“Doctor, have you ever eaten Napoleon fish?” Upik the fisher asked me. “Not yet.” Napoleon wrasse is an endangered species and I do not eat endangered species. The adults could reach 2 meters and 180kg (Wikipedia). “May I see it?” He pointed to the floor of his canoe in front of him. It was about…
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Traveling to interesting areas and helping people in need at the same time always make me happy. I have done this for many times in Papua and Kalimantan. The last time is two weeks ago, but this time in Sulawesi. Chris Majors, the parent of a Green School student, is the Indonesian Manager of Operation…
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Nothing much has changed in the last two months. The forest of the Lore Lindu National Park is as beautiful as it was, but there are more “bald patches” along the way from Palolo to Doda (around 150 kilometer). The road has been much worse; heavy rain has removed off the top layer of the…
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Ready-to-spend fund: 23 million rupiah (Green School students and parents plus $1,000 from Consuelo) Airfare Bali – Sulawesi – Bali: 5,000,000 Vehicles rent 12 days: 1,500,000 Lodging 12 days: 4,000,000 Miscellaneous: 500,000 Total cost: 11 million rupiah Current balance: 12 million rupiah excluding balance in Sweden account.
I met some tourists at the Tangkoko Nature Reserve. All of them came there for seeing tarsiers, but Tangkoko was not their only destination in Sulawesi. Definitely all of them have visited or will visit the Bunaken Marine Park, which is half an hour boat from Manado, capital of the North Sulawesi Province. A tourist…
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We only need 90-minute drive to reach Tangkoko Nature Reserve from the airport of Manado. The road is in good condition but very winding once we leave Bitung town. Comparing with the Lore Lindu National Park (217,000 hectares), Tangkoko (8,700 hectares) is very small. But, it is very rich with bird species and it has…
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I spent the last night in Wuasa, the center of Napu area. At the Sendy Inn of Wuasa, I met Herve and Noelle, the couple birders. Herve, about 55, is a French medical doctor. He practices only three months in a year; the rest of the year he travels around the world with Noelle. It…
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Along the margin, I saw some paths entering the Park. At one entrance, I found a pile of planks. According to the farmers, the planks belonged to the merchants from the town. But, I believe they also involve in this illegal logging. It is not hard to find illegal logging activities in the Park; the…
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I managed to rent a motorbike from a villager and decided to explore the north area first. One kilometer from Watutau, I took a path off the road. Passing a coffee and cocoa plantation, I ended up at a wooden house. The owner was from South Sulawesi, the most populated area in Sulawesi Island. He…
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I arrived in Palu in the afternoon. Having checked in at the Santika Hotel, I looked for a rent motorbike, but no luck. It is much easier to rent a car than a motorbike outside Bali in Indonesia. Thus, I had to spend 450,000 rupiah on the car to drop me off at Napu Valley…
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