Stuck in between two great apes

During last week, when I was in Tanjung Puting National Park, I had a close encounter that reminded me just how impressive these great apes are. Walking down the jetty from Camp Leakey we found our way blocked by Kusasi, who, I can assure you, is quite some bloke!

Kusasi and Tut blocking the way.

Kusasi was the dominant male of Camp Leakey for many years. Tut, a female, sat patiently in front of him; if he was not going to shift neither was she. So we called Abdi who is magical with the orangutans. Abdi simply walked up to Kusasi and shooed him away, much as you or I would a kitten.

Humbled, we thanked Abdi and walked on, only to find Uranus, another cheek-padded male, at the far end of the jetty. The rule with all orangutans is “never within arm’s reach” which means there was no walking past Uranus who has a 2m/7’ arm-span.

Tom, another cheek-padded male - thank goodness he wasn't on the jetty!

Kusasi had by this time returned to the jetty, which meant we could not walk on or go back. I tried my Abdi impersonation but failed dismally. With Uranus, we had to wait him out. It was almost sunset before he sauntered off to make his nest….

Orangutans and Crocodiles

Hello again, sorry for the silence but I have just had another fantastic week in Tanjung Puting National Park. Actually, on Monday I was in Lamandau, on a peat-lands survey, but I was still out of the office and in the forest, which made for a good day!

In case you're wondering where these places I keep mentioning are, here's a map (Pangkalanbun is where our office is).

At Pondok Ambung I caught up with René, the German crocodile researcher, and then spent a wonderful couple of days at Camp Leakey. There were orangutans everywhere! What was great was seeing some unusual things. Foremost on that list was food sharing between two adult females.

Above and below, Rani and Riga - sharing food

Young orangutans will often sample what their mothers are eating. This is part of the learning process; finding out what is good to eat. However, on Wednesday, I watched two adult orangutans Rani and her daughter Riga sharing food. What made this doubly interesting is that it was Riga who was giving food to her mother. There may be some biological reason for this – Rani’s three year old son is obviously Riga’s half-brother but that seems a stretch. Normally, the genetic drivers of caring-behaviour are down the generations, not up them. This could have been a case of dominance; the older female forcing the younger one to submit. However, it is also quite likely that it was a simple act of altruism: Riga had enough to eat so was happy to share with her mother.

The final excitement of the week was finding a dead and half-eaten crocodile. We reported this to René who examined the carcass. He estimated it to have been around three metres in length and was killed in a fight with another crocodile. Almost certainly the other crocodile was bigger.

Sekonyer River, TPNP

Having just bathed in that river it was kind of sobering to know there was a bigger crocodile out there…..

As always thanks for your comments, questions and support of our work. Maciej G, thank you very much for your $50 donation at the end of June. Will try and post again soon - the daily powercuts aren't making it easy!

What do we do with banana trees?

Where did last week go? I spent most of it in Tanjung Puting National Park, having lots of fun and adventures, and only got back to the office on Friday. We are still experiencing lots of power cuts. On Saturday, we had a five hour one, 8 am to 1 pm, which put paid to much serious work. So here I am, Sunday night, attempting to tell you how I spent my week, obviously, without much internet!I went first to Buluh Besar Guard Post in the middle of the Park, and from there, to Pondok Ambung and Camp Leakey, where I met up with Brigitta. However, this all deserves its own post (to come soon), so I will just cut to today. My back garden has been as over-productive as usual and the latest banana tree, to try to outgrow the electrical wire to my water-pump, needed felling. What do we do with banana trees? Give them to Montana.

Montana with his banana tree.

I went to the Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine with a group of visiting researchers and found the big guy looking unusually bored. He was laid flat out with his massive head resting on his two fists. He didn’t even turn his head as we approached. Once the banana tree was near enough to be on offer, however, he sprang into action in a way that reminded me – yet again – never get too close: He’s quick! The stalk was inside in seconds, and then the leaves. And Montana was one happy orangutan.

Less pleased were the adolescents occupying the next-door enclosure, who wouldn’t normally dare so much as whimper at the adjacent cheek-padded Montana. Today, though, they were happy to demand attention from the visitors. We gave them extra leaves and they were delighted. I even managed to get a smile from one of them (unlike young chimpanzees that will literally giggle if tickled, orangutans seldom express pleasure), getting a full toothy grin was reward in itself.

Me with the adolescents.

Thanks for your comments, Sheryl and Annie, about the paper (which we contributed to) mentioned in my last post, “Distribution and conservation status of the orangutan (Pongo spp.) on Borneo and Sumatra: How many remain?”. I agree, it is important to think positively and I don’t believe orangutans will become extinct. I think the programmes that we, and our partners, are working on in Central Kalimantan, will ensure this never occurs.

A very rare crocodile

Compared with the week before, when I spent four days out of six in the field, this week seems to have been very office bound with only one visit to the Orangutan Care Centre. I guess that is what happens as audit-time approaches. One exciting thing did happened. Rene Bonke, a German PhD student arrived to begin research into the ecology of the Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii), one of the world’s rarest crocodiles.

Malaysian False Gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii)

Rene will be spending the next three months at Pondok Ambung Research Station in Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP). Earlier studies, on which we also collaborated, found “the highest ever recorded density of wild Tomistoma” on the river system leading to Pondok Ambung and Camp Leakey.

Tomistoma are easily distinguished from the other species of crocodile found locally, the saltwater or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus).

Top photo large Tomistoma on Sekonyer and one below saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) - not so sweet!

Tomistoma, like the true gharial of India, have slender snouts which are an adaptation for catching fish, their main prey. Tomistoma can reach lengths of over 5 m. Individuals of that size are rarely seen, but we know of a very large one on the Sekonyer River.

One of the residents in the Sekonyer River, TPNP

Tomistoma have never been known to attack people, though they have been recorded catching swimming monkeys. By comparison, saltwater crocodiles can be aggressive and extremely dangerous. Unfortunately one actually took a tourist in 2002. As the sign at Pondok Ambung says “There is a reason why crocodile researchers come here: No Swimming!”

Tomistoma - Photo by Mark Auliya

Sheryl, thank you for your offer of a donation. I read your blog on your visit to the Centre for Great Apes. I hope you are not too offended by chimps spitting because orangutans do it too. And they blow raspberries…

For more information Tomistoma Task Force

Palm Oil - what’s the cost?

Nancy, Cathy and Theresa, thank you very much for your donations. So far on Wildlife Direct when we have asked for your support we have always received a positive response. This is really, really appreciated. The rebuild of the “escapees'” enclosure is progressing well with one whole side already chopped away (of course, I forgot to take my camera some photos soon I promise). Brigitta delighted to know everything is all set for your trip. I will actually be in Tanjung Puting on the 9th so it is probably best if we make a date for the 10th. If you tell your boat driver to stop at Pondok Ambung I’ll meet you there. If for any reason, I have had to go on ahead to Camp Leakey just ask around and someone will point me out. I quite like the idea of videoed questions and videoed answers. I hope it works!

Now onto more serious matters, I am surprised my last post, ‘Small feel of freedom’, was considered light-hearted. I admit the story of a bunch of adolescent orangutans running amok makes me smile, but the story of yet another orphan breaks my heart. And it breaks my heart that he came from a village we know, but outside of our project area. Why can’t we work everywhere?

Late last night, Bhayu (Foundation’s Project Co-ordinator) and Teguh (The Guard Post Supervisor) got back from a trip to the Buluh Kecil and Buluh Besar Rivers in Tanjung Puting National Park, where they had accompanied a German scientist interested in studying TPNP’s peat forests. In one stretch of river, heading upstream from the Buluh Kecil post, they saw a phenomenal 26 wild orangutans.

You can just make out an orangutan in the middle of the trees.

Admittedly, ketiau trees were in fruit, which had drawn the wildlife in, but still that number of orangutans in a journey of, at most, 10km is extraordinary. Two cheek padded males were happily eating less than 200m apart. Clearly, not a lot of competition there. Next, on the Buluh Besar River, our guys encountered a huge colony of fruit bats or flying foxes (Pteropus vampyrus). Flying foxes have a wingspan of up to 1.5m (4’) and have been described as “resembling a small eagle in flight.” According to Bhayu, this colony (or camp as they are technically called) numbered well into the 1,000’s yet elsewhere in Central Kalimantan they are, or already have been, hunted to virtual extinction.

Today, I was told a story by an old friend and colleague, Fajar who does most of his work on the east side of Tanjung Puting. We are helping his team build a guard post there or, more accurately, relocate a guard post because the current site is about to be converted to a palm oil plantation. Fajar and his team were looking for a site for the new post. They went up the Baung River on day one and came back three days later. On the way up, they passed a stand of trees with long-tailed macaques and birds in it. When they came back, all the trees were gone.

Deforestation happens that quickly. And it is very, very real.

Fajar taking GPS reading of an oil palm plantation's boundary.

The photo shows Fajar taking a GPS reading in front of one of the plantation’s approved markers. It is a line of trees, like the one in the background, which has now been flattened. If you look at the map (sorry it is in Indonesian) you can see Pos Baung, the post we want to move and why. Amazingly, the company (P.T.) KUCC has already exceeded its designated area, planting out in P.T. Giat’s concession.

That is a border conflict that we find amusing, but cynical me thinks it will turn out that P.T. KUCC and PT Giat will have the same holding company which means it will make no difference to anyone at the end of the day. It certainly won’t change the fact that the forest, and its wildlife, will be gone.

On the news I heard an announcement that Unilever has promised to only use “sustainable palm-oil” by the year’s end, despite their being no suitable palm oil yet on the market. Greenpeace replied “good, but what is needed immediately is a moratorium of forest clearance”. I am pleased with Unilever’s announcement – they do have the clout to drive change (and it's consumers who have brought this about), but I agree with Greenpeace. This forest clearance has to stop.

Read about Unilever's announcement in the Jakarta Post

Small feel of freedom

I had a great weekend but the home-coming was a little rough. As we have said, the orangutans at the Orangutan Care Centre & Quarantine (OCCQ) are let out to play and learn in the forest. That is good. When the orangutans let themselves out, that's a problem! On Monday eight of the little, "less-than-adorable" orange bundles of mischief took it upon themselves to demonstrate just how rusty their enclosure had become. They popped out its side. Three were obviously a bit shocked at their new found freedom and contented themselves climbing up the outside. One went straight for the food room while the others dispersed themselves around the adjacent cages and our guess is they wanted to find the girls.

All of which would be an amusing anecdote if weren’t for the fact that their enclosure really is beyond repair. For a long time we have actually being patching up earlier repairs but that is getting ridiculous. It is time for a rebuild. And, as the staff are quick to point out, there is another cage in almost the same state.

Photo of the enclosure (middle one) that has now broken.

I am writing in the hope you will consider donating towards the cost of the repairs. A rebuild will cost 13,000,000 Rupiah (approximately $1,410/£714 each). The Foundation has found the money for the first - just so we can minimise the over-crowding that would be caused by moving the eight escapees to other already occupied spaces. At this stage, we have no budget allocation for the extra repairs. We are hoping to raise $3000. This will cover the cage repairs and money remaining from your donations will go towards building temporary holding cages in Lamandau, our orangutan release site. Your support, helping us to reach this target, will be most appreciated.

To put the “happy” story of the breakout into context, that same afternoon we received a tiny infant orangutan, probably around 9 months old. It is rumoured that his mother had been shot and eaten (a practice still carried out by some remote Dayak tribes), he was being kept tied up in a house. The village he came from is at the very southern edge of the Belantikan region but is in the same logging concession in which the Foundation/Yayorin's, Belantikan Conservation Programme (BCP), work. The orphan was found by a couple of logging operation supervisors who took him from the house and gave him to Iman, head of the BCP team. Iman immediately set off on the seven hour drive back to the OCCQ.

I am sorry I did not have my camera with me on Monday - this is an orphan we received sometime ago called Abraham. Helpless doesn't quite capture it, does it?

That orphan will almost certainly have to remain in captivity for four years. And he is only one of the thirty or more orphans we are likely to receive this year. I think there is no better testament to the work of Mr Sehat, Dr Popo and all the other staff at the OCCQ that they can nurture tiny, helpless, traumatized orphans into the boisterous youngsters who then break out. The number of orphans we take in and the length of time rehabilitation takes also explain the wear and tear on the cages.

A final word, to end on a positive note, what made my weekend so good: I went to Camp Leakey, the old orangutan release site. Seeing the orangutans which have been successfully rehabilitated, climbing free in the trees (see photos below) reminds you that there can be a happy outcome to such tragic beginnings.

Apologies for my awful photography.

Part 3: Protectors of the rainforest ecosystem

In my last few posts I have been explaining about orangutans and why they are dependent on the forests for their survival. However, the forests also need orangutans. I have mentioned that orangutans are primarily frugivorous and that they are experts at moving through the forest canopy. The combination of these factors makes the orangutan an excellent seed disperser. Also, because of their large size, orangutans are able to eat bigger-seeded fruit which other species in their ecosystem aren’t able to. Orangutans thus play a crucial role in propagating fruit trees.

As orangutans move through the canopy they will inevitably bend or break branches, opening up the forest canopy. This allows light to reach the forest floor thus helping seedlings to grow and the forest regenerate. Truly, orangutans are a vital cog in the working of the rainforest ecosystem.

The rainforest floor - seedlings compete for light and space

The interdependence between orangutans and the forest has huge implications for conservation. I think I have written before that Indonesia has the world's highest deforestation rate; it also has the world's highest number of threatened mammal species (146 species); is number two in the world for threatened bird species and remains high up there for the remaining taxonomic groups. To save the orangutan, you have to save the forest and when you save the forest you save everything else. (For better or worse, that includes spiders!)

An example closer to my heart is the proboscis monkey, which is only found on Borneo. Tanjung Puting National Park has one of the largest remaining populations. Why? Because of our orangutan conservation work. As an aside, proboscis monkeys are fascinating in their own right. The males have a spectacular nose! (see photo)

Photo by Dr Mark Fellows - Male proboscis monkey (sorry the photo is so small)

Another special thing about the proboscis monkey is that they swim, a rare behaviour amongst primates. Proboscis monkeys actually have slightly webbed hands and feet and are able to swim underwater for about 20 metres.

Proboscis monkey swimming

Similarly, a study of the critically endangered Malaysian False Gharial, a type of crocodile, concluded “High observational records of Tomistoma at the main study site may represent the most viable and stable Tomistoma population of the entire National Park due to the conservation efforts of the Orangutan Foundation”.

False Gharial

There is a lot I haven’t mentioned and I could go on but I don’t want this to turn into a textbook. I find the science of conservation fascinating; indeed the Foundation always argues conservation has to be based on sound science. But, as the saying goes, science only informs. It is passion that persuades.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Fires in Tanjung Puting National Park

I know you are still waiting to hear an orangutan story – for that I apologise. The post is written and will follow this one but I have been caught up in rather more immediate events. I wrote some weeks ago how little rain we have received, well we are now into our third week without a decent shower and have suffered our first fire (see photos below) in Tanjung Puting National Park.

Six and a half hectares went up behind Pondok Ambung Research Station. The fire burned through scrub and secondary forest – it was held at the edge of the primary forest which was a relief but, sadly, this is only a sign of things to come.

We are caught up in “La Nina” weather phenomena which is effecting the Pacific bringing rain storms to north eastern Australia and drought to south-eastern Australia and, bizarrely, to us. Here, I have lived through two El Nino events, in 2002 and 2006. On both occasions the extended dry season resulted in wide spread fires and chocking haze. The fires of 2006 catapulted Indonesia into third place on the list of the largest emitters of green house gases. El Ninos are bad. I have to say, I am not impressed by its sister La Nina either. To be so dry at this time of the year is beyond exceptional. And it will impact on the orangutans. Already, the evening sky is filling with smoke.

Small blazes are tackled directly, encircled by lots of people who tamp down the spreading edges and are backed up by the hand sprayers. Larger blazes require the making of a cut line across the fire front, which is typically a metre (3’) wide scar of bare soil; in 2006 the cut line in Tanjung Puting was 12 km long (see photo below).

The cut line is then patrolled until the fire arrives and is then prevented from crossing. For small fires, our staff is usually first on the scene. For larger fires, everyone is called in including people from the surrounding villages.

Now I am going to break with tradition and ask directly for support. I have no idea whether this request is allowable under Wildlife Direct rules; all I can do is vouch for its sincerity. We need to equip our staff with fire fighting tools. The principal tool is a “beater”, which consists of a bamboo pole with a cut car tire ‘tongue’ at the end. We need to buy lots of these beaters so that we are ready to tackle the fires. I am asking for a $2 donation from each reader. The beaters costs around $1.50 and the extra money will go towards buying hand sprayers which are used for dousing beaten, but still hot, embers (see photo below).

Thank you for your support and I will keep you updated.

All creatures great and small

I see the number of comments my posts are attracting has shot up. However, the comments also make me think you are a strange lot. Here I am supposed to be writing about orangutans, I tell a nightmare story about spiders and I get a deluge of replies! If you want more horrible spider stories, stand by because here's another one. Thank you F. J. PECHIR for telling me the spider, an arachnophobic's worst nightmare, that I had in my bathroom, was in fact harmless. It is reassuring but I have to question the use of the word "little"? I could joke that I too would handle them with a telephone directory, but I totally accept your point that spiders are part of a healthy ecosystem. I just wish they weren't part of mine!

A couple of years ago, on an orangutan survey, I felt something on my arm. To my horror I discovered it was one of the long legged spiders shown in the photo below (can you identify it F.J. PECHIR?).

Now, in a perverse kind of way, I had always wanted to know what I would do if I had a big spider on me: would I freak out, throw a blue fit and probably get bitten? Or would I freeze? That experiment has now been conducted and I can tell you the instinctive reaction is to freeze. At least until your friendly, local field assistant flicks it off. I would like to be able to tell you I then cracked a joke and carried on just as Indiana Jones would do. That, however, is a club I am not a member of.

One of the sayings (gross generalisations?) you hear about spiders in Borneo is "if they climb walls or sit in webs, they are harmless. If they run on the ground or have burrows, they are bad". Photo number 2 is a bird-eating spider. You guessed it: it lives in a burrow, is incredibly aggressive and is huge. The first one I ever saw was picked up in the car headlights as it crossed a road! I do not know how many birds they catch but they are certainly partial to mice.

The photo of the stag beetle is thrown into as a challenge to any palmetto bugs out there!

I also thought you might be interested to see some pictures of Camp Leakey, the original study site of Dr Galdikas. When you are in Camp Leakey you do get a sense of history; some of the orangutans she talks about in her autobiography "Reflections of Eden" are still there today.

The release of rehabilitated orangutans at Camp Leakey ceased in 1995 but many of the ex-captive orangutans, or their offspring, still wander in and out of Camp. Observing the ex-captive orangutan’s behaviour provides an insight into orangutan intelligence that couldn’t be gained from wild orangutans. The apparent ease with which they imitate human behaviour (washing laundry, opening locks on doors) confirms just how intelligent this great ape really is!

It's all about team work!

I know I promised I said I'd write more about orangutans soon. Tomorrow I'll make good on that promise, as this afternoon I have to go to the Orangutan Care Centre Quarantine. There will be a story soon!

Thank you

Dear Theresa thank you very, very much for your offer of a donation for malarial medicines. At the risk of sounding silly though, I have to confess I am not exactly sure how the donation side of things works. (I was gong to add "I just do the work", but know I would be told "No, you just write the stories"!) I am pretty certain a bank check payable to Orangutan Foundation would work. However, to be on the safe side, I will get the Orangutan Foundation UK office to contact you to confirm the best method. BTW, I know as a condition of having space on Wildlife Direct, a dedicated bank account was set up, which is managed by the UK office. This is where your donation will be banked. I also see there were a couple of questions on climbing up the radio mast. Neither going up nor going down was pleasant. The antenna is sited maybe 60 – 70 feet up (approx.20m) the mast. I have to say though, the first ever antenna to go up was at Camp Leakey, TPNP. That one was at the very top of the mast, 33m up and I kid you not, besides dropping spanners and nuts I had the horror of having an orangutan climb up after me. Those towers weren't made for two. Fortunately she stopped about half way up and I just waited until she could be enticed away.

Jodie tells me she has a photo of Boni which I will try to get from her. In the meantime, here's another of her and Peter's photos from the OCCQ, which I love; Ibu (Mrs) Ida taking the babies out for their forest time.

As always, thank you for your interest and support

Stephen

Going to great heights for orangutans!!

I think I wrote before that all Orangutan Foundation guard posts are equipped with solar power and radios. The solar power sets we buy locally are brilliant. The panel is made overseas but the battery, charger, cables and lights are all made ‘in country’. The battery should last three to five years and the lights as long. Setting up the system takes less than two hours and is literally as easy as wiring a plug. Indeed, one set was put up using nothing more than a pocket multi-tool!

Solar power set

Radios have been installed at the Orangutan Care Centre and Quarantine, the Foundation office in Pangkalan Bun, and in all the Tanjung Puting National Park and Lamandau Wildlife Reserve camps and guard posts, making a tight network that helps us to effectively monitor the protected forests and support both the people and, in case a vet needs to be called, the orangutans too. The Field Assistants have daily (and sometime hourly!) contact with the other camps and guard posts. The system is very robust, practical and sustainable.

Late last year, the Foundation refurbished TPNP’s guard post on the Buluh Besar River. The final task was installing the solar power and radio sets. Mr Teguh, the Post supervisor, and I went down there on the Foundation’s new “kelotok” (traditional motorised long-boat); a longer but much more pleasant journey than the one we had in the speedboat during Teguh’s look-see interview (see post: Wet & Wild and that's just getting to the guard posts).

Buluh Besar River - TPNP (note the radio mast in the background!)

The solar power set was installed quickly and easily on the afternoon we arrived. The night there was great too; playing cards with the Assistants, bathing in the river and watching proboscis monkeys on the river bank. The location is unbelievably scenic.

The problem was the next day’s job was nowhere near as much fun. A radio needs an antenna and the antenna needs to be up high. Frequently we put the antenna on top of a tree but, on the Buluh Besar, the National Park had previously installed a radio mast, which is naturally where the antenna had to go. The only question was who was going to climb up. The guys justified their selection of me on the basis of my being the only one without family!

Things I do for orangutans!!

Tropical pitchers and questions answered!

Mr Devis has sent an update from Pondok Ambung Reseach Station, TPNP about tropical pitcher plants - a fascinating carnivorous plant species. First though we have received quite a few comments and questions from our last post 'Lamandau Ecosystem Conservation Partnership - community meeting'. We'll deal with those before "handing over" to Mr Devis. Thank you F.J.Pechir for your comment and question about the survey of the orangutans in Sabah. Without seeing the study and knowing more about it it is hard to comment on. There was a study published in December 2004 by Marc Ancrenaz et al. which also used aerial surveys for estimating the distribution and population sizes of orangutans in Sabah (perhaps it is this study which you are referring to?). Before this study the previous estimates for Sabah ranged from less than 2,000 to 20,000 orangutans, the M. Ancrenaz study estimated the population at around 11,000 orangutans and we think is an accurate figure.

Thank you Theresa Siskind for your question about eco-tourism in Lamandau. The Orangutan Foundation doesn’t run an eco-tourism programme to the Lamandau Reserve because it is an orangutan release site. With the Lamandau Ecosystem Conservation Partnership we want to develop long-term sustainable incomes for the local communities and in our experience eco-tourism isn't a source of income to be relied upon because it is often influenced by global issues, for example, terrorism. Some products made by the local communities, rattan baskets or mats, are on sale to tourists who come to visit Tanjung Puting National Park. We do value and realise the potential of eco-tourism to help protect wildlife and it has certainly done this in TPNP. Please visit our eco-tourism page on the Orangutan Foundation website.

The tropical pitcher is a very interesting carnivorous plant species and the uniqueness of its shape and colour has captured the interest of Mr. Devis who has been studying the tropical pitcher plant at Pondok Ambung. Over to Mr Devis....

Our survey began in the peat swamp forest around Sungai Sekonyer Kanan. Exploration has to be limited to the dry season because during the rainy season the rising water levels make it almost possible! We have so far discovered two types of tropical pitcher plant; Nepenthes ampullaria which looks like the pitcher cup and Nepenthes reinwardtiana which looks like a cylinder tube (see photos below).

We noticed that Nepenthes ampullaria grows in large quantities, in a centralized position in one particular spot. Our second survey was in the swamp forest around Pondok Ambung and this time three species of tropical pitcher were discovered. Two were species found in the first survey. The third species, Nepenthes rafflesiana (Raffles' Pitcher Plant) which has lower pitchers are generally round, squat and winged, while the upper pitchers are narrower at their base. We discovered that Rafflesiana grows well as a colony with Nepenthes ampullaria.

Three pitchers have been discovered so far Nepenthes reinwardtiana, Nepenthes ampullaria and Nepenthes rafflesiana. We need continuous surveys so we can uncover other types of tropical pitcher and learn more about their distribution so that conservation efforts can be taken.

I am hoping that there will be others researchers who have a similar interest in Tropical Pitcher research. Fellow researchers - I wait for your arrival here in Pondok Ambung!!

Volunteer programme

Committed, enthusiastic, slightly nutty (it helps!) and hard working - our volunteers. Another year's volunteer programme has ended and again it has proved to be invaluable to our field operations. The programme has been running successfully for seven years. Each year, between April and November, we have up to four teams coming out to work with us in the field. Volunteers pay £600 for six weeks which covers all their living expenses but also importantly pays for all the construction and material used during the programme. All of the money received from the volunteer programme stays in the field.

For the past few years, the main target area of the programme has been the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. Projects have included the construction of guard posts, building release sites for ex-captive orangutans, marking out boundaries and assisting with reforestation programmes. In 2008 we hope to build two new orangutan sites in Lamandau in order to relieve pressure at the OCCQ. All of the teams in 2008 will be concentrating on constructing one of the release sites and we hope to raise funds for the construction of the other site.

Vicky Dauncey, the volunteer co-ordinator for this year has sent us a taster of what the last two teams got up to....

Map - to help to get your bearings!

Team 3 - Our focus on this team was to construct a guard post in Sungai Mangkung, Lamandau. We experienced a lot of rain!!

By the second week there was no dry land except the pondok and the building site but the upside to this meant it was cooler in the day and so it made the physical work less demanding. Morale stayed high during our work in Lamandau despite the flooding (in the last few days the water entered the pondok!).

Volunteers and Orangutan Foundation staff at Sungai Mangkung, Lamandau

Eventually we were forced to leave without finishing the post. This meant that we had a few days, on the beach, at Tanjung Keluang, planting saplings and cleaning the area of rubbish. This was funded by the Forestry Department and we worked with two forestry department staff whilst we were there. Living (sleeping in hammocks) and working at Tanjung Keluang was an incredible experience and one I hope the volunteers will not forget.

Team 4 - The first week was spent in Sungai Buluh Kecil, TPNP. Re-planting an area destroyed by fire. First we had to check an area that had been previously planted and replace dead saplings. This was particularly physically tough as the terrain is swamp. After six days the volunteers were exhausted and, although proud of their work, they were happy to leave!

Sungai Buluh Kecil, TPNP

Two rest days were spent in PKB and during this time we visited the OCCQ. The OCCQ really brings home the importance of building the guard posts and release camps in Lamandau and really helps to motivate the volunteers.

After the rest we went to Lamandau to finish the guard post at Sungai Mangkung, that was started by team 3. In comparison to the first week this seemed like light work and it helped that we were working in a beautiful location and that the water had receded!

Pak Sariamat, Pak Matjuri, Ibu Opit are long standing staff members and highly valued on the volunteer programme. Thank you for your continued hard work.

If the Volunteer Programme interests you please visit the Orangutan Foundation website www.orangutan.org.uk

Logging

One of our readers recently wrote in saying “I would like to hear more about the logging practices and implication toward the rainforest.” We have no wish to lecture and have tried to make our blogs stories about life here in Borneo rather than fact-filled documents. However, because logging is such a big issue for us, we reasoned more people may be interested to learn more about the how and whys of logging. So here goes: Logging takes many forms and differs in the regions involved; there are good and bad examples of timber harvesting. We accept that controlled logging is a less damaging land use than mining or clear cutting for oil palm plantation establishment, and also that the potential for sustainable, low-impact forestry exists. For that to occur however, there needs to be:

1) A market for sustainably harvested wood

2) The timber company willing to manage its forest concession with long term goals in mind, not just short term profits.

3) Good law enforcement.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has set up an international labelling scheme to oversee all these processes. All forest products carrying the FSC logo have been independently certified as coming from sustainably-managed forests that meet the internationally recognized “FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship” which include environmental and social responsibility. Sadly, FSC forests are few and far between – there are none in Central Kalimantan where we are based and only five forest areas, in the whole of Indonesia, have certification.

In most places where logging occurs, the largest trees, trees on which orangutans and other wildlife depend, are removed. As each tree falls it flattens others. Roads and camps do further damage. And that’s in a legal logging concession!

An estimated 73-88 % of all timber logged in Indonesia is illegal. With Asian, European and North American markets being the major recipients of illegally logged wood products . Illegal logging occurs everywhere, it is indiscriminate and is a perennial problem for Indonesian forest managers. A survey in the year 2000 found illegal logging inside all of Indonesia’s national parks.

The illegal logging that the Orangutan Foundation has experienced follows a process where an area of forest is surveyed for valuable trees. This is known as "cruising". Once a site with good potential is selected, teams of men are sent in. They establish a camp and begin felling the trees identified on the survey. The fallen trees are cut into logs of approximately 4m lengths.

To extract the logs, many kilometres of railways are built, each one using hundreds of trees and breaking the forest canopy. The logs are moved down wooden railways to a river, stream or canal (illegal logging canals drain peat swamps, drastically increasing the risk of fire) where they are floated to a larger river. Once the logs reach a large river they are joined together and towed to market behind boats. Sometimes, if there is dry ground, the logs are lifted straight into trucks and driven away. Once at a port or large town, a 'buyer' or dealer usually purchases the logs before processing them. He will pay off the loggers on the basis of species type and volume. Valuable timber species will be loaded onto ships or barges for exporting outside of the province and other less valuable timber trees are used locally, for instance in house construction. Logging barons have made millions of dollars from illegal logging.

Guard post in Tanjung Puting National Park

I am proud to say the Orangutan Foundation has had great success in tackling illegal logging and the key to this has been the building of guard posts on rivers. These posts deny loggers access to the rivers which are used to float the logs out – if you can stop people getting in, you can stop the wood coming out. The posts also act as bases from where we can patrol a much larger area of forest.

We are aware the problem will never go away entirely because the trees are so valuable. The temptation to log will always be there. We have rangers in our network of guard posts monitoring the reserves to prevent illegal activities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is expensive and labour intensive, but it works and if this is what it takes to save the forest and orangutans then this is what will shall continue to do.

The Last stand of the orangutan - State of emergency: Illegal logging, fire and palm oil in Indonesia's national parks. Is an interesting and informative report by UNEP and is well worth having a look at.

Sorry for the lack of photos - here's a few to lighten this post!

Devis - Manager of Pondok Ambung Research Station.

As we promised, here's the first introduction to one our key staff. You will hear more about Devis and his work at Pondok Ambung in future blogs. Devis Rachmawan, is manager of Pondok Ambung Research Station in Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP), has only been working with the Orangutan Foundation since June 2007. Devis is of West Java and Nusa Tenggara descendants and his motto is “life should be at liberty but full of responsibilities”.

Devis is from Bogor, in West Java and he has a degree in Forestry. He is hard working and always eager to learn, especially about wildlife and ecology. When he’s not in the field his favorite activities are watching movies, cycling, traveling and hiking.

Devis

In the short time that Devis has been working for the Orangutan Foundation he has, in his words, received countless positive experiences. He admitted that he was very anxious when he sailed the Kelotok (traditional wooden boat) alone for the first time ever. Whilst he was sailing from the estuary of the Arut River to the estuary of the bay he took a really big wave. But observing a wild tarsier (Tarcius bancanus) for the first time at Pondok Ambung, TPNP, is one of his most unforgettable experiences. Tarsiers are ‘primitive’ primates that are rarely seen in the wild as they are, small, solitary, and only active at night.

Tarsier seen at Pondok Ambung, TPNP

A message from Devis “ I would like to take this opportunity to invite all readers to participate in helping to rescue wild animals, as well as their natural habitat as much as possible. We still have time to make this happen. Once everything is destroyed, there is nothing that can be done except never ending sadness”.

Peace out from Pondok Ambung!!!

Wet & wild - and that’s just getting to the guard posts!

Being a new arrival to Wildlife Direct, we thought we would start by introducing some of our key staff, as they will be contributing blogs in the future. However, after the week just gone, another idea presented itself; we have had a few adventures with our guard posts! To put it all in context, it helps to know why and where we have guard posts. Here in southern Borneo, the terrain is very low-lying and dominated by peat swamp. There are very few roads anywhere, and access into the swamps is always by river. Therefore, if you control river mouths you can protect the interior swamps from loggers and hunters and that is why we have guard posts on the major rivers into Tanjung Puting National Park and the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve. The posts are operated in conjunction with the relevant forestry officials (Park staff for Tanjung Puting or ‘BKSDA’ staff in Lamandau).

All the posts have solar power, radios, sleeping rooms, a kitchen and toilet. In an effort to reduce the amount of wood we consume, we no longer use iron wood shingles for the roof and all recent posts have been made from what we call “thin cement”, where cement is plastered over tightly stretched chicken wire in a modern version of daubing. The added advantage of cement is it is cooler. Really, the posts are quite comfortable.

Unless they are flooded….

Our newest post was built by a team of exceptionally hard working volunteers led by Vicky Dauncey (more from her later). The post was sited on a river called the Mankong, on the north east edge of Lamandau. Upstream from the post we plan to build an orangutan release camp – despite being previously commercially and illegally logged the forest there is beautiful. It is a perfect site for orangutan rehabilitation. But best, the camp is built on stilts!

The Mankong has risen a staggering eight metres! When the volunteers were building it, I worried it was dangerously high – if someone fell off the veranda they would have fallen three metres onto the river bank, with the water level being a further three meters below that. There’s no danger of falling off now – you can swim into the post.

The rainy season has well and truly started but rainfall has not been exceptional. Yet the main Lamandau River, of which the Mankong is a tributary, has started to flood. About a quarter of the town of Pangkalan Bun, where our offices are based, has flooded and the water is now just 10cm below the window sills on the Mangkong Guard Post. The guard post staff are sleeping on a (hastily erected!) platform or even in a canoe. The expression “canny weather for ducks” doesn’t quite capture the sense of it when you know there are crocodiles in the water!

Jak, our Patrol Manager, is dealing with that one – basically by sending sympathetic comments over the radio and relaying positive weather forecasts to the post staff, who I must say are taking it with remarkably good humour. Indeed, rather better than me on Thursday’s trip to Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP), some 40 km east of Lamandau.

To get to our guard posts on the Buluh Kecil and Buluh Besar rivers (Little and Big Bamboo Rivers) in TPNP you have to cross the sea. Normally, the sea is calm in the morning but choppy around midday and in the afternoon. We left later than planned. We had to buy a lot of supplies for the posts and, because we are recruiting a new supervisor, we wanted to take him with us to meet our suppliers.

The journey was brutal. We did not get away until around 10 am by which time a westerly breeze had picked up. Westerlies are bad because they come straight across the open sea, kicking up the waves. Speedboats tend to slam into waves when it is choppy making for an uncomfortable journey anyway, but when the waves are coming from the west they are side on, meaning you have to zig-zag to stop from being rocked. When the waves are big and from the west, they break over the boat. And that’s what we faced on Thursday.

All round it was less than fun. We were drenched. The journey took an hour longer than it usually does and the engine stalled when we were swamped. That is bad enough, but imagine if this is the first time you have been to the posts and you are on a “look-see”/job interview….

Fortunately, the new supervisor took the job!

Saving Orangutans

It has just started to rain, which means it is bucketing down. The noise is deafening and Ully, our book keeper, has just pulled a face because she left her laundry outside when she came to work. Welcome to the rainy season in Borneo.

My name is Stephen Brend and I am the Orangutan Foundation’s Senior Conservationist here in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. I have never been much of a story writer so I am going to give away the punch-line straight off. We are here to save orangutans and to do that we need to save their habitat. In our blogs, you’ll read stories of individual orangutans and whole populations, but wherever the orangutans are and wherever we work the underlying context is always the same: to protect the rainforest.

Tanjung Puting National Park

Pressure on Indonesia’s forests comes in many forms: the rampant spread of oil-palm plantations, commercial logging, illegal logging, small scale agriculture and fire. Our work aims to tackle the threats directly, as when we evict illegal loggers from a National Park, and indirectly through education and rural livelihood programmes. We work both in protected areas and outside of them – perhaps as many as 60% of Indonesia’s remaining Bornean orangutans are in logging concessions. We have had successes and set backs. Illegal logging in Tanjung Puting National Park has almost been totally eradicated, but last year we had to fight widespread forest fires, the worst the country had seen in a decade. Increased awareness of global climate change has focussed the world’s attention on tropical forests, but has also increased demand for bio fuels, which in this part of the world translates as palm oil. Having managed to stop illegal logging in Tanjung Puting we now face plans to reduce the size of the Park to allow more plantations to be established.

Oil palm plantations within the Park’s borders

Also, behind the need to save the forests, is the need to save the orphaned orangutans who ultimately all come from the forests which have been lost. The number of orangutans in rehabilitation centres across Indonesia is a symptom of the rate of deforestation.

From total dependence on a human carer to having fun in the trees, where they belong!

I hope through our blogs you will come to understand how we work, how we pick and implement our projects and, perhaps most importantly, come to know our Indonesian team. My job here involves spending a lot of time in the field, often up to my waist in swamp water, but I consider those the good days! The truth is it is my colleagues who do the real work. It is their incredible effort and commitment which makes the long term survival of the orangutan a real possibility and should give us all reason for hope rather than despair. It certainly does me.

So here’s a brief outline of the Orangutan Foundation’s main programmes and areas of work:

Tanjung Puting National Park (TPNP) covers 416,000 hectares and is one of the world's largest areas of peat swamp and heath forest. It has over 4,000 wild orangutans – one of the largest remaining populations. The Park is critical for the conservation of orangutans.

Guard post in TPNP

In Tanjung Puting, OF supports guard posts to prevent illegal activities and help emphasise that the park is being constantly monitored. Also, in the Park we manage the Camp Leakey Information Centre and Pondok Ambung Tropical Forest Research Station, which form part of our commitment to encouraging scientific research and developing ecotourism.

Lamandau Wildlife Reserve covers an area of about 76,000 hectares was created out of two former logging concessions. It was designated as a conservation area by the Indonesian Government in 1998. Lamandau is the release site for orangutans that have been rehabilitated at the Orangutan Care Centre and Quarantine (OCCQ) facility. Lamandau is protected by a network of guard posts and patrols, and around the reserve we have community outreach programmes.

Stephen guiding a rehabilitated orangutan back to the wild – release site Lamandau Wildlife Reserve

The Belantikan Conservation Programme (BCP). The Belantikan region is home to the largest orangutan population outside of a protected area. Unfortunately, the area is almost totally given over to active logging concessions. This programme is designed to help conserve the region though engagement of the local people, district Government and the loggers. BCP is a partnership between Yayorin (local NGO) and OF. The BCP team have established a strong presence in the region, and have developed good relationships with the local Government and logging companies.

Belantikan - upland forest

BCP is vital by itself, but its importance is increased by the fact that the Belantikan region is representative of upland forest areas in Kalimantan, and is categorised as both "critical orangutan habitat" and "High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF)". If we can establish a model for habitat conservation here, the implications are hugely encouraging. However, Belantikan may soon be threatened by mining following the award of licences for iron-ore 'exploration' (possibly a legal euphemism for what will turn out to be extraction).