BRINCC Expedition

Maryland Entomological Society Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:50:00 +0000

Peter Houlihan will be speaking at the Maryland Entomological Society on Friday, April 20 about BRINCC's insect studies from the 2011 expedition. Peter will also talk about his current work on the Barcode of Life Database using DNA sequencing to better understand the phylogeography of Borneo’s butterfly populations. Specimens from the more than 100 butterfly species that Peter collected will be on display following the talk. In addition, results from the expedition’s other biodiversity projects on frogs, birds, small mammals, and gibbons, and the social team’s work conducted in the communities will be discussed, all of which has been recently published online in BRINCC’s Preliminary Report. BRINCC's Entomological studies were sponsored by BioQuip Products .

For more information, please contact: peter@brinccborneo.org

Specimens will be on display at the talk. These drawers display mostly species belonging to the Zeuxidia and Amathuxidia genera.

Drawers from BioQuip Products.

BRINCC Preliminary Report Now Ready!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:42:00 +0000

Dear All,

The preliminary report from our expedition last summer is now ready and available on our website! The final analysis is not yet complete, but we have data from this little studied area covering all aspects of our social and biodiversity work. Findings from our two teams report on social ecology, large and small mammals, primates, birds, amphibians, insects and plants!

Click here for the full report in English and Indonesian and be sure to "Like" our Facebook page titled: Barito River Initiative for Nature Conservation and Communities (BRINCC)!
http://brinccexpedition.org/Documents/

Enjoy!

BRINCC Preliminary Report Coming Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:22:00 +0000

The Project Leaders at BRINCC have been working non-stop since our return from the expedition in 2011. Soon we will be publishing a report that presents preliminary results from the Biodiversity and Social Teams.

BRINCC's biodiversity studies will be reporting on amphibians, birds, insects, large mammals, primates, and small mammals. Species lists from each of these studies conducted by the Biodiversity Team will be included in this report. We will also be sharing results from the Social Team's resource mapping and findings concerning sustainable livelihood in several communities.

You can be expecting this report VERY soon, so stay tuned to our blog!

BRINCC Team in Puruk Cahu (July 2011)

Falls in the village forest at our first field site

BRINCC and Explore at the Royal Geographical Society - THIS WEEKEND

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:07:00 +0000

Explore is promising to be a blast! BRINCC will be well represented by Susan Cheyne on the Tropical Forest Expeditions Panel, Andrea Höing on the Human and Medical Science Panel and Dominic Rowland presenting on People Orientated Research!

To find out more and get in the Explore spirit go to the Royal Geographical Society website.

BRINCC at Explore

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:33:00 +0000

The Royal Geographical Society Explore event will be held from 18-20th November 2011. Scientific Director Susan Cheyne is sitting on the panel for Tropical Forest Expeditions from 3.30-5.30pm on Saturday and Expedition Leader Dominic Rowland is speaking in the Human Sciences workshop on Sunday from 11.30am - 1pm. This event is the place to learn about expedition planing, meet link-minded people and see all the great work being done. Register soon to ensure a place!

BRINCC base camp at the second survey site in the Borah River

BRINCC Project News - thank you to our supporters

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:05:00 +0000

BRINCC are featured on the WildCRU (Wildlife Conservation Research Unit) website of the University of Oxford following the return of the team. Through the WildCRU funding appeal, BRINCC received many valuable donations from our friends and supporters, without which we could not have achieved all that we did. Thank you everyone who contributed to our success.

Explore 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:38:00 +0000

Come to Explore 2012 at the Royal Geographical Society to hear BRINCC expedition leader, Dominic Rowland, speaking about the expedition which took place this summer.

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 07:15:00 +0000

Spears and pigs – How life is going in the two Dayak villages

Hunting
After coming back to Kalasin with Deni’s company we had a good time finishing our focus group discussions and questionnaires for getting more background information about life in the village. Next to theoretical knowledge, Deni, Edwin, Laurio and me the greenhorn team joined the experienced hunters. One afternoon we packed our biscuits, water bottles and GPS and went hunting with Pak Chali (who lives on a house boat on the river), Pak Esau (our neighbour across the road) and the secretary of the village. We brought 4 dogs with us who are needed to find the wild pigs. We took the cis (small wooden boats) to go downstream entering a small beautiful stream and then walked for a few kilometres with high excitement looking for footprints, ready to light the fire to barbecue our pigs or to climb a tree in case the pig became aggressive. Unfortunately the pigs didn't seem to agree with the barbecue idea and seemed to have a meeting in a spot different from ours. But that is how it is. Pigs have become more difficult to find in the last few years and, depending on the season, hunters often come back without any success. Still, during tree fruiting there is a pig season, when the pig migration takes place and during this time hundreds of animals swim to cross the big Murung river allowing the hunters to change their strategy and instead of a long and tiring walk through the forest just need to sit in their cis with a coffee waiting for the pigs with their spear and fish them out of the water.

Ladangs – Forest gardens
We also joined Ibu Yanti (who was always afraid we would be starving and therefore regularly invited us to enjoy her very yummy food) and Tuti (who is very keen on learning english) to go to their Ladang where we saw the preparations for their shifting cultivation of forest gardens (Ladangs) as they grow their rice and vegetables. The area of the Ladang look like a battle field when the wood is cut and burned, but they are necessary to provide the villagers with their daily needs. Also, once old, it is hard to tell the difference between old Ladangs and forest which is in stark difference to areas logged by companies. Four years after a Ladang is left people can come back to their old Ladang as the soil will be fertile again. Sometimes there are pests and the vegetables will for example be eaten by animals (as the farmers don't need to use fertilizers nor pesticides). Another problem farmers are facing is that this year there is a very short dry season and the villagers (who almost all rely on their Ladangs) cannot burn their Ladangs. So hopefully there will not be a very serious food crises in the next months.

Acara adat in Tumbang Tujang
After participating in daily activities Deni and me also had the chance to take part in a cultural festival, which took place in T.Tujang for several days. The family of the head of the customary rights organized the event because one of his family members died. People from Topus, Kalasin, Tumbang Olong were invited and the village changed into a fair. There were small huts selling drinks and food. The traditional gongs were played and people did the traditional dance near the Totem around a cage with pigs. Kids were gambling or dancing or trying the gongs. It was so good to meet everybody again and we had to try Anding (rice wine) after which the dance was not too difficult any more.

Our last days and weeks were flying by and I cannot believe that the time is already over and we are now sitting in the office in Puruk Cahu. Deni already went back to Bogor to continue his study and I would like to say a very big thank you, you have been fantastic and contributed a lot to our team! The time in the village was a great experience and we learned so much about the very different way of life as well as having the great experience of living in this very welcoming culture. And I can just fully agree with Guy de Maupassant "It is the encounters with people that make life worth living."
This is the news so far from the social team!

Gardeners of the Forest - Primate Meeting in Bristol

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:31:00 +0000

Anyone in the UK interested in primate conservation may like to come to the Primate Society of Great Britain Winter Meeting in Bristol. The theme is Gardeners of the Forest and Dr Susan Cheyne from BRINCC will be speaking.

Adult female gibbon

Borah, Kelasin, and thereafter...

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Z) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:01:00 +0000

Wow, so much has happened since we’ve been able to last write, that it almost seems a little overwhelming to update you on all that has happened. We have now all safely arrived in Puruk Cahu (including the social team who will be writing an update soon) and are slowly recovering from the journey back and scraping mould of various objects. The students and Kath are now heading to Palangkaraya and myself, Dom and Andrea are staying on in Puruk Cahu for at least a week. But more on that later…

Our trip to Pondok Borah from the village of Tumbang Tujang was simply incredible with the jungle slowly closing around the river as our seven motorised canoes slowly made their way upriver through rapids and darker and denser jungle. It wasn’t long after our arrival that we were aware of just how full of life our new home actually was. Gibbons, birds, small and large mammals were all seen so often within a few days of setting up camp that we soon realised just how special this forest is.

Over the next few days our camp was made into a very comfortable home as Pak Beni and Pak Sion worked their camp-craft. Everybody and their behind was grateful that Dom did not attempt to make another bench and before we knew it the guys had made benches, tables, and a cooking area. The camp quickly became a comfortable home and from our hammocks we could watch the Borah river meander by in the sunshine or turn into a raging torrent after rain. We washed in the river in moonlight (or in torrential downpours), fried freshly caught fish from the stream, and played cards in the evenings by lantern-light. Our schedule was hectic as usual with early mornings taken up by small mammal, bird and gibbon research, whilst the evenings/nights were used to survey frogs and night mammals. Every project yielded exciting results and we will soon be sharing these with you in our post-expedition reports and full project reports at the start of next year.

On the 5^th September, we all packed the camp and with five boats (this tells you how much food is needed for a month!) headed back down-river to the village of Tumbang Tujang. We were all sad to leave the Borah, but excited at the prospect of small things such as ice cubes in our drinks and an ability to sniff our clothes without our eyes tearing up. We spent a night in Tujang discussing the expedition and what will follow with the village elders who after a series of formalities (which include the profuse and repeated expression of regret should one party have in any way offended the other) brought out the locally made rice wine and started a party which culminated in the entire village turning up to dance in our house to what can only be described as an acoustic tragedy (a mix of happy hardcore and fast house). The BRINCC team had however made a very good impression and all expressed a desire for our return to the region in between laughing at stories of our faux pas and our inability to cleanly open a coconut. The favourite story of how a group of small children turned up in camp, but, too shy to enter the camp itself were greeted by Dom yelling “masak” instead of “masuk” made everyone laugh…. Dom had, in fact, ordered the children to “cook” rather than to “enter”. No wonder they ran away.

The biodiversity team then headed to Kelasin where Andrea and Denni had already spent two weeks undertaking their work. Kelasin was certainly a change of scenery for the forest team who were already contemplating whether it is possible to overdose on chocolate and crisps (it’s not). Living in the forest changes your world very profoundly with the body becoming attuned to the quiet, solitude, and the pace of the forest. Village life was certainly very different in these respects and despite the relative modernity of Kelasin, we still had vivid reminders from the local people of where we were (our clothes were taken off the washing line after dark to avoid the village ghosts wearing them during the night and causing us illness later). We were even paid a visit by the village “magic man” who can see the dead and make himself invisible (but only when completely naked). Despite my natural cynicism (or perhaps because of it) I dared not ask him for a demonstration.

Kelasin has of course no mains electricity or running water and washing and calls of nature are all dealt with by the Murung river around which life revolves. The idea of having a bath on floating rafts downstream from other floating rafts each with attached toilet puts a whole new dimension to playing “poo sticks”, but we laughed so much every time we headed to wash ourselves that it soon became a daily ritual to watch with baited breath the upstream rafts for signs that someone might be using the toilet. The mathematical formula for the question “if a poo floats freely on a river moving at 15km per hour, how soon will it reach your raft 25m away” is far too simple to calculate for comfort (the answer is “too quickly” in case you’re wondering). Sitting on these rafts however and watching the daily life of the village go by as the sun sets or the rainclouds roll in was always a fantastic way to end the day.

So now we have arrived back in Puruk Cahu! Despite the field work of the expedition being over, the hard work of BRINCC is now only starting. We will now begin the process of writing expedition reports, analysing of data, and writing presentations to make people aware of the Murung Raya’s biodiversity. We will be visiting dozens of government offices and organizations to discuss our findings and create more links between ourselves and others working in the region as well as people further afield. And of course we will update this blog to let you know how we’re getting on!

My last post from Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:29:00 +0000

Well I received my export permit today! It was a very long and complicated process, but glad that is all settled and all I have now is a few long flights half-way around the world to get back home. I have no idea where the past 3.5 weeks have gone since I left the field. I've been working every day on analyzing data, submitting paperwork for my exit permit, and organizing samples for my export permit. On top of that I have been working on trying to keep up with work at the university back in the States, while also scheduling in meetings with a variety of government officials here in Indonesia. Needless to say, the past few weeks have been chaotic and I am glad to be finished with the permits, paperwork, etc.

The team has another 2-3 weeks in the last field site and then they will all have to go through the same processes in Palangka Raya, Jakarta, and Bogor. It's been an incredibly successful expedition. Insect work went great. I really enjoyed advising Mila in the field on her undergraduate thesis project about frogs. Every morning spent gibboning was full of excitement (and cofffee)- sitting while the forest erupted into noise. Night walks were also going really well in the pristine forest, with some amazing sightings every single night, and it was always fun to come back to camp in the evenings and listen to Mike's stories of trap happy rats or Kath's new records of endemic birds. It's pretty funny how months of 14 hour days in the forest were a lot less tiring and stressful than a few weeks of life in town, but everything is sorted now and I am very much looking forward to getting on the plane and actually getting some sleep!

See you next time Indo.

-Peter

BRINCC Team arrives at last field site!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:27:00 +0000

The biodiversity team has arrived in Kelasin and they are having dinner with the social team, who have been in the village for several weeks already. They will be meeting with various members of the village tomorrow and starting up work at the third and final field site for this year's expedition. The last village has said they already miss the team and want everyone back.

We'll keep posting as the team sends text updates via satellite phone, and sometime soon when I need a break from working on permits, I'll write more about our experiences in the field!

-Peter

Update from the field team 5th September 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 06:23:00 +0000

The team are all well and staying in the village of Tumbang Tujang tonight to discuss the progress of the expedition with the local villagers before heading to the third and final site, the village of Kalasin, tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates from the final leg of the expedition!

A brief photo-diary from the field

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 08:35:00 +0000

I just wanted to post some photos from the past few amazing months on expedition. Enjoy.

-Peter

The highlands of central Borneo

The reality of most of Borneo

Susan presenting an expedition poster at one of our stops along the journey from Puruk Cahu

Butterflies along the riverside near camp

Red-crowned Barbet

First night of frogging (Rana picturata)

One of the most popular places to relax around camp

Our pondok for the first month-long field site

Night collecting with Junaidi using equipment from BioQuip Products

Traveling between field sites. Dom in the foreground

So many reasons to love doing herp work

Cicada

River near camp

(Megophrys nasuta) Certainly one of my favorite frogs to find

Gibbons in the Mist: A snapshot from one of my videos.

Long-tailed Macaque

Bypassing rapids on my way out of the forest

A Day at the Bora

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:22:00 +0000

Everything has been going really well in the field. Now that I’m back in Puruk Cahu, I will do my best to start posting about our experiences. I guess it's best to just start with my day-to-day routine, which I have done non-stop for the past few months:

0345- wake up for gibboning, drink coffee
0405- wake up everyone else who is gibbboning that should already be awake
0410- head into the field
0440- arrive at the last listening post (where I have constructed 2 benches and a table and has been termed Pondok Peter – photo below)
until 8 or 9- gibbon triangulation
9-10am- eat breakfast in camp, probably drink more coffee, organize butterfly samples from the previous day, and prepare to head back into the field
10AM until 4PM- check all of my butterfly traps
4 until 6PM- classify butterflies caught from that day of trapping, debate whether or not it makes sense to wash in the river since I go back into the field at night
6 or 7PM- Eat dinner with everyone, discuss the plans for the following day, prepare to go back into the field
8-10PM- Herpetology Studies and/or Night Mammal Walks (usually 3 hours, from 8-11 or 9-12PM)
11PM-345AM- Sleep on my rice sack

I had the most consistent daily routine. Mike worked on Small Mammals every morning from about 5 or 6AM until 9, 10, 11...depending on how many captures there were. Dom rotated between Small Mammals and Gibbons in the mornings, as did Kath with Gibbons and Birds. Our Indonesian students have been exceptional. Kursani usually went gibboning in the morning and worked on plot work in the afternoons with Mike and Dom. Kursani’s knowledge of the forest, especially his botanical knowledge is incredibly impressive! Sion is from T. Tujang and is also a renaissance man in the forest who was always keen to be as actively involved in every project as possible. I have been advising Mila on her undergraduate thesis project, in which we have been surveying the diversity of frogs every night and had a number of interesting species captures. We have also recorded quite a few reptile species. Needless to say, frogging nights are awesome. Although Mila isn't the biggest fan of my ability to find some of the world's deadliest snakes (except for the krait that I kept her from stepping on...which I would think she appreciated). We have started Edwin and Rio on nocturnal transect walks, for which I have been advising them through project development and instruction on methods for data collection. The night is probably my favorite time to be in the forest, and so I was always quite happy to be spending up to 14 hours a day in the forest because that time often involved night time encounters with many of the forest’s elusive animals (like the clouded leopard- that story to come later).

I'll keep posting each day, but now that I am out of the forest there are hundreds of emails to catch up on, data to analyze, exit and export permits to work on, papers to eat, clothes to wash, and chicken to eat! For now, here are a few pictures.

-Peter

Me with a massively buttressed tree in the Tujang village forest

Amazing falls along a stream in Tujang

Sunlight coming through over a river where I had many of my traps

Pondok Peter- The best gibbon listening post to ever exist.

"Sampai nanti strong man"

noreply@blogger.com (Peter) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 04:37:00 +0000

Well after a few months in the field, I am now back in Puruk Cahu. Kursani and I left the Bora in the morning at 8am of Friday. We took a 4 hour boat ride down the rapids of the Murung river to the village of Tumbang Tujang. From there, we started a long journey by 4x4 back to Puruk Cahu. Along the way, we stopped in Kelasin to pick up Andrea, Andhi, and Yiyi. Andrea will be returning to Kelasin in a few days after Deni's arrival. Andhi and Yiyi left yesterday morning to head back through Palangka Raya to Jakarta, while Kursani left for his village. Finally at 630am yesterday I went to sleep, after a long 16 hour day of traveling.

At 10am I woke up and Suparjan, Ratu, Yiyi, and I went to visit Junaidi's family. His village was several hours away by motorbike on the Barito River. We paid our respects at his grave and then his family welcomed us into their home. Junaidi's sister told us that even until his last few minutes in the hospital he was constantly asking about the expedition, wanting to know how we were all doing in Bora. We all got to know Junaidi well during the time he spent with us on the expedition. I had trained him in butterfly surveying and promised to write a report in Indonesian on the methods of bait trapping to send to him, along with a bait trap in order to assist him in constructing his own traps and to start his own studies in his village. Junaidi's family said that he has been a very influential person in helping to preserve their village forest and he had told them that he had great interest in monitoring the wildlife there. His sister told us that he had plans to get married and also build a school on the land he owns in order to provide education for the children of the village. We sat in the house where Junaidi was raised and ate with about 50 people in his house as they all gathered to break fasting. People had come from many of the surrounding villages and Puruk Cahu for up to a week after Junaidi's death to pay their respects. He had clearly touched the lives of many people he met throughout his life, as well as our own. His passing at the age of 30 brings sadness to all of us, knowing the great future that lie ahead of him, but we are all happy that we were fortunate enough to get to know Junaidi during our time here; and so I say to Junaidi what he said to me the last time I saw him as he left the field, "Sampai nanti (until later) strong man."

-Peter

The view of the Barito River from Junaidi's village

"Sampai nanti strong man"

News from the social team

noreply@blogger.com (Andrea) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 04:23:00 +0000

It's a long time we haven't been in touch. This is due to the fact that we don't have internet or phone signal in either village. Time is flying here and Yiyi and Andhi’s time in the field is over. We are now in Puruk Cahu to wait for Deni (Andhi’s friend) who helps for the last few weeks.

Last week we had to leave Tumbang Tujang after finishing all our data, which contained focus group discussions where we created maps and learned about daily activities of people living in the village, it also included teaching children about English and the importance of the forest with the BRINCC booklet and the Sarong game which some of you might already know (if not you can download the booklet and the teachers instructions from our website). We had a lot of fun and in many cases the children and young people could teach us a lot about plants and animals they use for different purposes, for example do they drink from big Liana in the forest if they cannot find a river close by.

Kids explaining us their life in and with the forest. Picture taken by Andhi

They also have a huge variation of medicinal plants and Yiyi and I were in the position to be able to test it. For our stomach ache we got a massage from a garlic oil paste. It made us feel like we were made ready for barbecue...

We also watched some traditional events. One was about the young man who died while searching for gold. The villagers who are from the ethnic group of Hindu-Kaharingan hold a ceremony with the Dukung (a kind of shaman in the village).

Shaman in T. Tujang

They called the ghosts and asked for their help to protect the villagers, after that we all got bracelets from a special root and Yiyi and I almost became Punan (people from the original tribe in the area). The second ceremony was held for a very sick woman who sadly died the next day. But instead of what you would expect after someone passes away, everybody gathered for several days and there were lots of games and laughing in the house of the woman who died, including fire games, where people running around with fire balls trying to catch each other (of course still taking care not to burn someone seriously). This tradition of the Hindu-Kaharingan people is on the one hand to make it easier for the family -they are not alone and are cheered up and second simply because the people and friends are happy for the person who died, that he finally made it to heaven. The whole village gathers for 7 days and no one is allowed to go to the forest or do gold mining in that time.

Leaving T. Tujang

After leaving our new family and friends in Tumbang Tujang we went first very sadly to Kalasin which is a 3 hours drive by off-road car from T. Tujang. But however our sadness changed very quickly as we were welcomed very very friendly. Kalasin is quite different to T. Tujang the village is closer and gets a lot more help from companies (which for example sponsored them 30 houses). People go hunting, fishing and searching Gold and Gaharu the special endangered wood, which is used for perfume in Saudi Arabia and China. They also look for another endangered tree species where they build houses from, the wood is very hard and is therefore also used for various things, such as building bridges.
In Kalasin many people still do handicrafts. Women are busy in the forest gardens and if they stay in the village looking after their children, but between 3 and 4pm everybody gathers and plays volleyball. In the evening we conducted several meetings, introduced ourselves and the mission of BRINCC as in T. Tujang and started Focus group discussions to know more about their livelihoods. If there are no meetings we gather in front of the TV which is in front of one of the 4 small shops in Kalasin to chat to people. The mandi (bath) in Kalasin is in the river and Yiyi and me had to learn how to mandi in the Sarong without losing it. That was quite a big challenge, especially if half of the village want to see the white city people having a bath in the river.

Mandi in the river (Kalasin)

On 31st Deni and I will go back and join a wedding ceremony on 1st of September. On 10th we will meet our friends in T. Tujang as the there will be a ceremony from the head of the customary. Also the forest team will join us very soon to stay in their last field site in Kalasin.
And at this point I want to say a very very big thank you to Yiyi, Andhi and Iis for all your hard work in the past weeks. It was very nice to work with you and I'm sure the people in both villages will keep on telling stories about their new Javanese and Dayak friends!

Update from Bora River 22nd August 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:16:00 +0000

The team have spotted a Bulwer's Pheasant (Lophura bulweri) is also known as Bulwer's Wattled Pheasant, the Wattled Pheasant, or the White-tailed Wattled Pheasant. It is a Southeast Asian bird in the Phasianidae family; endemic to the forests of Borneo. It is currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.


Bulwers pheasant

The team have also now recorded 34 species of frogs, and a possible Hoses civet (Diplogale hose), another Bornean endemic species also listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.

Tribute to Junaidi Shalat

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:55:00 +0000

Following the tragic death of Junaidi last week we would like to clarify that his death was NOT related to the expedition and that he seems to have had an undiagnosed lung condition prior to his joining BRINCC. He passed away following his return from the field and was in Puruk Cahu. While Junaidi was on expedition there was no indication that he was unwell, if this had been the case he would have been evacuated. Health and Safety of all members of BRINCC is of paramount importance.

We hope everyone will join BRINCC in offering our condolences to Junaidi's family.

BRINCC Indonesian Expedition member has passed away

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:33:00 +0000

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of one of the team due to long-term illness. Junaidi Shalat was suffering from lung disease and this has claimed his life. Junaidi worked for the Indonesian Government Department of Resource Management (BLH) and joined the expedition in the community forest of Tumbang Tujang. Junaidi had returned to Puruk Cahu at the end of July. Our thoughts are with his family.

Kursani, Junaidi and Peter

Update 11th August

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 03:54:00 +0000

The team are well and making great progress in the primary forest site of the Bora River, a tributary of the Murung River.

Update from the field 08-08-11

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:42:00 +0000

The team have arrived safely in the Bora River, the primary forest site of the expedition. All are safe and happy and established in Pondok (camp) Bora. They say the forest is very beautiful. Please stay tuned for more news from the team as they survey this forest!

Clouded Leopard confirmed at the first field site!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:31:00 +0000

Peter Houlihan has sighted and followed a clouded leopard 1.5km from the camp while out surveying for gibbons at 04:35am this morning! Wonderful news and this hopefully confirms 3 of the 5 Bornean cats present in the Community Forest and certainly confirms the presence of the island's top predator. As Peter says in his text from camp "A beautiful animal".

Update from the field 3rd August 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:43:00 +0000

The teams are well despite the storms and Andrea and the social team have joined the biodiversity team for a day. Food supplies are running low so the return of Dom and the new Indonesian students will be most welcome tomorrow!

Links to the recent news from BRINCC

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Susan Cheyne) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:07:00 +0000

There has been so much news from the team that some of it may be getting lost in the long posts so here is a summary of links to our latest news:

New contact information for the BRINCC team here
Update from the Social Team here
Update from the Biodiversity team here