Tag: Indonesia

Help save sea turtles in Bali, Indonesia

Guest blogger Rebecca MacDonald-Taylor, of NGO Frontier, tells us how you can help threatened sea turtles in the Indian Ocean…

Picture this: Dark ashy shades created from the towering volcanic mountains contrast with a rainbow pallet of coral reefs shimmering through the clear blue waters. The Indonesian island of Bali really is stunning!

Bali, Frontier

Working with turtles

Bali is under huge pressure from Indonesia’s growing tourism industry. It’s understandable – Bali is gorgeous and everybody wants to see it for themselves, but the more people visit, the more the fragile environment and its wildlife is damaged.

Frontier helps provide a solution by operating the Sea Turtle Conservation project which provides a hands-on approach in the conservation of these majestic and enchanting creatures. It’s a unique experience, and one that you can join.

sea turtle on Bali, Frontier

Life as a volunteer on the project

Litter left on the beaches can be a big choking problem, especially for the young, and so volunteers monitor the weaker turtles in a natural enclosure for support and rehabilitation until they are ready for release. The project also needs people to collect vital baseline data on turtle populations.

During the day, volunteers also have the opportunity to teach English at one of the local schools which is a fantastic chance to immerse yourself in the Bali culture. Support, particularly in English language fluency, has a lasting impact on the community.

volunteering in Bali, Frontier

Food

Volunteers enjoy three meals a day of traditional Balinese cuisine, an exciting fusion of Indonesian and Chinese styles. Some of the most popular dishes are Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice with a fried egg on top) and Mie Goreng (fried noodles with egg).

Accommodation

One of the added bonuses of volunteering on this project is that you get to live right next to the beach! You can stay at a volunteer house with all the basic facilities that you’ll need.

There is a mix of both Western and Asian-style toilets and I would definitely suggest making use of the outdoor showers. There are indoor ones, but you may as well take advantage of welcoming a cold rinse in the tropical temperatures. You would never be able to do that in the UK! (‘We agree’ – Editor)

accommodation on Bali, Frontier

Recommended for… Anyone who is desperate to escape to a tropical dreamland and immerse themselves in a diverse culture, helping the local community. A love of turtles wouldn’t go amiss either!

Be aware that… Some activities are seasonal. Turtles lay their eggs throughout the year, but the opportunity to collect eggs and monitor nests is often highest between July and October when the sea is calmer.

For more information, including a full programme, prices, departure dates and booking, visit the Sea Turtle Conservation project page on the Frontier website.

About the author: Rebecca MacDonald-Taylor is an Online Journalism Intern at Frontier, an international non-profit volunteering NGO. Check out Frontier’s blog ‘Into the Wild’ for more gap year ideas to help make your time out meaningful. For more information about travel and volunteering opportunities available please visit www.frontier.ac.uk.

Spotting orangutans in the Sumatran jungle

Love orangutans? Want to spend days and nights in the depths of the Indonesian jungle? Here’s what happened when Goodtrippers visited the small Sumatran town of Bukit Lawang and explored its wild junmother and baby orangutangle in search of the endangered orangutan…

High up in the trees sat a creature with fur that glowed orange in the light – it was our first sighting of a wild orangutan. This was day one of a six-day trek through the Sumatran jungle in Indonesia, and we were here to spot one of the world’s most endangered, and endearing, animals – the ‘person of the forest’, the orangutan.

There are thought to be less than 6,600 orangutans left in Sumatra (and under 54,000 in Borneo). Their jungle habitat is being chopped down at a rate of knots to supply the huge demand for resources such as timber and palm oil. Sickeningly, some baby orangutans are also taken from their mothers and sold as pets.

The small Sumatran town of Bukit Lawang, on the edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park, has become something of a wildlife-lovers destination thanks to its orangutan rehabilitation centre. The town was devastated after the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 but has rebuilt itself with ecotourism initiatives including jungle treks that are sensitive to the natural surroundings and local wildlife.

Trekking – this is no leisurely stroll

You can choose from a variety of treks from just a few hours to several days exploring the National Park. We choose the latter and spent seven days and six nights in the depths of the Sumatran jungle. Be aware that while you don’t need to be an expedition expert, a decent level of fitness (and aversion to creepy-crawlies) does help. We were covering around 10km a day but the hills are incredibly steep, and the climate hot and humid, making it tough going. You will be wading chest-deep through streams, traversing slippery ledges, swinging through the jungle on vines, and climbing down waterfalls (yes, really!).

jungle campAcommodation – a basic camp

Nights are spent on the ground (in your sleeping bag) under makeshift canvas camps, all together with your fellow trekkers, guide and porters. The rain will be kept off but the open-sided tent means anything can crawl in (I was convinced a rat was running over me during one night – but I was so exhausted I just didn’t care!).

The local guide and porters really make the trip special. Our guide was a keen environmentalist and would point out various flora and fauna as we trekked (it’s not just orangutans; the jungle is home to an incredible number of plant species, insects, birds, snakes, mammals, even Sumatran tigers although you would have to be very lucky to see one – they prefer to stay as far away from humans as possible…).

It’s clear the trek team have grown up in this environment and are extremely jungle-savvy. Our porters could carry 20kg backpacks containing the group’s bedding, equipment and food while walking at twice the speed we could manage! And if you get into a spot of bother (which I frequently did), they were there with a helping hand.

Food – a jungle feasttrekking along the river

The food on the trek was a wonder in itself. I was expecting basic rations of beans and rice but our porters cooked up a veritable feast of Indonesian dishes that would be welcome on any restaurant menu, every evening. Spicy chicken, sambal, vegetable curry; and when the rations grew lower the porters gathered food from the jungle – fresh fish, banana shoots and greens.

It was an incredible experience, although I must admit to relief when we reached our final destination (the going had gotten incredibly tough and there was not much energy left). The end of the trek was celebrated with a refreshing dip (fully clothed!) in the river before the porters strapped together several large rubber rings… This was to be our final jungle ride, a fun-filled white-water rafting journey all the way down the rapidly moving river and back to Bukit Lawang. What an experience!

The Indonesia Jungle Adventure (Sumatra) is available to book via Frontier – visit www.frontier.ac.uk for dates, prices and more information.

This post was originally published on the Inspiring Travellers website (www.inspiringtravellers.com)

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