Dr Nancy Priston

I trekked into a new part of the forest yesterday to see what the forest was like up there, how much human disturbance there was and if there was any evidence of monkeys. The locals estimated it would take 3 – 4 hours to walk in as it is uphill, through rivers. My guide, Hussein, and I did it in under 2 hours! Amazing walk – starting from a village 30 min drive from my base camp village. First you pass through cashew nut plantations, then coffee and cocoa plantations and finally cross the river into mixed forest cropping of plants like clove under the canopy. Gradually as you walk up the rivers and waterfalls the forest changes and the trees get larger. It’s truly beautiful forest – stunning. It’s not devoid of human activity but there is little evidence of logging – rather the area is used to harvest rattan (a palm used to make furniture), honey and hunting the endemic Anoa (a dwarf buffalo).

I saw a troop of monkeys on the walk in, and a lone male on the way out. Also saw Sulawesi warty pigs,monitor lizards, hornbills, a green vine snake and frogs. Also quite a few leeches! Such an amazing bit of forest, I wish I could have stayed there! So nice to see some relatively undisturbed forest and an obvious abundance of wildlife.

Leech!

Me and Hussein

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I’ve been here in the village a few days now. It’s still raining hard and we had a big storm the other night, but there are some breaks in the deluge when the sun makes an appearance which is nice! Conditions in the forest are extremely muddy and slippery and the high winds of the storm have resulted in a lot of tree fall. These forests have a high turn over of trees anyway as root systems tend to be shallow. The bedrock is limestone karst which is essentially fossilised coral. It’s extremely sharp and jagged and holds only a shallow layer of soil. This means tree falls are common and it can be quite hairy being in the forest during storms and high winds!

I’ve spent two days now out with the monkeys. There are 3 habituated troops here and I’ve been out with the one that lives in the Kakenauwe reserve just near the village. They live in secondary forest and plantations (cashew and coffee), they also venture out of the forest and raid the local maize and sweet potato farms. This troop contains 40+ individuals but they often split into subgroups and at the moment there are approximately 23 individuals that we’re following. We record behavioural data and plot where they’re roaming using a handheld gps. We also record what they’re eating. The idea is to understand how, why and when they raid crops – whether they do it because there aren’t enough food sources in the forest, or because crops are a nice easy food source (the McDonalds of the monkey world!). This data will help me to develop management strategies for this species which conserve the monkeys, and ensure local people’s livelihoods are sustained too.

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I’ve been here in the village a few days now. It’s still raining hard and we had a big storm the other night, but there are some breaks in the deluge when the sun makes an appearance which is nice! Conditions in the forest are extremely muddy and slippery and the high winds of the storm have resulted on a lot of tree fall. These forests have a high turn over of trees anyway as root systems tend to be shallow. The bedrock is limestone karst which is essentially fossilised coral. It’s extremely sharp and jagged and hold only a shallow layer of soil. This means tree falls are common and it can be quite hairy being in the forest during storms and high winds!

I’ve spent two days now out with the monkeys. There are 3 habituated troops here and I’ve been out with the one that lives in the Kakenauwe reserve just near the village. They live in secondary forest and plantations (cashew and coffee), they also venture out of the forest and raid the local maize and sweet potato farms. This troop contains 40+ individuals but thy often split into subgroups and at the moment there are approximately 23 individuals that we’re following. We record behavioural data and plot where they’re roaming using a handheld gps. We also record what they’re eating. The idea is to understand how, why and when they raid crops – whether they do it because there aren’t enough food sources in the forest, or because crops are a nice easy food source (the McDonalds of the monkey world!). This will help me to develop management strategies for this species.

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It’s a 3 hour drive to the village along a pretty ropey road. The road is repaired every couple of years but never properly, so it quickly gets washed away in the heavy rains and is pitted with enormous potholes. Large sections of it are just mud too and it’s only one lane wide with lorries and minibuses tearing along, so it’s pretty hairy! But the views are awesome and it’s worth the bone-shaking!

I arrived late last night. A load of the local lads came to meet me and help get my luggage in to the house. I’m staying in the house I always stay in which is nice – in this village it is a concrete house, rather than a wooden stilt house. It’s still fairly basic though but they have renovated a bit since last year and laid some tiles on the concrete floor and painted it nice bright colours 🙂 I have my own little wooden bed and mattress with a big mosquito net to keep out the creepy crawlies and pretty soon it will feel like home again.

It’s been raining a lot so the humidity’s high and everything feels damp which means night times are actually relatively cool (in a stuffy kinda way!).

I spent today catching up with people in the village, especially some of the women who I’ve known for almost 12 years. Sadly one of them lost her husband suddenly a few months ago so we had a long chat. Luckily she has a little stall in the village to bring in some income for her and her 3 young children, on top of her farm, but it’s going to be hard for her to manage alone. Of course when the monkeys raid her crops it will be even harder – it really brings home the day to day struggles these people have and makes me even more determined to find a workable solution to the monkeys’ crop-raiding so that the monkeys can live in peace and the people can too!

view on the way to the village

Just coming in to La Bundo Bundo village

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I’ve arrived in Bau Bau, the capital of Buton island. It’s name means ‘smell smell’ which nowadays you’d be forgiven for thinking was a reference to the open sewers running through the streets but is in fact a reference to it’s old reputation as a spice port – particularly cloves. Buton doesn’t export many spices nowadays – the main exports are now cashewnuts, oranges, some cocoa and the biggest one of all – asphalt! Ironic given the state of the road here! Buton sits on a series of natural, large asphalt seams. Worryingly now that most of the easy to reach seams have been mined focus is turning to the remainder – which lie within the lambusango wildlife reserve, where my research takes place. There’s also been recent exploration by Japanese companies for nickel mining, crude oil and natural gas extraction in the reserve – so worrying times ahead!

I’m now about to head off to the village of La Bundo Bundo which is where I’m based for my field season, right next to the Lambusango Wildlife Reserve. I don’t know if I’ll have a good enough signal to continue posting updates but hopefully I will from time to time. So it’s off to see the monkeys now! Can’t wait! 🙂

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All legal now! Visa processed so I’m ready to roll! 🙂

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I’m now in Kendari (the armpit of Sulawesi!) and have just reported to the local immigration office to get my limited stay visa (Kitas) sorted. That involved lots of sitting around to have my fingerprints and photo taken for their online system… Of course I’ve had both of these taken many times before but despite them being on the system they do like to waste time taking them again… I’ve paid my admin fee (and the usual unofficial admin fee on top!) so I’m waiting for them to process it now. Fingers crossed it will be ready this afternoon so I can take the morning ferry to Buton. The rest of the local permits here (police, ‘badan riset’, forestry etc) are being arranged on my behalf by a friend so I can get to the field faster.

It’s pouring with rain now and has been all night, hopefully this won’t continue. Last year it rained every day non-stop while I was here and it made the fieldwork extremely tough. It also makes the ferry crossing a bit hairy!

Signing my life away 😉

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Research permit – check, police permit – check, dept social affairs permit – check, forestry permit – check, visa – check…. Redtape in Jakarta complete! Now it’s time to start the journey to Buton. So it’s two flights tomorrow to get to Kendari, the regional capital of Southeast Sulawesi where I get to go through all the redtape again! So bye bye Jakarta – See you in 3 months!

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So it seems the government have, as governments tend to, gone back on their word and reduced the area of forest that was to be protected in Indonesia. Buy apparently it’s ok because they will monitor it every 6 months and act if protected areas have been deforested…. Erm, it’s a bit late once he forests have gone….when are we going to learn?!

Government reduces area of forests protected under moratorium

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Well, I’ve just arrived back in Indonesia for my 12th year of fieldwork in Sulawesi. This year will be a challenge – only a few months ago over half of one of the study troops of monkeys were killed by local farmers after stealing their banana crops. So it seems conflict may be increasing in the area. I’m looking forward to getting to the island to see the situation for myself – to see how the remaining monkeys are faring and to talk to the farmers to understand what prompted this sudden change of approach to managing the situation. Before I can do that though I need to get all my research permits and visa’s sorted, stamped, and signed off, so it’s a fun-redtape-filled few days in Jakarta and Kendari (mainland Sulawesi) first!

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