Dr Nancy Priston

I’ve been on another big jungle trek again – back up to that new area of forest. It’s such a beautiful bit of forest so I just couldn’t resist going back there we’ve had a lot of rain recently so the the conditions were slippery to say the least and it was leechtastic! But I don’t really mind the leeches – they’re really rather beautiful and very cool the way they hang on on leaves waiting for passing mammals! Also saw a snake, monitor lizard, an footprint (endemic dwarf buffalo – very rare!) and some monkeys. The monkeys were about 40m up in the canopy – a big adult male and a sub-adult. Very skittish though and didn’t hang around for long. We walked up to ‘bukit senyum’ – smile mountain, which had a pretty good view over the forest – breathtaking 🙂

Great news!

Last week whilst following one of the other troops of monkeys I discovered that a new baby had been born into the troop. This troop live primarily in the Kakenauwe Nature reserve which is a small area of forest bordered by farms, plantations, villages and the road. Their range encompasses the whole of the reserve which is approximately 810 hectares big and although they still have fruit trees to feed on it’s a pretty small area now as the edges have been eaten away with farms and plantations. So they often come out in the farms to forage for food. In the past this troop has been really large, over 45 individuals and usually there are plenty of infants at this time of year. This year however the group seems to have split up into 2 smaller groups and we’re left with only about 26 monkeys and until now there were no infants. The arrival of this little one is really exciting and a great sign for this troop after the split  🙂

Mum checking the little guy over

Since my last update I’ve been spending time with the monkeys. I went out last week to the village of Kawelli to find the troop of monkeys that suffered from the poisoning.

This troop of monkeys which consisted of 25 individuals originally, lives in a forest-farm mosaic near the village. Their home range consists of few small forest refuges, overgrown farms and active farms and plantations. Over the 12 years I’ve studied them the forest refuges have got smaller and the farms more plentiful. The monkeys still need to eat though so as a result they’ve become more and more reliant on crops to sustain them. Farmers in this area rely almost totally on their farms for food. Farms are small (usually under a hectare) and are planted with a mix of crops – fruit and vegetables such as maize, sweet potato, banana, papaya etc. A few months ago one of the farmers got fed up with the monkeys stealing all his bananas so he bought some poison and laid put poisoned bananas for them. 19 members of the troop were killed leaving only 2 adult males and 4 adult females. One of the adult males is pretty old and in lieu of the dominant male of the troop the young male has started to take on that role. As a result he’s bulked up and has become more aggressive as he asserts his authority over the other 5 monkeys.

Since the poisoning the monkeys have become slightly warier but they still rid farms an we’re still able to follow them and study their behaviour. We’ve seen lots of mating and at least 2 of the females look to be pregnant so there’s hope for this little troop yet. They’ve also come in to contact with a neighbouring troop. So far it’s mostly involved lots of shouting and scrapping but there’s a chance they may join that troop.

I’m hoping to have a good chat with he farmer involved soon to understand a bit more about what pushed him over the edge this time and led to him poisoning them (the poison is incredibly expensive so it wasn’t a decision taken lightly). Watch this space for more updates!

Young male showing off

Old male

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

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.

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.

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

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! 🙂

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

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 😉