From our Sumatran tiger conservation volunteering holiday in Indonesia

The past few days have been busy. We had one overnight trip camping out in the jungle and surveying cells further upriver, as well as surveys in cells closer to the station. There has been a lot of rain upriver and the Subayang River rose as high as it does during the wet season, making it impossible for us to reach the furthest upstream survey cell. Giant logs were coming down the now rapid river and the illegal logging activities were sent into a flurry, with people trying to utilise the high water levels to transport their booty. “It is heartbreaking to see how much illegal logging is taking place, right out in the open” says Claire Howell from the UK. The buffer zone is a beehive of activity with the constant noise of chainsaws going, trees falling, men dragging logs down towards the river, and boats transporting long trains of logs. “We are currently lobbying the government in Jakarta to upgrade the Rimbang Bailing Wildlife Reserve to National Park status” explains Febri, the WWF tiger scientist, “if it gets National Park status, there will be a lot more resources available and the illegal activities in both the buffer zone and inside the reserve can be better policed.”

The team also attended a local ceremony. The community in Tanjug Belit village believes a bad spirit is residing at the local waterfall and that this spirit is responsible for a recent accident there. To appease the spirit, a water buffalo was sacrificed followed by the biannual opening of one of the sacred ponds. The scared ponds are a part of the river, which is closed to fishing apart from twice a year when fishing is allowed for one day only. We watched as men pulled up large catfish much to the delight of the surrounding boats. In the afternoon after the fishing had concluded, we hosted a group of eleven children at the research station, educating them about conservation and playing games. “Today was a game changer for me“ says expeditioner Matt from the USA. “Seeing how welcoming the community is, them wanting us to be part of their ceremonies, and meeting the kids who all seem to care a great deal about the environment really gave me a lot of hope for the future of Rimbang Bailing.”