great to see everyone work together and to see the general skills that everyone had to accomplish whatever tasks were needed around the village. The greatest feeling was now the village had unlimited access to water, and we had a hand in obtaining that for them.

 

After finishing the water pumps, I was honored to be invited to play volleyball with the village men. They had a sand volleyball court in the village, and after playing with them, I could tell they played a lot. The games were very competitive, but luckily I had enough experience playing volleyball to hold my own. It was amusing that I was valued for my height. Indonesians are on average pretty short, so most of the time I was one of the taller people around, whereas in the US I am barely above the average height.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving Tuanan. I think I will cherish the memories I made here and will miss this place, but not too much, because I also miss modern amenities like hot water and air conditioning. I am excited to get to stay in a hotel and I am looking forward to the next two weeks of this trip.