The new group 2 arrivals have settled into the daily routine of Subayang field station, waking up to the call of gibbons and the daily scientific survey work. We have also been collecting the camera traps that the previous group deployed two weeks ago. So far they have captured; mouse deer, barking deer, pig-tailed macaques, wild pigs, poachers and bird catchers.
On Wednesday half of the group went to the village of Aur Kuning, three hours upriver from the station, to survey two areas we had not yet visited. One which was far into the jungle and they sure had some stories to tell upon their return. “There was no path, we had to cut our way through the jungle. It was very steep, and very very slippery,” says Brodie.
Ulva, one of the local placement participants, laughs as she tells us, “Everyone fell over many times on the slippery rocks and steep hills.”
The group spent the night in the village of Aur Kuning, and by the sound of things they were very well looked after. “It was all very good. The food was good and the house we slept in was good too,” reports a tired but happy John.
The other half of the team stayed behind and surveyed areas closer to the station recording long-tailed macaques, wild pigs, sun bears, water buffalo and siamangs. We also saw signs of illegal logging and traps set by poachers to catch song birds. Song bird competitions are common in the towns and therefore so is the demand for wild song birds. Birds are judged on the length and beauty of their song and the owner takes home a price.
Today we are having a well-deserved day off. It is tough work surveying the densely forested and hilly terrain within the Rimbang Bailig Reserve. But a day’s rest and a refreshing swim in the waterfall should see us fit to get back into the rainforest again tomorrow….
From our Sumatran tiger conservation volunteering holiday with tigers in Sumatra, Indonesia
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