Wehea Village

Late last night we arrived in Tanjung Redeb after a long 8 hour drive on bumpy roads. Our last 10 days in the Wehea forest were pretty incredible. The next four days in Tanjung Reheb are filled with meetings with various government officials and university students as we prepare to go into Lessan Forest. Here is the first update from the last 10 days and ill add more later :)

This morning we met with the Bupadi of Kutai. We got to go into the government building and they had set up a press converence type meeting for us. They began by explaining their efforts for establishing the Wehea National Park. The framework that has been established to protect Wehea is incredible. Wehea village is a key factor in protecting the forest. The rangers employed to protect the rainforest are all employed from the village. By incorporating a strong bond between the local community and protecting rather than exploiting their environment, the project is bound to be more successful.

After many photographs in the government building, we jumped in a convoy of jeeps. We drove for 7 hours on bumpy, muddy, twisty/turning roads until we finally reached Wehea village. Our entire drive gave us views of defforestation, palm oil plantations and coal mines as far as one could see into the horizon. It is so hard to believe that destruction that has occurred in this area throughout the last 10 years. Only remanants remained of one of the most spectacular rainforest in the world.

The community of Wehea village welcomed us with a tradition ceremony. We were blessed good health from the chief, who then proceeded in sacrificing a baby chick for us. The blood was smeared on our foreheads and thin red bracelets tied to our right wrists. Then came the dancing, in which the chief insisted we participate in. As the community stood on the sidelines, we attempted to follow some of the elders in a tradition dance to the sound of the gongs. Definitely quite a few laughs as we all tried to move to the rhythm of the drums. This ceremony, compared to the ecotourist experience that we had on the Mahakam river, had a much stronger feeling of connection between us and the dyak people. The ceremony truly made us feel welcome into this community that we will call home for the next 2 nights.

Walking up and down the dirt streets of Wehea village I can feel the energy that this community has. The people radiate and they all speak so highly of their forest. Without all of their support any conservation efforts to protect the forest is futile. The local communities must believe in what they are doing rather than just following orders from the government, and this is apparent here in Wehea village.

So for the next 2 nights we are all spread out across the village in different homestay families. I am very excited to learn more about the culture.

As we have learnt over the time here in Borneo so far, is that culture is constantly changing, just like everything else in this world. For us to think that their culture will remain stagnant in its old ways is unrealistic and narrow minded. But yet, in a community such as Wehea it is apparent that it is their culture that is preserving the environment. I wonder how we can preserve the aspects of their culture that represent their connection with the environment while allowing them to evolve with this changing world.

Our only hope for conservation efforts lies in the hearts of the local people.