Visiting the forest

Helen has successfully seated herself inside the boat

After being in the big cities for over two weeks, our supervisors, Amanda Korstjens and Ross Hill have come to visit us in Indonesia! We meet them at the hotel we are currently staying at and our adventure with them begins. We are off to the forest for a few days to check out the base camp, which will be our new home for the next 7 months. We will also be practicing some of our field methodology. We will be staying at another camp just outside the national park. To arrive at the field site, it is about a two and a half car ride and then a 15-minute boat ride. I will ask you one thing and that is what image comes to mind when I say the word boat? Well, throw that image out the window and picture a basic wooden canoe twice as long with a motor attached to the rear.This was our type of boat and we had to load ourselves (5 individuals) plus all our luggage (including laptops!) into it as well.

The boat was not very well sealed so the wooden sides were leaking, thus there was a gentleman at the back bailing out all the water that entered the boat. What was even more exciting was when one of us would move slightly in our seat, the entire boat rocked unsteadily for a few moments and I couldn’t help but picture all of us plunging into the river. Despite all these little technicalities, the boat ride down the river was serene and peaceful. We got to see a monitor lizard and even some long-tail macaques along the riverside. Best of all, I am happy to report that we all arrived at the campsite with all our belongings, safe and dry.

After a few moments of rest, we took our first steps into the forest and all of my Costa Rican jungle memories came flooding back to me. The forest’s smells and sounds provide me with an inner peace I am not able to get anywhere else. This will be my first time inside Asia’s forests and I am looking forward to making new memories and experiences!

Back to our forest hike... we start off with a slow and steady hike into the forest and halfway towards camp our guide asks us if we want to meet James (a PhD candidate researching orangutans) and trek through the forest to see an orangutan. Well, our answer is obvious and we were all pumped for our first primate sighting. Our trek towards the orangutan was off-trail and involved lots of bushwhacking, jumping over fallen trees, slipping in mud and best of all, us being drenched from head to toe in our own sweat. We finally come to a stop and in a tree above us there is a WILD orangutan that is curiously checking us out. As we wait in silence, the orangutan feeds on various food items and moves from tree to tree for approximately an hour.

Top Right corner: We are drenched in sweat as we watch the orangutan. Middle Left Photo: Our new home for the next 7 months.

A leech attached to Helen's ankle

The Suspect

 After our time watching the orangutan ends, we continue onwards to the Sikundur campsite. When we arrive, we are all pleasantly surprised with our new living arrangements. As we are taking off our shoes to look inside, Helen and I notice that both our socks are bloody…. OHH NOOO, WE’VE BEEN LEECHED!! It sounds a lot worse than it really is and we got over it pretty quickly, but the photo is pretty epic. I have a suspicious feeling that the leeches of Sikundur will be pretty fat with our blood by the end of August…

Our first day was filled with excitement and I couldn’t have asked for a better adventure. The next few days will involve Mandy and Ross helping us implement our field methods. I must say, when reading the method sections of academic journals, it sounds and looks all easy on paper but once you are asked to actually carry them through, it is very difficult. We are very fortunate to have our supervisors by our sides as they help us step by step with our methods. I don’t think we could have continued without Mandy and Ross’s help. It has been a wonderful experience having Mandy and Ross come out to Indonesia with us. 

Personally, I believe that conducting fieldwork out in the wild allows you to become closer with the individuals you are working with. In my case, while working in the field with Mandy and Ross, I noticed that the title of ‘professor’ or ‘supervisior’ became irrelevant and the boundary that normally separates students and supervisors in academic settings was broken down. Without these distinctions, I was given the opportunity to strengthen and develop deeper and more personal relationship with my supervisors. This experience of being in the field with my supervisors has made my Master’s experience so far very rewarding and unforgettable. However, I generally feel that fieldwork unites everyone together and you become comfortable talking about all different kinds of things that you otherwise would not discuss, such as digestive problems, because everyone is in the same boat! By the end of the field season we will all smell, we will all be covered in bug bites and itch like crazy, and we will all have discussed which foods we are most excited to eat when we get back to the real world.

The Crew. From left to right: Ross, John, Helen, Matt, Me, Mandy