Apologies for the dearth of updates, but the internet connection here in the field is either absent or very, very slow. Too slow to send pictures, so you will have to wait for the fortnightly changeovers for the full complement, sorry. So here is just some short text and a couple of pictures to illustrate our work and adventures.
A few days ago we met up with a plantation owner who had taken a tiger track photo on his phone at the end of last year. After walking with him through the forest for several hours, our overnight team finally reached the start point of their survey. The area where the picture was taken last year is now largely rubber plantations so Arnau, Caitlin, Beno and Sugi walked further into the woods and found that people working in that landscape generally don’t like the tiger presence, as it makes them feel unsafe. Febri too fears that at the speed with which these plantation are expanding, there could be human tiger conflict situations in the near future.
Another highlight of this slot was being invited into a local primary scool and Febri gave a presentation on the biodiversity of the rainforest all around them and told them how the future of tigers can be affected by deforestation. After that we played some animal games thought up by the team, which tied into the presentation, although all the scholl girls just wanted to be next to Caitlin with her fascinatingly white skin and red hair.
On our day off the team relaxed by a local waterfall, watching the local boys and team member Arnau, our resident space engineer/acrobat, jumping off the rocks into the pools below.
From our Sumatran tiger conservation volunteering holiday with tigers in Sumatra, Indonesia
Biosphere Expeditions: blogs from the frontline of wildlife conservation and the fight for a more sustainable planet 