The air is so thick it feels like sucking in honey, the
smells here are much different than the forest smells of my native Michigan.
The scent that surrounds you in these forests is a mix of decay of wood and old
fruit, and when in the vicinity of the ephemeral streams there is an even
greater rotting as the swiftness of the flowing water expedites the breakdown
of flora and fauna. Since it is not the major fruiting, flowering season there is
no sweetness to drown the smell out. This forest is constantly reclaiming the
areas that humans try to occupy. There are many broken down boardwalks where
the rot has taken the once usable boards and made them slippery slides that
deliver you into mud pits that try to claim your shoes. The forest is teeming
with creatures that actually do welcome fresh blood, literally. The leeches and mosquitoes are so happy that we are slip sliding our way around in the peat
swamp, also attracted to the novelty of our human presence are the sweat bees,
who buzz continuously around our heads but with no regard for personal space as
they dive bomb ears, eyes, nose and mouth. 
Then there are the orangutans, the reason I am here. I was
so lucky, my introduction to this forest was not only to the harsh reality of
death and renewal, but it also included the magic of meeting one of the earths
most magnificent creatures, one of our evolutionary cousins. Many of the
orangutans here have been habituated so we can follow them in the forest
without stressing them and causing them to Kiss squeak, a vocalization that
sounds just like its name, or having them run away, because they can move much
faster through the tree tops than we can slicing our way through the forest
with machetes.
Following an orangutan is not all staring googly eyed at the
impressive, graceful red apes as you stumble through the forest as the
antithesis of grace. It is really demanding work, not just because of the
unyielding grasp the forest has on you as you climb over dead trees, through vines,
under prickly rattan plants. The real work is in attempting to fill out the
data sheets as you are trying to successfully navigate the treacherous forest
while keeping your eyes skyward. The data is taken with instantaneous sampling
where the sheets must be filled out every two minutes with what the individual
is doing (if eating, then what and how), how high they are in the tree, if they
are vocalizing (then what voc), are other individuals eating the same food
within 10m, if there are two or more orangutans how far are they apart from
each other. Also while filling out this sheet you need to write down any social
interactions between two or more orangutans and also any unique actions your
individual is doing. So you really can never take your eyes off the orangutan
even when you are between the two minute intervals. Plus GPS data needs to be
taken every half an hour and when the orangutans spend more than 5 minutes
eating in a tree. Also there are sheets to fill out when the individual gives a
long call or hears a long call and also sheets to record their nest behavior.
The intense pressure of trying to write everything down,
trying to make the right approximations for heights and what the orangutans are
eating is kind of overwhelming. Then the fact that you follow the orangutans
from their morning nest to their night nest means you have to get up at 3am to
walk out to the nest (to make sure you get there before the orangutans leave)
then you must stay with them until they make a nest in the evening so you know
where to go in the morning again. This will make a day of at least 13 hours and
sometimes up to 15 hours. It is rough, tough, terrible work. Then to come back
to camp and have to try to dry out gear, dump GPS data, dump pictures (to
identify other individuals that are found on the follow), put cameras, GPS,
Binoculars, compass, watch in silica gel to dry out, and pack new data sheets
for the next day. This leaves just enough time to shower (by dumping buckets of
water over your head) and eating (usually rice and some sort of vegetables,
sometimes eggs) and going to bed. The people who do this work are really a
unique breed. They work tirelessly in the forest and then come back shovel in
some rice, splash water on their face and then work into the dark entering data,
sorting GPS data and pictures and planning the next days follows. You do not
have a life while here, there is barely time to get to know the other
researchers since you are busy with research constantly. I am trying to juggle
all of this while learning Indonesian since the assistants do not speak English
and sometimes you follow alone with just an assistant.
Not sure if I could really do this for a couple years like
is required for the Ph.D. programs. Camp makes me a little stir crazy since
there is no contact with the outside world. No cell service, no Internet
access, no new faces, no escape from being with the same people day and night.
But since we don’t really know each other it is like standing in a crowded room
but being so very alone. It makes me appreciate all the things I have taken for
granted at home. The fact that I have a washing machine to clean my clothes;
running water that I can drink out of the tap, a refrigerator for vegetables,
milk, butter, eggs. Being able to run to the store if I want an ice cream or a
cold beer. Being able to talk to my boyfriend, being able to be with people who
really know me and care about me. This has been a life changing experience for
me in more ways then one but the most important I can see is that it has opened
my eyes to my life. It has shown me how finite my time on this earth is and
that I don’t think I can stand to spend it continually hunched over a computer
worrying about the next publication while time spent with loved ones is pushed
aside again and again until it is too late. I don’t want to wait to start
living until I get through my Ph.D. and
then until I finish my postdoc, after that when I get a professor position,
then when I get tenure. By the time that would happen I will be older, and some
of the adventures I want to take will no longer make sense. I want a life and I
want it now!
