25/07/2023
So. As you probably know, I recently returned from a trip away to Sulawesi (Not Borneo! Ignore the name of the account lol). A trip that was so wonderful and incredible that it would be downright selfish so keep the details of what I did and saw all to myself! I can't show you the places I went, as much as I wish that I could, but I will do my very best to describe them to you, and share with you what went on there. I'm going to relive the last two weeks, spread the details onto this post, and I formally invite you all to come and relive it with me.
Week One: The Forest Week
We spent the first week in a rainforest on an island, in a little settled camp. I won't bore you with a detailed explanation of how I got there. Suffice to say it involved three plane flights, a boat trip, a four hour car ride and a 30 minute hike. (One thing I will mention is the incredible waterfall we saw, halfway through the car ride. It was absolutely gigantic! I wish I had a picture to show you. Words cannot describe how colossal it was. Or how beautiful.)
The trek into camp deserves a special mention was, because it was absolutely magical. It began to get dark as we hiked in, so little lights in the trees were lit to guide us. They looked like little fairies, perched in the leaves. It was dazzling. Again, I won't bore you yammering on about the camp tour and the health and safety lecture we had to endure before we were allowed to go to bed the night we arrived. I'll skip all of that and get straight to the things y'all really want to hear about. The activities, the food, the wildlife, the forest, the people; everything, in short, that I experienced in Indonesia.
Where I Stayed
We spent the week, as I told you, in a little camp called Camp Anoa. It was a collection of tents and little wooden buildings (and a reasonably sized badminton court) connected by cobbled paths. At the far end of the camp was the staff accommodation, medical hut, and the lecture room. We stayed at the lower end of the camp, with the showers, toilets, badminton court, dining area, and the tents where we slept. They were huge grey things, stuffed with beds. The beds were hard as concrete, and the pillows were bricks. But I had my comfy sleeping bag with me, so I didn't mind.
The toilets were holes in the ground. Flushing them meant scooping up water from a bucket and pouring it down the hole to rid it of our waste. It was fun, in a weird way. Showers were literally just scooping up cold water and throwing it over our heads. It felt GOOD! I'll honestly miss showering like that. Cleaning our clothes just meant scrubbing them with the soap we brought then showering fully dressed. Again, oddly fun.
I can't think what else I could possibly say about the camp (unless you want to heat about benches and wash stations, which are just sinks,) so I'm going to move on.
What I Did
We had a routine in Camp Anoa. Every morning, first thing (after breakfast), we did a survey of the animals in the rainforest directly surrounding the camp. There were five different surveys for us to do; birds, h**ps, megafauna (large animals), butterflies and habitat. Each one involved trekking a kilometer out of camp along one of the seven transects- paths cleared for the scientists to use- and doing some sampling.
The birds survey, we got up at 5AM for. We used Transect Seven, which was very up and down. Every 200m, we would stop, and record what birds we could see or hear, how many, and how far away we were. Obviously, the bird expert who was with us did most of the identifying. We were just along for the ride.
Herps we were allowed to get up a bit later for because they weren't as time sensitive. We trekked out to check five h**p traps that had been set up along one of the transects. We sadly didn't find anything.
For megafauna, we looked out for and recorded any tracks and trails we saw. We were on the lookout for three specific animals: pigs, deer and anoa. We found plenty of pig tracks and a few anoa, but no deer.
The butterfly survey was literally just walking and looking out for butterflies, and recording the species and location home we saw one. We managed to find a couple, despite the fact that it was pouring with torrential rain the entire time.
And as for habitats, we sampled seedlings, saplings and trees over a 20m by 20m area using quadrats. We divided our ares into four, put a quadrat in the middle of each quarter, and counted up the number of seedlings (height less than 1.5m, circumference less than 15.6cm) and saplings (height less than 1.5m, circumference more than 15.6cm) in each one. Then we measured the circumference of every tree in the area.
In the afternoons, we had lectures about the creatures we were surveying. I learned so many amazing things. I learned that an 'endemic species' is a species completely unique to a single area. I learned that there are two types of snake venom- cytotoxins, which attack cells, and neurotoxins, which target the nervous system. I learned that there are 3 deferent definitions of a species. I learned that insects make up 90% of all invertebrates. I learned the differences between fruit bats and insectivores; fruit bats are smaller than insectivores, have no membrane between their tail and legs, have larger and more visible eyes and have protrusions in their ears. We also did 'Science Skills' and 'Jungle Skills.' The former involved learning how to estimate the distance between you and the source of a sound. The latter was learning how to build a waterproof shelter and start a fire.
In the evenings, we had three different activities- a bat survey, a night walk, and a a second, optional, bat survey. For the bat surveys, we checked the mist nets (nets so fine they are invisible to bats) for trapped animals, which we rescued, measured and released. I saw, in total, 33 bats. I even got to stroke one! The night walk was just a short walk out with Ao, the h**p expert, looking for reptiles. We didn't find any.
The Food
One word. BO-RING! We had rice, stewed veg and eggs, every single day, for every single meal, for a WEEK. If I ever have to ingest even a singular grain of rice ever again, I might just turn into one. Luckily, I had Nakd bars with me to snack on, so I didn't go completely bonkers.
The Wildlife
Holy guacamole, I cannot express to you how beautiful and diverse the wildlife of the rainforest is. Sadly, I didn't see much outside of funky coloured bugs, but HOLY MOLY THE AMOUNT OF BUGS I SAW!
Here is a full list of all the animals I saw in the jungle:
-A leaf insect
-A white moth
-A green moth
-A beetle with a red belly
-A beetle with an orange belly
-Another huge moth, that landed on my leg
-A yellow bird
-33 bats
-A little green stick insect
-Several colonies of huge ants
-Orange butterflies
-A beautiful white and black swallowtail butterfly
-A caterpillar with a head shaped like that of a hammerhead shark
-A black and white spider
-A black bug with orange spots
-Mini pond skaters
-Some tiny fish
-Spiders with glowing eyes
-Teeny lizards
-Ants with wings
-Centipedes. Everywhere.
-A teeny grey scop owl
-A brown and orange grasshopper
-Lots of tiny fireflies
-A viper on a leaf
-A huge orange and black spider
-A giant snail
-A little caterpillar
-A huge dragonfly
-A skittish yellow bug
-A giant frog (An Ingerophrynus celebensis, to be exact, from the family Bufonidae. You can thank Ao for that nugget of information.)
-A long, black and orange millipede
So, yeah. I saw a lot.
The Views
These deserve their own section, because they were absolutely stunning. Imagine a regular forest. Now imagine twenty different types of tree and shove them into that forest.
Then make every tree twice as tall. Now, look up at the canopy of this forest, and make it so thick it can keep out the rain, like a huge green roof. That was what the rainforest looked like. Sailing towards the island, I couldn't take it in. I had never before seen a place so crowded with green. It was a cluster of trees, in every shade of green, packed together like sardines. And when I was in, there was nowhere I could look to avoid being gobsmacked by the stunning beauty. I can't even describe why it was so gorgeous. It was just something about the amount of green. It amazed me. I could have stared forever, then looked slightly to the right and kept on staring. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. I wish everyone could have seen what I saw.
The People
The people deserve I special mention, because they were so amazingly nice. I'm not talking about my fellow English peoples- although they were all lovely to me- I'm talking about the Indonesian locals. We were joined in the camp by some Indonesian college students. I didn't remember most of their names, let alone talk to them- but there were two who I will remember forever and ever. Their names were Abdi and Vani. Vani was the loveliest person in the world. Whenever I struggled with the climbing up and climbing down along the transects she offered me help immediately- taking my hand, carrying my things, being an amazing person in general. (And it wasn't just her- the entire time I was away people were doing generous things just for the sake of doing generous things. I think that's just how they are. They're all amazing.) Abdi was a friend. We talked a lot, about our lives and our families and our countries. He asked if I'd met the Queen. I had to patiently explain that not every person in England has personally shaken hands with the royal family. His accent was strong and his English was not perfect, and he wasn't used to my accent, so communication was a slight challenge, but he was willing to make the effort and so was I. And I'm glad.
Miscellaneous Memories
I have so many things I want to talk about which don't fit into the categories I wrote about above, so forgive me if this section is a bit disjointed and rambling.
On the first day, the weather was gorgeous. The sun was shining, the crickets were screaming, and everybody gathered on the badminton court to play with the college students.
From the second I woke up on day two to the day we left, it never stopped tipping it down with rain.
The transects were coated in thick, sticky mud. (Luckily, no-one got stuck!) Little rivers ran through the camp. Thankfully, I've always enjoyed the rain. And nobody let it stop them hiking out on surveys and playing badminton! I should have expected it really. We went out to a rainforest. Not a warm-and-dry forest.
On the last night in camp, we had a social night, when we partied and learned the local dances. I struggled and was extremely confused, but it was a ton of fun! We didn't get to teach the locals the Macarena though. DisaPPOINTED!
I got called pretty by a little Indonesian girl, once. Is there anything in the world more beautiful and validating than bring complimented by a small child? It's the most pure and beautiful thing in the world.
I overheard a story where one of the scientists mixed up his Indonesian words and ended up telling everyone there was sticky rice in his bed. It was actually a spider 🤣🤣🤣
Week Two: The Island Week
We spent the second week on a beautiful island called Hoga, where the sun was shining and the seas were warm and the sands were brilliant white. There were even palm trees. It looked like it was pulled right off a travel brochure.
Where I Stayed
There were lots of little houses on Hoga, each owned by a different family. We were allowed to stay in them because when we do, the families get paid. I got A13, a lovely little pink one. I got my own lrivate room and my own private toilet, a blessing after a week with no privacy.
What I Did
Diving. A lot of diving. We went diving in the sea every morning, got out, ate lunch, and got back in. I was still training, so I mostly practised my key skills, but we were diving in a coral reef, so I still saw some amazing fish! I had a lecture every evening. I learned how coral grows, how it gets its colours and how and why it bleaches and dies.
The Food
The food on Hoga was delicious, and much more varied than in the jungle, altough it still followed a routine. At breakfast, we had bread and jam and porridge. It was the closest thing I'd had to English food in a week! Lunch was always different, but every day we got the most delicious sweet orange juice. Dinner always included fish, usually freshly caught tuna. Rice, of course, was always an option. Needless to say, I opted out.
The Wildlife
I saw a lot of fish, obviously. I saw black and white ones, rainbow ones, tiny ones in huge shoals. I saw rays and lobsters. I saw clownfish in their anemones. I saw angelfish and butterflyfish. And- surprisngly- I saw a lot of birds.
The Views
I'm going to start with the sea. It was the most gorgeous shade of teal blue, mixed with patches of navy. The coral reef was like a wall, stretching down into the deep blue. And in the evening, the sunsets over the sea were absolutely stunning. And when the sun fully set and the stars came out, they were everywhere, and they were a brilliant white against the inky sky, and I could see the mainland in the distance, and it was a second sea of sparkling light. I wish I could put that beautiful view in a bottle and keep it forever and ever.
The People
Aside from asking them how much something was when I was buying from their little shops, I didn't speak to the local people of Hoga much. But there are a few people (one local, one from Belgium, one from Essex) who deserve a special mention my diving instructor Roel (pronounced 'rule' ), Ludin, who was there to assist, and Haydon, who did our lectures. Roel was so kind and patient and nice and amazing and words cannot express how much I loved knowing him. He was the best diving instructor ever ever ever and when we said goodbye when, I cried. Ludin was an amazing person. He was always always helping me. And Hayden was so lovely with me after I told him I had social anxiety. He never picked on me to answer questions and he was always gentle and patient with me. I miss them all.
And, that's all, folks. =)
