Jack Olley: Indonesia trip 2016

14th June- Arrival in Ketambe

Arriving in Ketambe was a delightful reminder of what we came to Sumatra for. We had a very successful visit there, seeing wild orangutans as soon as we arrived. During our first trek we faced an initiation to the jungle where we were attacked by an abundance of leeches! There was great biodiversity and we saw many species such as long tail macaques, Thomas langur monkeys and a great variety of horn bills.

We also learned about strangler figs and lianas and their importance in the ecosystem. During our stay at Ketambe we learned how to setup butterfly nets and we also practised vocalisation surveys of primates in the rain forest.

19th June- Arrival in Langsa

After enduring yet another long and sweaty coach journey we arrived in Langsa. We stayed there for 2 days. On our first day we visited Haka. They are a foundation that are trying to deal with Human-Elephant conflict. We spoke with them about the different solutions they have tried. What seems most effective is creating trenches with a slope on the side at which the elephants approach from. Another tactic that Haka are trying to develop is using tame elephants to back the wild elephants away from plantations. This is both an interesting and controversial idea as the elephants must go through a lot of trauma in order to become tame. The following day we visited a palm oil plantation that had given 75% of their land to the Elephants but still faced a loss of $20 a day due to damage by elephants. However the elephants are not the main fault for the financial struggle of the plantation. They had been using fireworks to scare the elephants away from the plantation. However, this is no longer effective as the elephants are not scared of the fireworks anymore. Thus, they are looking for a new way of preventing the elephants from knocking down palm trees. We discussed the difficulty of this as elephants prefer a consistent food supply in the plantation rather than foraging for food. This was a very interesting discussion and very relevant to my ecology and wildlife conservation course.

June 22nd- Arrival in Bukit Lawang

What was very valuable at Bukit Lawang was the fact that we could compare a more tourist based environment to a more research based environment at Ketambe. During our trek at Bukit Lawang we stumbled across some very serious issues created by tourism in the area. The eco-lodge has generated a vast amount of tourism and has positively benefited conservation attempts and local communities. However a sad side product of this is the fact that the wildlife at Bukit Lawang has become very used to and dependent on humans. They are used to being fed and this problem has extended so far that they now must be fed fruit or they will become aggressive. During our hike we met Mina, a mature female Orangutan which chased us up the hill in order to be fed fruit by our guides. On our return from our hike we discussed this issue and possible mitigation's. We thought that one of the best ways to deal with this issue is to issue fines to guides who are caught feeding fruit. The most powerful tool in this area though is education. It is important that tourists visiting Bukit Lawang and similar destinations are taught about the side effects of feeding the wildlife.

June 26th- Departure for London

The visit to Sumatra was a very interesting, fascinating and relevant trip. We covered very current issues in conservation. One of the most valuable learning to take away from the trip was the comparison of experiences in the more wild Ketambe and Bukit Lawang, where the wildlife has become more use to humans. It was useful to be given topics to consider that may be relevant to a future career of mine such as how to effectively educate tourists. Also very interesting was the issue of the human elephant conflict and how best to mitigate this issue. It is a very difficult challenge to find a solution to as it is clear that the elephants prefer a consistent supply of palm fruit. It was worthwhile to be put in a situation where we must find a balanced solution that benefit both humans and wildlife.