It’s dawn. The frogs fall silent while gibbons tell everybody about their territories and the sunrise. The night-shift is over and the day-shift begins.
I have now been at Harapan Rainforest for more than a month as Senior Technical Adviser, bringing the experience gained in 12 years of conservation work in Indonesia.
Most of my career has been managing pristine habitats protected from clearance, like national parks. However, Harapan Rainforest is about bringing damaged habitat “back to what it was”. For me, that is really exciting. The gibbons that wake me each morning are a bonus – I simply love them!
If we can rehabilitate Harapan Rainforest it will show that a degraded forest can be restored. I recently walked out of camp and noticed the forest floor was covered in seedlings, showing the forest is regenerating. It will need help; the task is huge but progress this far shows it is achievable.
Well, it’s time for breakfast – fried rice and a coffee, unfiltered of course. We are, after all, in Indonesia.