In the Cave with Orangutan Exploration Series – 6 Explorer : Arnab Basu Photographs : Arnab Basu 25th to 27th October 2016
Š All the Information and Photographs published in this report are the properties of Exploring Nature and cannot be used for commercial or research purposes without prior permission of the explorers.
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"....This large gentle red ape is one of the closest living relatives of humans, with 97 per cent of our DNA shared. What is not generally known is the fact that Orangutans are also the largest arboreal (tree-living) mammal in the world. Their lifespans are between 35 and 45 years, or roughly half of that of humans." – Fanny Lai and Bjorn Olesen, in the Borneo’s Wildlife
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Content Page No. Chapter : 1 The Jungle Trek
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Chapter : 2 The Palm Oil Menace
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Chapter : 3 The Bat Cave
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Annexure – I List of Identified Species
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Annexure – II Explorer’s Profile
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Chapter – 1: The Jungle Trek “Hey …. Kuch kuch hota hai”… or “Hello …. Kabhi khushi… kabhi gham…” shouted a local resident of the village of Bukit Lawang at the explorer. That was the villager's first meeting with an Indian in person, in recent past. Before that they had seen Indians only in Hindi movies or TV serials (dubbed in Bahasa Indonesia). This used to be a regular phenomenon for the explorer, whenever he was moving around in the village. Local villagers were curious and excited after knowing that there was an Indian in the village as it was quite rare for them to sight one, despite immense popularity of Hindi movies made in 90s. The An aerial view of Bukit Lawang at the bank of Bahorok reason for popularity of old movies could be the time it takes to dub such movies into local languages. It takes a decade or long before those movies reach there from India to be shown. Gunung Leuser National Park is a large world heritage listed national park covering 950,000 hectares in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of the provinces of North Sumatra and Aceh. The village of Bukit Lawang, is a small tourist village at the bank of Bahorok River in North Sumatra province of Indonesia, located within the park and situated 90 kilometers northwest of Medan. It is most famous for being one of the last places in the world where one can see orangutans in the wild. Bukit Lawang is also the main access point to the Gunung Leuser National Park from the east side. After a 4 hours long drive, the explorer reached at Bukit Lawang village on the afternoon of 24th October, 2016. The car could reach only up to the point where local traditional village market is situated and villagers come for shopping on every Friday. After that point, a two kilometres trekking and crawling through a cave would take to the main village where normally tourists would stay. Explorer’s tour operator was EcoTravel, and their cottage comprised of a garden and a sun terrace overlooking the jungle and mountains. EcoTravel Cottages are situated in Bukit Lawang, right next to the Bahorok River. The cosy accommodation offers free WiFi Entry to Village through a cave access throughout the property. All rooms have a terrace or a balcony with views of the mountains and river. Every room is fitted with a fan and mosquito nets. They have a total of five spacious rooms in that village. Sumatra EcoTravel stands for ecologically responsible travel in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The tours they arrange for tourists are aimed at the conservation of the environment and the wellbeing of local people and animals in this region. They try their best to give travellers a taste of Page | 4
the colourful Indonesian culture and to protect the Gunung Leuser National Park, especially the habitat of the last Sumatran orangutans. During these entire exploration series, the explorer often noticed their intentions of working together with authentic local partners and villagers. The trekking started on the next day morning at 8:30; it was a multinational team consisting of German, French and Malaysian nationals with local guides Antonio, Eno and Dia. After knowing that the explorer had a specific objective of capturing biodiversity of Gunung Leuser through lenses, the tour operator and owner of EcoTravel, Kembar allocated Eno dedicated to him, so that the explorer could walk faster than the other team members and reach deep inside the forest to get better views.
Cottage of EcoTravel in Bukit Lawang
The first task for the day was to reach the jungle by crossing Bahorok River. The Bahorok River is a river of the Langkat Regency in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. A flash flood hit Bukit Lawang on 2 November 2003. The disaster ruined local tourist resorts and had a devastating impact on local tourism industry in the area. Around 400 houses, 3 mosques, 8 bridges, 280 kiosks and food stalls, 35 hotels and guest houses were destroyed by the flood, including 239 people (5 of them were tourists) were killed and around 1,400 locals lost their homes. Local authorities and an environmental NGO attributed it to illegal logging. Thanks to several international cooperation agencies, the site, at the bank of Bahorok River was rebuilt and re-opened again in July 2004. From one edge of the river, where the village was located, to the other edge, where the forest started, was about 10 meters of width. The depth was not more than 1 meter in that particular stretch which was used to reach the forest area. After crossing the river, there was another 1 kilometre of trekking to reach the range office of Park, where Guide Antonio went ahead to check status of permit and other formalities before the team started entering into the forest. That was the task for day one ....... to reach forest we had to cross the river
Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, 1/4th of which is straddling the border of North Sumatra and the rest is in Aceh provinces. The national park, settled in the Barisan mountain range, is named after Mount Leuser (3,119 m), and protects a wide range of ecosystems. An orangutan sanctuary at Bukit Lawang is located within the park. Together with Bukit Barisan Selatan and Kerinci Seblat national parks, it forms a World Heritage Site, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra. Gunung Leuser National Park is 150 km long, over 100 km wide and is mostly mountainous. 40% of the park, mainly in the north-west, is steep, and over 1,500 m. This region is billed as Page | 5
the largest wilderness area in South-East Asia and offers wonderful trekking opportunities. 12% of the park, in the lower southern half, is below 600 meters. 11 peaks are over 2,700 m., Mount Leuser (3,119 m) is the third highest peak on the Leuser Range. The highest peak is Mount 'Tanpa Nama' (3,466 m), the second highest peak in Sumatra after Mount Kerinci (3,805 m). It's a typical rain forest with insects, poisonous snakes, mud, humidity, near impossible climbs, thorny bushes, and huge canopy, beautiful and dangerous. And that's when an explorer falls in love with the forest. Gunung Leuser National Park is one of the two remaining habitats for Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii). In 1971, Herman Rijksen established the Ketambe Research Station, a specially designated research area for the orangutans. Other mammals found in the park are the Sumatran elephant, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhinoceros, siamang, Sumatran serow, sambar deer and leopard cat. After researchers put 28 cameratraps in July 2011, 6 months later they found one male and six females and predicted the population is not more than 27 Sumatran rhinos with the total population predicted as around 200 in Sumatra and Malaysia, half of the population 15 years ago. People living in areas with a high biodiversity value, tend to be relatively poor. Hence, the highest economic values for biodiversity are likely to be found within institutions and Climbing difficult terrain people living in wealthy countries. Funds can come from several sources, including bioprospecting, the GEF and grants from international NGOs (with donations possibly being proportional to biodiversity value) (Wind and Legg, 2000). Exploration in the forest went on by making ways through thorny bushes and crossing natural obstacles and water streams. Thankfully there was no rain last night, so the forest was less muddy than usual . There were lot of ups and downs in the hills. The 5 hours trekking in 10 km forest stretch, carrying basic first aid kits, drinking water on back and camera in one hand, was a bit tiring specially in humid conditions.
You have natural obstructions on your way
The Sumatran Lowland Rain Forests are one of the most diverse forests on Earth and also one of the most threatened. These forests contain comparable levels of species diversity like the richest forests in Borneo and New Guinea. The Sumatra rain forests are home to some of the world's most charismatic Page | 6
flowering plants: Rafflesia arnoldii, which produces the largest flower in the world (up to 1 m wide), and Amorphophallus titanum, which stands more than 2 m tall and produces aroid flowers. The avifauna is also exceptionally rich. More than 450 bird species are found here, more than in any other ecoregion in the Sunda Shelf and Philippines bioregion, except the Borneo Lowland Rain Forests. In the past fifteen years, rampant logging, hunting, fires, and habitat loss in the lowlands have pushed many of this ecoregion's already endangered species to the edge of extinction. These include the Sumatran rhinoceros, Malayan tapir, tiger, Asian elephant, and orangutan. Illegal logging and pervasive corruption are contributing to more than 3,000 km2 of forest lost every year in this ecoregion. At the current rate, no mappable natural forests will remain beyond 2025. Sumatra's rain forests are quite diverse and contain levels of species diversity comparable to those of the richest forests in Borneo and New Guinea and are much richer than Java, Sulawesi, and other islands in the Indonesian Huge canopy Archipelago. Large, buttressed trees dominated by the Dipterocarpaceae family characterize Sumatra's lowland rain forests. Woody climbers and epiphytes are also abundant (Whitten et al. 2000). The lowland rain forests of Sumatra support 111 dipterocarp species, including 6 endemics. The emergent trees, which can reach 70 m tall, are also dipterocarps (Dipterocarpus spp., Parashorea spp., Shorea spp., Dryobalanops spp.) and, to a lesser extent, species in the Caesalpiniaceae family (Koompasia spp., Sindora spp., and Dialium spp.). Dipterocarps dominate the canopy layer as well. Other canopy and understory tree families those are common, include Burseraceae, Sapotaceae, Euphorbiacae, Rubiaceae, Annonaceae, Lauraceae, and Myristicaceae (Whitten et al. 2000). Ground vegetation usually is sparse-mainly small trees and saplings of canopy species, herbs are uncommon. Figs (Moraceae) are also common in the lowland rain forest. There are more than 100 fig species in Sumatra, and each species is usually pollinated exclusively by a single figwasp (Agaonidae) species. Figs may produce (mast) from 500 to a million fruits twice a year and are important food sources for many forest animals (MacKinnon 1986). Dipterocarps also use mast fruiting, perhaps to escape seed predation, by satiating the appetites of seed-predators and leaving the remaining seeds to germinate (Whitten et al. 2000). Sumatra once contained pure stands of rotand insect-resisting ironwood (Eusideroxylon zwageri) forests. Ironwood is a member of the laurel family and is distributed Enormous girth throughout southern Sumatra, Kalimantan, and the Philippines. Ironwood forests are dominated by Eusideroxylon zwageri but may have also contained Shorea, Koompasia, or Intsia species as emergents (Whitten et al. 2000). Page | 7
The explorer and his guide Eno were making their ways through this rain forest vegetation and the explorer was pausing intermittently to take photos. After an hour of trekking, Eno stopped suddenly and whispered, “Basu, careful”, his eyes were fixed on the branch of a fig tree. He spotted a green temple viper. Tropidolaemus wagleri is a venomous pit viper species native to Southeast Asia. No subspecies is currently recognized. It is sometimes referred to as the temple viper, because of its abundance around the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Malaysia. This snake, that usually can be found hanging from the trees, has pretty dangerous bite and in case you are bitten, you should be acting rapidly. The area that is bitten, must be immobilized with the stretch bandage and the victim should be transferred to an emergency room to be observed. Anyway, the snake was not moving from its place and explorer and his guide moved rapidly to other side of the forest.
Immediately after entering forest we encountered venomous Green Temple Viper
After another 15 minutes of walking, Eno asked the explorer to stop again, both of them heard sounds of moving tree branches, as if something heavy was shaking the trees at the top. Both of them looked up and saw something which never could be forgotten in whole life. It was the largest arboreal mammal of this planet, closest primate to human being, which shared 97% of DNA symmetry, one of the last few of them, a Sumatran orangutan. As of 2015, the Sumatran orangutan species has approximately 7000 remaining members in its population, only. Meena was one of them and considered most aggressive. But the one the explorer spotted was not her, but her sister Flat Nose and her baby.
Flat nose and her baby
“It is good that she is not Meena”, whispered Eno. He was attacked once badly by her and showed the wound on his hand to explorer.
Flat nose and her baby stopped, they spotted people in forest. Climbed down a bit to get a closer look and then started moving again from one tree to another tree by displaying amazing acrobatic skill. Orangutan has typical way of doing it, they first bend the branch of trees which they hold, by their body weight and then reach to the next branch and moved from the previous one to the next one. Skill fully maintains body balance while doing so. Kids follow the exactly same route what their mother shows. If their mother climb down from one tree and climb up the next one, instead of jumping, the kids will do same without even understanding reasons behind it. Explorer kept following them for next 15 minutes and reached to a part of forest where they joined few more female and cubs. Page | 8
The Sumatran orangutan is endemic to the north of Sumatra. In the wild, Sumatran orangutans only survive in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), the northernmost tip of the island. The primate was once more widespread, as they were found farther to the south in the 19th century, such as in Jambi and Padang. There are small populations in the North Sumatra province along the border with NAD, particularly in the Lake Toba forests. A survey in the Lake Toba region found only two inhabited areas, Bukit Lawang (defined as the animal sanctuary) and Gunung Leuser National Park. The species has been assessed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000. Flat nose It is considered one of "The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates." A survey published in March 2016 estimates a population of 14,613 Sumatran orangutans in the wild, doubling previous population estimates. A survey in 2004 estimated that around 7,300 Sumatran orangutans still live in the wild. The same study estimates a 20,552 km2 occupied area for the Sumatran orangutans, of which only an approximate area range of 8,992 km2 harbors permanent populations. Some of them are being protected in five areas in Gunung Leuser National Park; others live in unprotected areas: northwest and northeast Aceh block, West Batang Toru river, East Sarulla and Sidiangkat. A successful breeding program has been established in Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park in Jambi and Riau provinces. The main reason for the endangerment of these orangutans is because of palm oil companies destroying the native rain forests. Male Sumatran orangutans grow to about 1.4 m (4.6 ft) tall and 90 kg (200 lb). Females are smaller, averaging 90 cm (3.0 ft) and 45 kg (99 lb). Compared to the Bornean species, Sumatran orangutans are thinner and have longer faces; their hair is longer with a paler red color. After another 30 minutes of observing orangutans, they moved on. Eno heard calling of white gibbons, so they rushed to the spot but could not see any gibbons. However, soon after the place became very lively with the arrivals of pig tailed macaque. The southern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina) is a medium-sized Old World monkey. Macaca nemestrina can reach a weight of 5–15 kg in large males. These monkeys are buff-brown with a darker back and lighter lower parts of the body. Their common name refers to the short tail held semi-erect and reminiscent of the tail of a Pig tailed Macaque pig. They are mainly terrestrial but they also are skilled climbers. Unlike almost all primates they love water. They live in large groups split into smaller groups during the day when they are looking for food. They are omnivorous, feeding mainly on fruits, seeds, berries, cereals, fungi and invertebrates. There is a hierarchy among males, based on the strength, and among females, based on heredity. Thus, the daughter of the dominant female will immediately be Page | 9
placed above all other females in the group. The dominant female leads the group, while the male role is more to manage conflict within the group and to defend it. Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 3–5 years. Female gestation lasts about 6 months. She will give birth to one infant every two years. Weaning occurs at 4–5 months. In Thailand, they have been trained for 400 years to harvest coconuts. As per IUN, their conservation status is Vulnerable. This monkey was searching for food in the forest and couple of time showed its huge canine to scare Explorer and his guide off and eventually left the place with a huge jump over their head. When they were busy with pig tailed, there was already arrival of another curious creature, the funky Thomas’s leaf langur. Thomas's langur (Presbytis thomasi) is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to North Sumatra, Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. Its native names are reungkah in Acehnese and kedih in Alas. As per IUN, their conservation status is Vulnerable too.
Thomas’s Langur
After that they reached a clear place inside forest where they met other group led by guide Antonio and Dia. That was a time to get some energy. Forest was hot and humid, and the day was quite bright. Even huge canopy cover was not always enough to protect from hit. Therefore they all were dehydrating fast and trekking in difficult terrain of forest with equipment, taking photos and hydrating at the same time was not always feasible. So, they were also waiting for a much needed hydration break.
Collected fruits from jungle trees are the only way to keep your energy supplies on
Eno and Dia collected fruits from forest while trekking and started peeling them off. The fruits were mainly jungle pineapple, oranges, passion fruits, rambutan, and bananas. The fruits were awesome; explorer never had
such juicy pineapples in his whole life before. When the whole team was busy in enjoying flavour of forest fruits, there were few silent watchers around them or above them. Antonio drew their attention to a huge female orangutan and her baby and they were watching them from a 10 feet tall tree, just above the place where they were eating. Antonio told them that orangutans love fruits specially pineapples and bananas.
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Sumatran orangutans are primarily frugivores, favoring fruits consisting of a large seed and surrounded by a fleshy substance, such as fig fruits. Insects are also a huge part of the orangutan's diet; the most consumed types are ants, predominantly of the genus Camponotus (at least four species indet.). Their main diet can be broken up into five categories: fruits, insects, leaf material, bark and other miscellaneous food items. Studies have shown that orangutans in the Ketambe area in Indonesia ate over 92 different kinds of fruit, 13 different kinds of leaves, 22 sorts of other vegetable material Watchful such as top-sprouts, and pseudo-bulbs of orchids. Insects included in the diet are numbered at least 17 different types. Occasionally soil from termite mounds were ingested in small quantities. When there is low ripe fruit availability, Sumatran orangutans will eat the meat of the slow loris, a nocturnal primate. Water consumption for the orangutans was ingested from natural bowls created in the trees they lived around. They even drank water from the hair on their arms when rainfall was heavy. Meat-eating happens rarely in Sumatran orangutan, and orangutans do not show a male bias in meat-eating. A research in Ketambe area reported cases of meat-eating in wild Sumatran orangutans, of which 9 cases of orangutans eating slow lorises. The research shows, in the recent 3 cases of slow lorises eaten by Sumatran orangutan, a maximum mean feeding rate of the adult Playful orangutan for an entire adult male slow loris is 160.9 g/h and, of the infant, 142.4 g/h. No case have been reported during mast years, which suggests orangutans take meat as a fallback for the seasonal shortage of fruits; preying on slow loris occurs more often in periods of low fruit availability. Similar to most primate species, orangutans appear to only share meat between mother and infants. After an hour of observing those orangutans and finishing their eating, the team started leaving forest. The Indonesian guides collected all left over and skins of fruits, as human beings are not allowed to feed wild lives or leaving anything behind which could be consumed by them.
Largest arboreal mammal
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Sumatrans encounter threats such as logging (both legal and illegal), wholesale conversion of forest to agricultural land and oil palm plantations, and fragmentation by roads. Oil companies use a method of deforestation to utilize palm oil. This palm oil is taken from the trees in which Sumatran orangutans live and swing from. An assessment of forest loss in the 1990s concluded that forests supporting at least 1,000 orangutans were lost each year within the Leuser Ecosystem alone. While poaching generally is not a huge problem for the Sumatrans, occasional local hunting does decrease the population size. Nest of Orangutan They have been hunted in the Northern Sumatra in the past as targets for food; although deliberate attempts to hunt the Sumatrans are rare nowadays, locals such as the Batak people are known to eat almost all vertebrates in their area. Additionally, the Sumatrans are treated as pests by Sumatran farmers, becoming targets of elimination if they are seen damaging or stealing crops. For commercial aspects, hunts for both dead and alive specimens have also been recorded as an effect of the demand by European and North American zoos and institutions throughout the 20th century. After witnessing this amazing last few creatures of Sumatra, explorer started towards camping ground at nearby village where he would take rest in the evening and plan for next day morning. During this trekking they also spotted lot of Indonesian black squirrels and long tailed macaque in forest as well as in village. The time of the day, climate and nature of forest was not soothing enough for spotting birds as birds are really tiny in this forest and get completely camouflaged in thick leaves and high canopy. However, explorer spotted a pair of famous rhinoceros hornbill on a tree top. The rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) is one of the largest hornbills, adults being approximately the size of a swan, 91–122 cm (36–48 in) long and weighing 2–3 kg (4.4–6.6 lb). In captivity it can live for up to 90 years. It is found in lowland and montane, tropical and subtropical climates and in mountain rain forests up to 1,400 metres altitude in Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and southern Thailand. Like most A pair of rhinoceros hornbill other hornbills, the male has orange or red irises, and the female has whitish irises. This bird has a mainly white beak and casque, but there are orange places here and there. The tip of the casque curves markedly upward. The bird has white underparts, especially to the tail. The rhinoceros hornbill faces a number of threats, including loss of habitat and hunting for its meat, its feathers and its casque, which can be carved into ornaments and jewellery, and is as dense as ivory. IUCN status is near threatened. Page | 12
Chapter – 2: The Palm Oil Menace “Like oceans, rain forest absorbs carbon from atmosphere…….decades and decades of forest breathing in carbon is storing in leaves and organic matters…..so that carbon emission is held safe for us……until we clear them and light them on fire….and that acts like a carbon bomb….and releases massive carbon emission back in to atmosphere” --- Lindsey Allen, Director, Rainforest Action Network The above mentioned statement were heard in National Geographic’s recent documentary “Before the Flood”, in which Actor Leonardo DiCaprio meets with scientists, activists and world leaders to discuss the dangers of climate change and possible solutions. The documentary was released on September 9, 2016 just few weeks before this exploration took place. Palm oil menace of South East Asia was significantly captured in this documentary as well. According to the documentary, 80% lands for palm oil cultivation are made available by clearing rainforest of Indonesia. Forest of Bukit Lawang also falls in this parcel of land. Palm oil production is important to the economy of Indonesia as the country is the world's biggest producer and consumer of the commodity, providing about half the world supply. Oil palm plantations stretch across 6 million hectares (roughly twice the size of Belgium). Indonesia plans by 2015 to add 4 million additional hectares towards oil palm biofuel production. As of 2012, Indonesia produces 35 percent of the world's certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).
Palm tree cultivation field
Production of palm oil in Indonesia has, since 1964, recorded a phenomenal increase from 157, 000 tonnes to 33.5 million tonnes in 2014. Palm oil accounts for 11% of Indonesia's export earnings of $5.7bn. Maintaining its status as the world’s largest producer of palm oil, Indonesia has projected a figure of 40 million tonnes by 2020. In this context, the global production figure given by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) was 50 million tonnes for 2012, double the production of 2002. This increase is reflected also in increases of Indonesia’s production of palm oil for the same period, from 10.300 million tonnes in 2002 and 28.50 million tonnes in 2012.
The entire production of the oil is derived from Indonesia's rainforest which ranks third in the world, the other two being in the Amazon and Congo basins. According to the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, one third of this production is attributed to smallholder farmers and the remaining to the multinationals. Palm trees that were planted about 25 years ago have an annual average production rate of four tonnes of oil per hectare and now there are plans to increase this by introducing newer varieties which could double the production rate per hectare. A government moratorium on the clearing of new forest has become effective from 2011 which will be effective till 2015. Of the total logging in Indonesia, up to 80% is reported to be performed illegally.
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A major environmental threat that palm oil production faces is the destruction of rainforests (source for palm oil) in Indonesia and Malaysia (according to reports deforestation accounted for a minimum of 8 million hectares of forest land in Indonesia). This deforestation has also resulted in serious threat to endangered species such as Borneo pygmy elephants, Sumatran elephants, Sumatran tigers, Sumatran rhinoceroses, and both species of orangutan which live in these forests. Also reported are human rights abuse in the form of using child labour and debt bondage in the plantations of Borneo and Sumatra. According to a Greenpeace report palm oil production contributed deforestation of 25% of forest land in Indonesia during the period 2009 -2011, which has proved to be a serious threat to the habitat of the orangutan, the Sumatran elephant, and the Sumatran tiger which are for critically endangered species. In Kalimantan, deforestation for oil palm plantation development is said to endanger the living space of indigenous tribes and orangutans. Palm Fruites In the morning of 26th October, explorer and the team of Sumatra EcoTravel visited two such villages, Gotoroyon and Lambourn, close to Bukit Lawang, where villagers are united against this Palm Oil Menace and a corrupted section of Indonesian Government, who are in favour of rain forest destruction to make more money out of palm oil cultivation. 18 such villages have come together to fight against palm oil cultivation and protect rain forest. EcoTravel is promoting such endeavour by introducing alternate sources of income to the farmers, which have no detrimental effects on environment and forest. One such endeavour is pisciculture. In the village of Lambourn, the team met owner of organic pisciculture, Bangor. There was a time, when Bangor used to manage her fish ponds by 100-150 labourers. But now it’s difficult for her to keep even 10 workers, because all workers are now interested in palm tree cultivation, as that helps them to earn more money. Team EcoTravel and fish ponds owners like Bangor are now Organic Pisciculture working hard to get back their workers by motivating them for organic pisciculture as well as by educating them on importance of rain forest and ill effect of palm tree cultivation on rain forest. "These guys (pointing at captive, orphan survivors of forest loss - Orangutan cubs) are bi products of forest loss ....because of palm oil industry" .... Ian Singleton, PHD (Conservation Director, PANECO Foundation), in the documentary "Before The Flood"....in this village tour explorer got another insight of "The Palm Oil Menace". The documentary also reinforced the fact that 80% of Sumatran rain forests are cleared up for Palm Oil cultivation and the Leusur ecosystem of Sumatra is the most affected one. It was featured in the documentary as one of the key reasons of climate change, and was also resonated by Dharma, head of one of the 18 villages united
Lunch at Dharma’s place Page | 14
in this battle against palm oil menace. Explorer and the team were hosted at Dharma’s house for sumptuous lunch. Authentic home cooked Indonesian food was served, containing sambal, rice, chicken curry, boiled vegetables and coconut water mixed with “brown sugar” made out of palm tree sap. Dharma said it’s the responsibility of this generation to secure the future of next generation and that would be possible if forest is protected. He said that they don’t need palm oil cultivation to become reach; he always suggests his farmer friends to go for fruits tree cultivation and that would be enough to feed their family. He also told that “Monkeys and orangutans of forest can also get their food if we cultivate fruits. We do not need all the fruits from trees, at least 10-20% we can leave for wild animals and in that way we can save forest and its biodiversity”. One more significant issue he highlighted was clearing forest for woods to build houses. He said, “There is no point in going for high quality woods by clearing rain forest. We do not need to build houses which last for 20 years, as our children and grandchildren, in any case dismantle these houses and re build new houses of their own choice. Instead we can go for planation of low quality woods outside forest area to use them for building purpose.” Dharma and people of other 18 villages have become green crusader of Leusur ecosystem of north Sumatra and with the help of organizations like EcoTravel they are building a case for themselves for not to lose their right on their rain forest. Dharma’s house
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Chapter – 3: The Bat Cave
27th October, 2016. It was the last day of explorer in Bukit lawang and before he was leaving, he decided to go to Bat Cave. There are two Bat Caves in Bukit Lawang. First one is called Gua Kampret and the others one is Ship Cave. The Bat Cave is located 2km from the village or exactly the trail starts from the Ecolodge hotel. Before he arrived in this cave he saw many plant species such as passion fruit tree, pineapple plant, cacao tree, rubber tree, durian tree etc. The hiking started at around 9:00 AM, it was hot and humid. The trekking team, led by guide Indira, soon realized it was not going to be easy....a 2000 meters trekking...and heavy rain of previous night made the rocks even more moist and slippery than usual. On top of that there were attacks of mosquito brigades, odomos was applied all over the body, but that was hardly effective. The forest path towards the caves and the whole climbing experience was full of noises of crickets.
Entry to Cave The Bat Cave (Gua Kampret in Indonesian) is located 2km from the village (Bukit Lawang). ... A torch was must to see anything inside the cave, which is around 500-metres long and is home to many ... poisonous insects, scorpions, frogs and the largest insectivorous bat in the world The Naked Bulldog Bat (or Greater Naked Bat) is the largest insectivorous bat in the world. The species may potentially occur in a variety of lowland habitats, but its local distribution may be severely constrained by the availability of suitable roosts. The species appears to be getting rarer, and generally lacks adequate protection. The species typically roosts in rock crevices, caves or tall, hollow trees. Numbers in a roost may range from less than 10 up to 1000. They feed on medium-sized winged insects which they hawk in open areas, or above the forest canopy. Their Colony of Naked Bulldog Bat most obvious feature is their dark grey to black skin which is largely devoid of body fur, except for a localised patch on the throat. The head is dog-like in shape, and the jaws possess enlarged upper and lower canine teeth. The ears are triangular, forward facing and are lobed at the front. The wings are long and narrow, and there are wing pouches into which the folded wings can be neatly tucked. The tail is thick and is not enclosed in the flight membrane. The feet are large with long claws. Curiously, the first toe on each hind foot has a bristle of hairs, the tips of which are curved and which are believed to be used for grooming. Unusually for bats, this species has a throat pouch from which strong-smelling, oily, glandular secretions are released. The Naked Bulldog Bat occurs in southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines (Palawan). A closely related but smaller, dark brown species, the Lesser Bulldog Bat Cheiromeles parvidens, occurs in parts of Sulawesi and much of the Philippines (except Palawan).
The three hours of cave exploration ended near Landak River. After finishing lunch with local nasi goring at river bank, exploration team packed their all belongings like camera, clothes etc. in a plastic bag and keep that on a raft. Now it was time to come out of the forest and for that they had to cross the river.
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There was one local guide in front followed by a German couple, who were part of the team, then explorer and at the end guide Indira. River crossing started quietly, and it was little difficult to step on ravels and walking against current, gradually water level started increasing. After certain time explorer realized the water level was going beyond head and he had to swim. Swimming started but, he realized that he was not moving at all, as he was swimming against current. All of a sudden the explorer realized that, he was losing his Whirlpool formation in Landak river breath and getting sucked in the whirlpool. Panicked, the explorer was rescued, in time, by Indira, who was behind him. Indira noticed something was wrong with the explorer. He rushed towards the explorer, dragged him out of the whirlpool and kept holding him until they reached at a place where water level was at waist level. Three days-four nights exploration in this lesser known forest and village of Bukit Lawang ended with a bit of adventure.
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Annexure – I: List of Identified Species Sl. Name of Species No. Mammals
1
Sumatran Orangutan
2
Long macaque
Scientific Name
Pongo abelii
tailed
Macaca fascicularis
3
Pig tailed macaque
Macaca nemestrina
4
Thomas’s Langur
Presbytis thomasi
IUCN Status
Photograph
Critically Endangered (Due to high levels of habitat conversion and fragmentation, and illegal killing, Pongo abelii is estimated to have experienced a significant population reduction in recent years.) Least Concern Vulnerable (Listed as Vulnerable as there is reason to believe the species has declined by at least 30% over the past 30-36 years (three generations) due primarily to hunting and habitat loss.) Vulnerable (The species is considered Vulnerable due to past and continued population declines, estimated at more than 30% over the past 40 years (3 generations) due to loss of habitat, Page | 18
especially to logging and oil palm plantations.) Near Threatened
5
Black Squirrel
Ratufa bicolor
6
Greater Naked bat
Cheiromeles torquatus
Least Concern
1
Oriental Robin
Copsychus saularis
Least Concern
2
Rhinoceros Hornbill
Buceros rhinoceros
Near Threatened
3
Mugimaki Flycatcher
Ficedula mugimaki
Least Concern
4
Eurasian Sparrow
5
6
Birds Magpie
Tree
Passer montanus
Least Concern
Wandering whistling duck
Dendrocygna arcuanta
Least Concern
Black-nest swiftlet
Aerodramus maximus
Least Concern
Tropidolaemus wagleri
Least Concern
Not Available
Reptiles 1 2
Green Temple Viper
Garden Lizard Calotes versicolor Malayan Water 3 Varanus varius Monitor Amphibian
Least Concern Least Concern
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1
Rivulet frog
2
Litter frog
Limnoectes hikidai
Insects 1
crickets
Gryllus campestris
2
Pill millipede
Sphaerotheriida
3
Common flanked spider
whitewater Nilus albocinctus
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Annexure – II: Explorers Profile Arnab Basu, Member of Exploring Nature Born in Kolkata on 17th June, 1978 and currently based out of Bengaluru.
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• An Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Consultant by profession and holds B.Sc with major in Botany and Zoology from 2000 batch of University of Calcutta; MBA in Environment Management from 2004 batch of Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM), Kolkata; Diploma in Chemical Engineering and Industrial Safety. • Has about 12 years of experience in overall management and supervision of Sustainability, Safety Transformation, Industrial and Construction Environment, Occupational Health & Safety and Quality Systems; compliance assessment, assurance, verification and evaluation of EHS legal requirements and Corporate EHS management system; implementation, evaluation and assurance of Corporate Sustainability Reporting and GHG accounting; training and consultancy for Quality, Health, Safety, Social Accountability and Environmental Management Systems. Worked with National and multinational EHS consultancy farm like EQMS, Deloitte etc, currently working as Principal Consultant in ERM. Has provided consultancy services to a number of major national and multinational companies including TATA Steel, Shell, Chevron, GAIL, GSK, Reckitt Benckiser, Boehringer, PEPSI, Raymond, US Pharmacopeia, Morgan Crucibles, NALCO, Unilever, British Petroleum, Becton Dickinson, and Vedanta. Participated in about 12 biodiversity expeditions, which include Gunug Leuser National Park, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Tiger Reserves of Satpura, Pench and Kanha (Madhya Prdesh); Kruger National Park in South Africa, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary (Karnataka); Nagarhole National Park (Karnataka); Bandipur National Park (Karnataka); Eravikulam National Park (Kerala) and Periyar Tiger Reserve (Kerala); Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary (Assam); Gir National Park (Gujrat); Wild Ass Sanctuary (Gujrat); and Biodiversity study of Ghatshila and Jhargram (West Bengal), Araku Valley and Vizag Port (Andhra Pradesh), Forest of Bankura and Midnapore (West Bengal) etc. Conducted assessment of urban and sub urban biodiversity at Kolkata, Salt Lake Wetland, South Bengal (West Bengal). Conducted Study on Joint Forest Management and Wild Life in South West Bengal under the supervision of Department of Forest, Govt. of West Bengal and under the joint guidance of Environment Management department of IISWBM and National Afforestation and Eco-development Board, Govt. of India.
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