Mahakam Houseboating

Today marks the end of the first third of our trip. I cant believe that it is already this far in. My initial feelings were those of sadness because everything is going by so quickly. But when I stopped to think about everything that we have done in the last 18days, I am blown away by how far it seems that beginning of the trip was. Everyday it feels like we are just getting started on our adventure, but I think that has a lot to with the concepts that we talk about everyday and just that everything is so big that we just jump into one experience and then we have to move on to the next.

Right now we are sitting on a houseboat cruising up the Mahakam River. We are currently on our way back to Samarida where we will be spending two days before going into Kutai National Park. The purpose of the houseboat trip was to experience first hand ecotourism and to evaluate if we think that it could be a possible effort to help preserve the nature and the environment of Borneo. All day and night on Saturday we cruised on the very comfortable houseboat. Sunday morning we stopped at a local community to visit their market then got in smaller speed boats and cruised up smaller rivers for 4 hours until we arrived at a ‘remote’ Dyak community. The boat ride was unbelievable. We were three students in each boat sitting one behind the other. For four hours we experienced open river deltas where the horizon seemed endless, passed through small fishing communties and weaved our way through dense green trees. We got to see more proboscis and makak monkeys, a meter long poisonous snakes, thousands of birds dive bombing the water and hundred of other unidentifiable insects. For the first time it felt we were in the mystical/ biodivers Borneo that we had read so much about.

When we reached our destination we were greated with a tradtional welcome ceremony and show of traditional dances. Unlike all of the other communities that will be visiting later in the trip, this ceremony was performed for us as ecotourist.

After reflecting on the experience afterwards with the entire group, there were lots of mixed that arose. Many of the students (including myself) felt very uncomfortable with the ceremony. The ceremony seemed to lack genuine interest from the preformers and authenticy. The teenagers from the community sat watching the ceremony laughing in their nike t-shirts rather than participating. It was very clear the changes that this culture has faced in the last 15 years , as it is clearly visible in the teen generation. They no longer have any interest in learning about their own culture values, and all they wanna do is try and adapt to the western way of living. How do you explain to these youth that they do not have to lose their own culture identity as the world around them change and they change with it.

The idea of ecotourism to preserve a culture brought up many emotions in me. Is it really preserving a culture, if the only times the culture is expressed is to wide eyed foreigners, and the second we walk away they go back to their way of living that is no where as “cultural” and primitive as us outsiders would think.

All in all I thouroughly enjoyed my day, and it sparked many convorsations within the group that bring us to a better understanding of how the people of Borneo continue to change and adapt to their idea of the new world.

I do not think that there is any way that try and halt these changes and it is very narrow minded of us to think that these people should keep to their old ways and not be desiring the life that they see on their satelite tv’s.

Willie Smits

The rumours were true and today Willie Smits was standing upstairs by the bar as we returned from our field trip to Km 23 (a sun bear education center separate from Samboja Lestari). Jesse was the first to shake his hand and run up to me in complete celebrity shock. All the time that we have spent talking/reading/pondering over Willie’s visions and progress truly makes him the biggest celebrity in our conservation world. He is here at Samboja Lestari with a group of researchers who are attempting to beginning harvesting sugar palm on the Samboja Lestari land.

I had very little previous knowledge regarding sugar palm so it was very interested in hearing what it is about. Here are some things that I learned:

- sugar palm can only be planted in second growth forest (ie. Reforestated areas)

- sugar palm cannot be grown as a monocrop (therefore it must be planted within a natural forest, thus contributing to the biodiversity)

- sugar palm grows best on slopes (it will not take up any of the land that could be used for other agriculture that requires flat land)

- the sugar extracted from the sugar palm is extremely low on the glycemic index thus making it a much healthier alterative to other forms of sugar

- the extraction process does not harm the tree

Willie and his team want to invest in sugar palm because it could give good incentive to continue more reforestation projects since there is economic value in the sugar palm. Could this be solution to drive more projects such as Samboja Lestari on a big enough scale that eventually we will be able to reintroduce the orangutan and sun bear in these habitats?

In the evening we all sat around as Willie gave us a talk on the projects that he is working on at the moment. His visions are drastic and big. Some are very pessimistic regarding his ideas and feel that they are too unrealistic. However the truth happens to be : what else does a place such as Borneo have to lose. Willie is tackling corruption in the highest levels of the government to finally bring the power back into the local people. I left the meeting with visions in my head and somewhat of a framework of what we need to do help implament these changes.

We are so lucky to have had the opportunity to talk to Willie and ask him questions. It seems that as we go along on this trip we are constantly being thrown these incredible unexpected oportunities. All the conservationist that we have met so far are very excited that we are here and want to provide us with as many opportunities as possible.

Tomorrow is our last day here at Samboja Lestari , and for the first time my group has a good storyboard for our final documentary. But there is still so much that we are going to experience and who knows what we will discover in the next 6 weeks.

Wanariset

Yesterday we arrived at Samboja Lestari. Its about an hour drive outside of Balikpapan. I was very excited to finally see Samboja Lestari because we have read and heard so much about it. Eight years, a man by the name of Willie Smits followed through with a vision that he had been working on for quite some time and started to replant 1800 hectares of previously logged grassland. He has planted over 1300 different tree species and is closely monitoring the progress of the forest and measuring everything from the changes in biodiversity to the measurements of the carbon found in the soil. The place is quite incredidible and it was hard to believe that the lush green forest is less than 10 years old. The vision that Willie had has become a reality and everyday he is working towards furthering that vision. When Willie was trying to get funding for the project initially, he had no support. No one believed that he could reforest a grassland. Rather than giving up he took a different approach to getting his funding. Due to his awareness of the issues that orangutans are facing due to habitat destruction, he joined up with some other men and started BOS (the Borneo Orangutan Survival Fund). By using the powerful image of displaced orangutans, he was able to get his replanting project going by explaining that he will be using the replanted land as habitat for the orangutans and as a project to eventually re-introduce these orangutans into their natural habitat.

Eight years later they have cared for hundreds of orangutans and made great progress in study these animals. From the year 1992-2002 they were able to release orangutans but unfortunately since then there has not been another release. There simply is no habitat for these animals left. 45% of the orangutans habitat in Kalimantan has been destroyed in the past decade.

When we arrived at Samboja Lodge, we were all blown away by the beauty of it. They have created this sort of eco-tourism idea to bring income to the area. One of our reasons for coming to Samboja was largely to look at this idea of ecotourism and to evalute if it is being effective to support conservation efforts. Unfortunately through talking to various guest at the lodge, Samboja is not doing enough to provide for their guest and therefor the guest are frustrated and dissapointed. It would not be hard focus a little bit of energy into developed this already incredible area and provide education to the guest rather than leaving the guest pretty much in the dark regarding the going-ons of the lodge.

A man named Peter Karsano joined us for the first couple days of stay at the lodge. Peter is a co-founder of Samboja Lestari along with Willie Smits. It was very generous for him to come out here with us and show us around. He was able to get us permision to visit a place called Wanaranita. Wanaranita is the first location where BOS was able to bring and care for the displaced orangutans during the initial replanting process. The location is now severely overgrown and all the buildings have a feeling that one day everyone just got up and left. The iri feel definitely sent shivers up my spine as we walked through the old medical buildings where the cages lined up with name tags still attached to them. Although we know that a lot of good things happened for the orangutan here, the sight of everything run down empty gave the place a feel of a prison.

At the very back of the property there are still big cages being occupied by orangutans. These orangutans have either Hep A or Tuberculousis or both. They have all been in these cages since they arrived at Wanaranita, and due to all the human contact that they have received they will never be released back into the wild even if there was a suitable area. As we walked around the cages and observed them, you could see the emotion and desperation in their eyes. It feels like they have simply been forgotten about in this tragedy that we, as humans, have done to them. I sat in front of one of the cages and started into this younger looking orangutans eyes. As he stretched is remarkably similar looking hands out towards me through the cage bars, I was brough to tears. These creatures understand. They understand what has happened to them and they understand the future of their lives, and yet they are unable to fight for themselves.

The afternoon spent with those orangutans, holding their hands through the cage bars really affected the way I see this situation. It is not enough to simply care for orangutans. It is our duty to eventually provide them with a quality of life similar if not greater than the one that they previously had. Funding does not to go into taking in more orangutans and caring for them cages. This endangered species needs to be in the wild. Their intelligence cannot be locked away in a cage for their entire lives. Our efforts must go into conserving the little habitat still present, and then into reforresting and recreating habitat for them. The human race has done the damage, and it is our responsibility to attempt the balance out our actions.

It is not only the orangutans that are suffering. Along with everyother species in the rainforest, the sun bear is also severely victimized by habitat destruction. Samboja Lesari also has a sanctuary for sun bears with a similation habitat but unfortunately there are still some sun bears stuck in cages for the rest of their lives due to their inability to be trained to follow the ‘rules’ of the sanctuary. Since there is currently no program in place to reintroduce the sun bears into a habitat, these animals have been severely humanized.

These last few days that I have been able to feel the effects of this habitat destruction first hand through connections made with all these incredible animals. It is hard to feel hope when so much destruction is still happening everyday. Policy making maybe be one of the only options to get this situation under control but unfortuantely it is the hardest to influence.

Hopefully the next few days will bring light to the situation. There is rumour that Willie Smits may be visit Samboja is the next few days, and it would be incredible to meet him!

Kampung Baru and Stan's Research station

We just got back from our first two days in a field camp just outside of Balikpapan. The first night we spent in a coastal fishing village. All the houses were built on stilts that sat above the water. When we first arrived there we were swarmed by children so fascinated by us. The entire afternoon was spent playing with the kids and exchanging language, my indonesian is slowly coming along. It is a surprisingly easy language to pick up and the all the kids were so patient to teach us. We snuck away from the giggling kids for a moment and wondering into town. We came across a community playing volleyball who insisted that we played with them. I picked this moment to write my first official blog for the ethical expeditions website and you can read it at : ethicalexpeditions.ning.com . I found the time spent with the women playing helped me develop my first feeling of connection with the local women. Although there were no words spoken, there is something to be said regarding sharing sport with something, regardless of your background.

As we were getting ready for bed, a big thunder storm rolled in, so out came the camera's. As we were watching the lightning in the distance, suddenly a huge flash of lightning filled the sky in front of us and the thunder rocked the bridge below our feet. Darwyn was miraculously able to catch the entire event on camera, and got the most amazing picture of lightning that i have ever seeing. he is busy putting a watermark on it, but hopefully soon i will be able to share it with you.

With all our beds set up in a neat line on stan lohta's floor (he is a proboscis monkey researcher from the czech republic) i spent the most of my night staring at the rats that were the size of small cats running across the stilts above my head. We decided that it would be cool to get a sunrise shot, so at 530am out of our sheets we crawl to sit our the bridge to watch the sun slowly lighten the sky.

After a breakfast of rice and tempeh, we loaded up the boats with Budi (a irrawady dolphin researcher and founder of RASI - Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia) and headed out to the Bay of Balikpapan. The population of dolphins found in the bay have decreased from 200 to 34 over the last 20years. It is quite sad to see all the coal mining, oil refineries and bridge development present on the shoreline and it is so apparent the damages that it is all doing.

After a day on the boat in 42 degree heat, we headed the stan's research station that is located up the Mahakam river. Along the way i was able to see my first mangrove trees. they are the most unbelievable trees that i have ever seen. when the tide is low it gives the appearance that the island are floating.

We moved into the field camp and hung out talking with Stan and the assistant researchers at the station regarding a possibly bridge development project that will devastate the area. The conservation of this area is at a pivoting point where finally the local government is supporting the conservation suggestions but the provincial and federal government are not yet on board. I cannot believe how frustrating it would be being a researcher in this area, where development seems to be the number one priority even though there is so much evidence of the severe global damages that these projects are doing.

Stan said that the number one problem that Borneo is facing is the lack of international researchers. This comment reminded me to when I was at McGill and my biology TA told us all quite blatantly that unless we had a masters in biology we will not be able to find a job in Canada. Yet in Borneo they are desperate for researchers to work in some of the most diverse and unique environment in the world and produce research that could possibly change the fate of this country and our planet.

In the late afternoon, it was time to load up the boats once again and head towards the monkey habitat. About 20min in we got trapped in the most intense torrential downpoor that i have ever experience. It was going to be the intro to my ethical expeditions blog but i decided to change my subject. here it is anyways:

Flashes of light filled the sky and immediately followed the defening roar of the thunder that sent chills through my spine. We sat in the boat tucked away amoung the huge leaves boardering the river, trying the be as little and inconspicuous as possible as the tremedous lightning flashes momentarily brightned the darkneing sky. Just twenty minutes earlier, we had loaded up the boat at Stan Lhota’s research station to head down the river towards the proboscis monkey habitat. The rain began almost instantaneously, and I was very thankful for the last minute hesitation the run back up the station to grab the waterproof boxes just prior to departing. Once again I was reminded of the power and strength of the environment.

We returned to the field camp soaking wet yet very happy. On the way back once the rain had subsidized, we had spotted a family Makak monkeys perched in a tree. We sat silently in the boat and watched as they swung around from tree to tree. My first live monkeys!

Dinner was cooked for us by Stan assistants at the research station. Another meal of rice and steamed vegetables. I definitely think that i will need a break from rice for quite some time once i return home.

We all crawl under the small mosquito exhausted and very giggly. Stan told us some ghost stories about spirits from the borneo rainforest to spook us out before falling asleep. It was another virtually restless night due to the heat and the limited space under the net, but it was nice to hear the sounds of the frogs and other creatures all night rather than cars and loud music.

The following morning we were up before the sun loading up the boats to go and see the monkeys. We were all very excited despite the fact that we were all running on very little sleep. The morning was spent sitting quietly on the boat observing the monkeys up in the trees. What a relaxing, blissful way to start your day! And to think that this is Stan's life everyday is hard to grasp.

After a long boat ride back to Balikpapan, we didnt get back to the hotel until dinner time. Exhausted, we attempted to begin work on our first video blog, but ran into quite a few technical problems and therefor spent four hours frustrated with our computers. To sleep we went and early this morning we were back at work.

I am very lucky to have such an amazing group. Today went very smoothly even though we spent 7am-6pm locked in the small board room working away on our computers trying to get our video uploaded in time for the deadline.

So our first video blog should be up on the ethical expeditions website ! Along with the written blogs. Hope you enjoy the viewing!

Tomorow we are off to Samboja Lestari til next friday working with sun bears, orangutans and reforrestation efforts. I have heard very good things about this place so i cannot wait to get there!

I am sure to have lots of stories upon my return!

Selemat Malam!

xo Nadine

PS. Here is a group shot taken outside our hotel in Balikpapan :)

smiles, fish markets, and lots of oil

Wow the last couple days flew by! Saturday we had our first meeting with some of the different researchers that we will be conducting surveys throughout this week in the Bay of Balikpapan. Danielle and Budi from the NGO called RASI based out of Samarinda, along Stan (a researcher from the Czech Republic)who lives close to Balikpapan will take us into the field to help with research work. The five different groups of students will rotate through Irrawady dolphin, Proboscis monkey and Mangrove forest surveys. It was so interesting meeting with them and hearing about the successes that they have had in getting areas protect in order to save the remaining Irrawady dolphin.

After the meeting all the students were so excited for what was to come in the next week. Even though we have only been in the city for 3 days, the anticipation to get out of it and into the forest in enormous. Saturday afternoon, we had some free time, so we decided to head to the beach. The amount of garbage floating around in all the waterways around the city left us with very hesitant to the condition that the shoreline would be in.

The beach ended up being very beautiful and we were told that every morning the rangers clean up all the garbage that floats up onto the shore. You would think that the people here would be disgusted by simply throwing their garbage onto the streets, for they are the ones that have to live in the mess everyday, but after talking with Stan, it seems that the local people just simply dont see any other way and that at this point the effort that it would take for them to bring their garbage somewhere to dispose it is not worth the effort. It is definately quite sad to see, especially when you notice that the wrappers and most of the garbage is from western junk food that our global markets have introduced to this city.

Feeling the sand in between my toes for the first time on the trip provided me with another moment of reality in which I had to stop and realize that i really am here. And that for the next 2 months everything that i see is reality. It is hard not to let yourself get carried away in somewhat of a daze, and it is moments like these that ground me and remember that i am connected to this city in some sort of way and have a purpose here.

Saturday night, Budi and Danielle suggested that we eat at the local market along the ocean. We were all overwhelmed by all the options! All the local vendors had their little boths set up side by side all cooking up different rice/noodle/chicken dishes made with freshly pressed spices.

I opted for flame cooked corn on the corn lathered in spicy "sauce". it was very very tasty. For desert I discovered what may be my new favourite food.. Avocado/Chocolate smoothies!

After great conversation with Budi and Danielle over dinner, we hoped in a bus back to the hotel where my bed was waiting patiently for me to fall asleep without any time to reflect on the day.

Sunday morning the last of the students arrived, so we were finally all together. 18 of us definately make a little more of an impact than 6!

We had our first official class at 9am in which Brent and Sheryl discussed mainly logistics and gave us updates. We then had a quick refresher in some wilderness first aid training, then it was off to the markets to find some high rain boots for our forest adventures!

The market was filled with local stands of jewlery, shoes, fabric, bags and fresh fruit . Wishing that i knew more indonesian, we struggled through making a few purchases and bargaining with the vendors.

For dinner it was back to the market where i couldnt resist the amazing corn and avocado smoothie once again!

Today was a very busy day. This morning a few us started our day off with yoga lead by Alanah (another student on the trip). It felt good to take time to stretch everything out and relax, since it seems like we have been running around non stop for the last few days. Class started at 9am and didnt end until 6pm. However from 10am-1pm we were given some time to work on our documentaries. With a time lapse shot idea in mind we headed towards the mall further downtown. While filming the time lapse, a gentlemen came up to talk to us. He was very interested in what we were doing. He ended up being a cab driver and really wanted to take us to a fish market. So in his cab we jumped. He drove us along the coast where we were able to see all the oil ports. The bay of Balikpapan a tremendous amount of crude oil rigs, and we were told that 60% of the locals in Balikpapan are employed by the oil companies. We also drove by a palm oil plantation that is right on the ocean, ie. easy access to ports and trade.

The fish market was unlike anything that i had every seen ! as soon as we walked into the dark building it was very apparent of the amount that we stood out, for everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us. I am still blown away by how friendly all the local indonesians are towards us. They all want to try and talk to us , and they have the biggest smiles that I have ever seen!

One Indonesian came up to us and started talking to us in perfect english. He was very interested in what we were doing and immediately offered his help if we needed anything. He is an economist in Balikpapan, and we were able to get an interview of him on camera (our first real interview!) hopefully we will try and post it soon. He had some interesting things to say and we are already seeing quite a few themes arising from the values of the people who live in the city. We have his contact info so next time we are in Balikpapan we might try and track him down for some more interviews.

I cant believe that it is already almost 11pm! the days just fly by. Tomorow my group heads to the field camp for 2 nights for monkey and dolphin surveys. I cant wait !

So no internet until Friday when we are back in Balikpapan, but I am sure that i will have many stories to tell!

If you are interested in seeing more specifically what each groups question is based upon, by joining ethialexpeditions.ning.com you are able to see the different groups and follow whichever interests you the most.

Til friday,

-nadine

Balikpapan

Just got back from wondering around the streets of Balikpapan. Slept very well last night, so today I feel like a superstar. After an amazing breakfast of fresh fruit and tea, we decided to head to check out the area. Everywhere we went we were greeted with a million stares and some of the biggest smiles that I have ever seen. There is literally no other caucasian people around, so the locals seem to be quite shocked and excited to see 6 students walking down the street.

Here are some photos from my travels so far...

Vancouver>SanFran>Korea>Signapore>Balikpapan

I have finally made it to Borneo. About 2 hours ago my plane touched down on this island and I was welcomed with warm hugs from Brent and Sheryl. As I lie here in bed with my feet up against wall, allowing the blood to drain from ankles due to so many hours spent sitting I still dont really believe that I have made it !

Two days ago at 5am I was saying goodbye to my parents and mike at the airport and with a huge grin on our faces, Darwyn, Jesse and I walked through security (the first of many!) and onto our flight to San Franscico. With about an hour to kill before our plane left, we decided to take advantage of the Maple Leaf Lounge guest passes that Mike had given us and headed to hang with all the business men in suits. After a latte and bowl of granola, we heading to the boarding gate knowing that the next two days were not going to be as easy and luxurious as this.

In San Fran we met up with Gillian who had flown in from Denver the night before we knew it we were boarding our next flight across the pacific ocean to Seoul, Korea.

12. long. hours. later. and a couple plane meals in me the wheels of the plane finally touched ground. Out we got, only to walk around for about 30min then board the same plane again, this time to Singapore.

With still no sleep in me i was determined to get a few minutes of rest on the next flight. (I now had been awake for just over 20hours)

The 6hour flight to signapore went by somewhat quickly, and I got a few minutes of sleep before my head would do the bob and I would be woken up again a little startled.

1am-> we got off the plane in singapore. Darwyn and Jesse went to find a bench to sleep on as the typically restless Gillian and I wondered the beautiful empty airport until the sun rose.

Up for a little adventure, we signed up for a free tour of singapore, so at 8am, we went through customs and jump on a tourist bus filled with other few touristy looking people.

The city of singapore was quite remarkable. it has the most people of square km than any other city and 80% of the population live in government housing . the shore line was littered with boats from the port and the city was covered with cranes. So much development all at once, and to think that singapore was once all a beautiful rainforest and now all it appeared to be was a city of cranes from the bus window.

The further into the city we got the more culture and religion that we were exposed to. At one point we were able to get out of the bus and walk around a temple.

The city was extremely divers in ethnic and religious background.

Nearing the end of the tour, my sleepy eyes finally caught up to me and asleep i was on the bus, so unfortunately i cannot tell you anything about the second part of the tour.

Back at the airport we ran into Sonja and Cass who were boarding the same flight as us to Balikpapan.

150pm we walked onto the final flight our journey and landed in Borneo with huge smiles on our flight.

All in all the travels went very smoothly.

The hotel that we are staying at in Balikpapan is very nice, the warm shower and comfy bed was extremely welcoming!

Since it has now almost been 48hours of travels with maybe 4hours of sleep, i must close my eyes and get my beauty sleep.

Tomorow, we shall explore and i will attempt to load some photos from the last couple days.

goodnight my friends

xo nadine

A new decade

Its already day three of the new decade. The holiday season is coming to an end, slowly the massive crowds of people are leaving town and returning back to their homes and lives. The end of the new year always comes with unavoidable reflection on the past 360days and time to think about what is to come. 2009 brought many adventures for me; I spent the winter/spring in Montreal living the big city student life, then april came and I moved back to Whistler for the summer to work. My weekends were filled with many hiking/biking adventures around coastal BC, and then came September, and the time to relocate once again (this time not as far) to Squamish. And now all of a sudden its 2010, and in just 3 more sleeps I will be embarking on the biggest adventure of my life. In only the first two months of this new year, I will surpass any distance every traveled before in my lifetime. The experiences from my time in Borneo will surely surpass any previous adventures and introduce me to many new ways of thinking/new tastes/languages/cultures/landscapes and people.

So out of ignorance, I am going to name 2010 - my year of travel. and hope that in 12months I will have a world full of stories under my belt.

Happy 2010 to all ! I cannot wait to see what the decade will bring!