Project Sumatra's Success

In the dense, humid June weather, the L.E.A.P. team and its trusted companions undertook a trek through the depths of the Sumatran rainforest, ultimately proving to be a fulfilling experience for scientific minds.

Read about the story of our success.

Day 1: 13th June After a long flight we arrived at Medan and Stayed and Janga House

Day 2: 14th June Long coach travel from Medan to ketambe rainforest Small practice trek quickly learnt that we required the correct jungle wear as leaches quickly became a problem. We plotted an array with 3 points 500m apart on a suitable ridge.

The L.E.A.P Team 2016.

Day 3: 15th June We stayed in friendship house which was a small guest house on the opposite side of the river to the protected national park. With an early start we had a hike and saw unhabituated orangutans including a mother and it’s young.

Unhabituated mother orangutan with infant.

Emma taught us how to install butterfly traps using fermented banana. We were also taught how to correctly hold butterflies to take photographs for identification of different species of fruit eating butterflies.

Butterfly Trap.

Day 4: 16th June Our groups swapped and we moved into the jungle lodge in ketambe rainforest. We conferred with the other group to find out what they had experienced.

Ketambe.

Day 5: 17th June With a very early start before sunrise we split in to small groups of two or three people to carry out our arrays. We set up hammocks and quietly waited to hear primate vocalisations. The weather was very wet.

Our groups array results: We were very lucky as we listened there was movement in the trees above us and a lone orangutan sat and watched us from the trees below before he was disturbed by a group of Thomas Langurs moved off into the forest.

Orangutan

After the array data collection we had a small trek through the forest. We saw a pig’s nest which at first looked like a pile of leaves but on closer inspection was clear there was an entrance. We also saw historical logging sites as well as an area which had been used as a medicine garden. I was also lucky enough to see a Horn Bill.

Hornbill.

Day 6: 18th June We travelled to Medan which took over 10 hours and had a well-deserved break at a lovely restaurant one of the only places we went to that served western food.

Day 7: 19th June 6 hour drive to an elephant conservation centre. Which was also residence to a conservation response unit where we learnt vital information on mitigation practises that were in place to protect both wild elephants and locals. Two mazing people called Taser and roody who are in charge of the areas response unit took us to meet the elephants that have been trained to drive wild elephants away form inhabited areas. They taught us about how problem elephants are taken and transported to training centres. These training centres are horrific but a necessity in protecting the population of wild elephants and reducing the human elephant conflicts that occur.

Trained elephants with Mahouts at the Conservation Response Unit.

Day 8: 20th June We had a meeting with Taser and roody at their office. We were given a power point presentation which showed us that if palm oil plantations are cut down close to the forest borders the forest will regrow and after a period of approximately 3 years the forest will recolonize the area. The area will never be primary rainforest but specific plant and animal species can be found to rein habit these areas which proved that the regrowth is viable for these species.

After the meeting we travelled in a convoy of black jeeps with blacked out windows which attracted media attention from Indonesia news. We travelled to a palm oil plantation and witnessed the destruction that elephants case when grazing on young palm leaves. Elephants frequent push these huge palm trees causing them to break. We interviewed the palm oil plantation owner with Taser and the media watching.

Dr Amanda Korstjens being interviewed by Indonesian media.

Taser explaining the destruction elephants can cause.

Damage by elephants.

Day 9: 21st June Travelled to Bukit Lawang and arrived at the Eco Lodge.

Day 10: 22th June We were introduced to our guides, Pendi, Wander, Dor and Danny we split our group into two so that we had a better chance of seeing any wildlife as large groups create more noise. We came across a troubled orangutan called Mina who had a large scar down her face who had clearly been in conflict with humans. We also learnt that Mina had bitten over 100 people and has featured on ‘The Lonely Planet’.

Mina the orangutan with their baby.

The moment our guides told us to move away quickly as Mina descended from the tree.

We were also followed by other orangutans that had clearly become used to being fed by tourists on the trail which we had to evade.

Whilst in this area I observed several different species such as Orangutans, Macaques a, Pig-Tailed Macaque, Argus Pheasant, River turtle, Water monitors, and several Species of butterfly. That night we camped next to a beautiful river in a valley.

Argus Pheasant.

A young orangutan.

Pig-tailed macaque.

Monitor Lizard.

Day 11: 23th June After an early morning start and a quick wash in the river I had the final trek to a waterfall. Then with our guides we white water rafted back to the Eco-Lodge for a meeting where we discussed the difference in our experience between Ketambe National Park and Bukit Lawang and solutions to problems faced. The largest difference I noticed was between the unhabituated wildlife at Ketambe with the habituated wildlife in Bukit Lawang.

Day 12: 24th June Rachel Holmes along with myself approached tourists with questionnaires to research eco-tourism and discover what tourists expected from their tracks and guides. This helped us to find out what complications and problems eco-tourism brings by asking indirect questions about their experiences.

We then all met at the Eco Lodge to discuss our findings.

Day 13: 25th June In a jeep we travelled for 2 hours to Tangkahan. We visited the local football ground and spoke to locals about the conservation efforts in the area. We also were lucky enough to see a family of Thomas Leaf Monkeys.

Thomas langur Monkey.

Day 14: 26th June We visited the local Conservation Response Unit to wash elephants. There was a huge contrast between the elephants here and the elephants at Langsa. Here the elephants performed tricks for the local tourists and were allowed them to ride them.

We then spent the afternoon relaxing and exploring the river which had a hot spring.

Day 15: 27th June The Final day we traveled back to Medan where we had our final meeting and looked through the groups photographs of the trip and enjoyed pizza.

Day 16: 28th June On our final day we flew back to the U.K

All in all a successful trip!

All photography courtesy of Dale Coleman, 2016