Sun Bears, Orangutans and Ants... Oh my!

I wish you all could see Borneo, it is a place like no other. Arriving in Balikpapan was very stimulating for a jet-lagged, confused and excited Paul. A got through immigration quickly, and was helped outside by a kind individual as I looked for my ride to the hotel. Little did I know that this little Indonesian man was not carting my precious belongings by the goodness of his heart, but requesting payment after I loaded my bag into the van.

- Hint for fellow travelers, triple check the currency exchange rate before you land because he kept asking for 2,000 rupias, which numerically sounds ridiculous. Having not visited a exchange place, I had to ask a fellow student of mine for two american dollars.

So great, here I am, fifteen minutes into Borneo, already into debt, and not having slept for almost two days. The day was great and early. Got to the hotel and met the team we will be working with which includes some amazing students (primarily from Canada), three professors and several translators. Everyone is so passionate and intelligent, I cannot wait to work with them.

We have been going over the information as to what we will be doing over the next forty five days, and how. Man, I cannot come close to describing how mindblowing all of this is. I have only given people minute descriptions as to what this trip is about, so let me go into more detail. The trip is organized by a nonprofit by the name of Ethical Expeditions which advocates for the conservation of our natural world through education and community empowerment. They have worked extensively with the population of people we will be spending time with here, helping them advocate and work on protecting their environment and culture. Ethical Expeditions describes the Wehea Dayak as:

Surrounded by forest, the Wehea Dayak communities live in five small villages in the East Kutai regency of East Kalimantan. The community is so small that some studies of Dayak ethnic groups leave them out entirely and little has been documented about their unique cultural identity. The Wehea Dayak used their traditional practices for conservation in 2004, by declaring a 38,000 ha abandoned timber concession “protected land” under traditional law. This forest is protected by fifty local young people, called the Petkuq Mehuey, or forest guardians. Bolstered by the success of this conservation project, including receiving Indonesia’s highest environmental honor, Wehea tribal leaders are committed to leading their community in efforts to preserve their cultural and ecological traditions. At the same time, community members are seeking initiatives to bring income to the community, balancing traditions with “modern” development.

And what we are doing here is helping the community preserve both their cultural and ecological heritage. We are doing this by splitting into two groups, one being the biodiversity group and one being the ethnoecological group. The biodiversity group is traveling out to the Wehea forest and documenting what is in their for the Dayak people. The ethnoecological group is studying the culture and people of the Nehas Liah Bing village and researching their relationship to the environment and documenting our cultural and anthropological research for the communities benefit. We are aiming to be able to research the resilience of the Wehea Dayak community, because while it is rarely studied, the resilience of a community and environment is extremely important.

We drove from the hotel in Balikpapan to an area called Samboja Lestari, which is a rehabilitated rainforest in outside of East Kalimantan. It was rehabilitated by a man named Willie Smits, who started an NGO by the name of Balikpapan Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS), in order to provide the orangutans a place to live as they are slowly becoming more and more extinct. They as well as thousands of other species are facing this reality as a result of massive deforestation all over Borneo, depriving the soil and land of their nutrients leaving the land virtually unusable except for for grassland. It is truly a site to stand in our lodge, five stories up and see the vast forest that fifteen years ago was all grassland. Each tree had to be planted by hand, and each orangutan giving care for. You can walk by their little islands separated by a minute moat, as they jump from branch to branch and tree to tree. They are such beautiful animals, as they jump and somersault and eat their damn yummy bananas. Watching them makes you feel jiped some how by getting only two thumbs instead of four. In Samboja, there also is a Sun Bear survival foundation that has forty nine Sun Bears, which have become like Borneo's forgotten step children. They two have been severely killed off as a result of Borneo deforestation. I had never seen or heard of these fantastic bears before coming here. They are much smaller in stature compared to most other bears, but what makes them truly unique is their pattern of fur on their chest. Each one is perplexingly different, acting as each Sun Bear's fingerprint. We were able to feed them by scattering fruit and food all around their living area, and hiding the fruit in suspended barrels and rope ladders and branches, in order to keep them stimulated as they search for the food. It was hilarious running around and hiding the fruit, as if we were preparing a massive easter egg hunt for them. I of course got a bloody nose, only to get another one in my other nostril several moments later, thus was jogging around hiding chunks of pineapple and guava with both nostrils stuffed with tissue. I really have made that look look damn good. It is so crazy beautiful here. There are ants the size of my thumb, spiders literally the size of my entire head, and even praying mantis' come climbing on you. The biodiversity found here is astounding, and you cannot help but smile and love every second of it, and wonder why so many people are willingly destroying forests and threating the world's biodiversity every single day. I cannot wait to share more as we enter the village late tomorrow evening (of course after a seventeen hour van ride... whoot whoot).

View of Samboja Forest

Orangutan having a good time

The moat between island and mainland for the Orangutans

A lil' family of Orangutans

The Sun Bear Sanctuary

Fruit and Soy milk, dang good diet

He's saying "Salamat Ciang"

Female Sun Bears gossiping

"I'm a get that pineapple."