Bad Boys Merangin!: On Patrol with the Tiger Protection and Conservation Team

Iswadi, Herizal, Suhardi, and M resting on the way to the field.

This past week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to follow along on a forest patrol inside Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat National Park conducted by the elite rangers that make up the Sumatran Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit.  The unit is specially tasked with protecting and conserving the critically endangered Sumatran Tiger, but they also perform other ranger duties as well.  Since the unit was created in 2000 it has expanded to five four-man teams and has achieved a great deal of success in preserving the Sumatran tiger.  I followed one of the unit's teams for 5 days through the park's dense forest and rugged terrain, an experience that was extremely rewarding in terms of my research while at the same time being one of the most grueling tasks I've ever undertaken.

Heading Out...

Provisions for 5 days

I drove over to Bangko in Merangin district (4 hours from where I live) the day before the patrol was to start in order to get prepared.  The team was kind enough to prepare the "logistik" or provisions that I would need for five days, which you can see in the photo to the right.  The bags contain dried minnows and about 8 pounds of rice.  The guys at the barracks stayed up late since it's Ramadan (a post on the Muslim holy month will follow) and before they begin the day's fasting they eat a big meal at around three in the morning and go back to sleep.  Our patrol plan was to camp at the edge of the forest on day one, search for illegal animal traps for three days, and then head back to the barracks on the fifth day.  This particular patrol was a bit special because once a year the five teams that make up the Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit have a contest to see who can find the most traps.  The team that comes in first wins a bonus of 3 million rupiah (a bit over US$300), whereas the second place team gets 2 million, and the third place team gets 1 million.  We woke up around 7:30 am, loaded up the ancient Toyota Land Cruiser (see photo above) that had been pressed into service because one of the team's Ford Rangers was in the shop, and set out on the 4-hour drive to our departure site in the Lembah Masurai area of Merangin district. We felt every bump along the extremely rough road, but finally we made it to the village of Nilo Dingin, smack dab in the middle of an area that is currently experiencing some of the highest rates of forest encroachment on the whole island of Sumatra.

Chatting with coffee farmers

We hiked a couple of kilometers through the sprawling coffee gardens that forms the mainstay crop of the thousands of farmers that have flooded into the Lembah Masurai area to farm.  The volcanic soil here is rich and highly productive, and very high yields have drawn as many as 18,000 families from as far away as Lampung and South Sumatra.  They have become a major problem for authorities charged with managing protected forests, as they have begun encroaching into the park and other conservation areas.  We spent the night with a friendly farmer from Pagar Alam in South Sumatra, who told us he'd been farming coffee here for four years and that it has allowed him to send his children to university.  We enjoyed his hospitality and the basic comforts of his pondok (1) while other farmers showed up to check out the foreigner and the forest police.

Into the Woods...

After a 3am meal we went back to sleep, waking at around 7am to head into the forest.  We trekked up the steep slopes of Mt. Masurai, a dormant volcano.  My prime concern was not to fall behind and not to become a hindrance, since there was a prize at stake for the team.  I was pretty nervous about not being able to keep up given that these guys go into the forest for a living.  In addition, I'd had my appendix removed a few weeks before, and even though I felt 100% healthy I wasn't sure how my body would react to strenuous hiking.  I had been training for the patrol before my surgery, but after I stopped to allow myself to fully recover.  After a few hours hiking we reached the top of a 40-meter waterfall and stopped to take a break.  The view was really breathtaking; as we walked across the top of the waterfall I imagined myself in one of those panoramic cinema shots taken from a helicopter you sometimes see in the movies.  I know it sounds corny, but it was exhilerating.  Shortly after this we found our first active snare, which you can see in the photo below.  This particular trap was set by poachers for a forest goat, which brings about US$5 per kilogram at market.  The poachers usually set the traps along trails since animals follow trails because the going is easier.  This particular trap was worth 50 points in the contest, so everyone was excited.

Team leader M describing how the trap works. 

At around 4pm we found a spot to camp so that we could set everything up before dark.  Though we camped beside the trail, the guys told me that normally they try to camp off the trail and near a river, since beliau (2) likes to use the trail.  They told me that they ask the tiger's permission to camp by the trail when they need to, because "we are under (his) rules here".

The Next Two Days...

100% waterproof shelter.

The next morning we hunkered down because it was raining.  Amazingly the shelter the team constructed kept us 100% dry.  By about 10.30 the sky had cleared, so we broke camp and got back to work.  Although I started out feeling fine, the second day really took its toll on me because we did a lot of ascending and descending over difficult terrain.  The guys had no problem though; it was a particularly humbling experience trying to keep up with the nimble forest rangers because I kept slipping and getting caught up in thorns.  Every time you fall or have to extract yourself from the ever-present pokey-plants that seem to consciously come after you it saps a bit more of your energy.  The guys seems able to avoid all of these hazards, though, and they climbed up the slopes like Spidermen.  Particularly impressive was the fact that three of them were keeping the Ramadan fast, which prevents them from eating food or even drinking water during the day.  Though I couldn't (and really had no desire to) keep the fast, I limited myself to a couple of packets of condensed, sweetened milk and a package of potato candy each day.  I did make sure to keep hydrated, though.

By the end of the third day we were ready to descend back towards the pickup point.  We started at about 9am and hiked until about 6pm, by which time I was completely wrecked.  Coming down off the mountain involved going straight down the slope, cutting a trail as we went, which was particularly exhausting.  But after a long day we finally made it back to a village and hunkered down for the night.  It was a great experience and I learned a lot about the park and the challenges it faces as well as the heroic job done by the PHS unit.  They are extremely dedicated and committed to their jobs, and they are proud of the work they do.  "When poachers see the black coming, they run, because they know there's no negotiation", said one of the PHS members, referring to the fact that they wear black whereas regular forest police wear green.  There's a subtle jibe here, and I'll let you figure it out.

I also learned a lot of neat forest tricks from the PHS guys.  Despite being hard-core forest dudes, they are some of the nicest folks you could hope to meet, and they took really good care of me.  I'd like to say that I'll be out on another patrol soon, but to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if I can handle it.

Lend a Helping Hand...

I was thinking about what I could do as a thank you to the guys for letting me tag along and it occured to me that one piece of equipment they could really use and would very much appreciate is a Leatherman.  I checked on Ebay and it looks like I can get the Leatherman Sidekick for about $35 per (3).  Since there are 20 team members, I'd need about $800 to buy one for each team member.  But I'm still a poor PhD candidate.

So here's the deal.  If you'd like to buy a Leatherman Sidekick for the members of the Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit, or if you'd like to make a partial contribution, please contact me at geografikanusantara@gmail.com.  Or if you'd like to buy a Sidekick and send it to my Hawai'i address I can give you the information if you email me.  I don't have an NGO or anything like that, so you'll have to trust me with the money.  If you look at my blog you can see what I'm all about; I'm not doing this to scam anyone.  If I can collect enough money I'll ship the tools to the unit's coordinator.  This is a good way for you to make a useful contribution to tiger conservation.  Thanks in advance!

UPDATE:

So far I'm up to 4 leathermen, which is 20% of my target.  Thanks to the generous person that made the first contribution!

UPDATE UPDATE:

Thanks to two more generous folks I'm up to 8 leathermen, 40% of the target.  Thanks much!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:

Now at 11 leathermen thanks to another donation.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:

Just received another donation of two leathermans to bring the total to 13.  Only need 7 more....

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:

15 Leathermans and counting!

Notes

(1)  Pondok means "hut" and in this case refers to semi-permanent structures built in upland farms where the farmers stay while they are working their fields.  Normally the farmers have a house in town and only stay in the pondok when it is time to plant or harvest, but here in Nilo Dingin the encroaching farmers stay there most of the time.

(2)  Beliau is a non-gender specific respectful third-person form of address.  In the forest here you say "beliau" rather than "harimau" (tiger) because it is believed that literally saying "tiger" will invite the beast to come.  I use "he" in my translations because it is simpler

(3)  A reader informed me that Amazon has them cheaper than the original $40 I posted.  The $35 includes the sheath but doesn't include shipping.  If you get free shipping you can have it sent directly to me.