Introducing the Jungle to the Successors of Life
Seven children gathered and prepared to go to a place far from the city one weekend morning. They are Demi, Nanda, Farel, Fitri, Putri, Selvi and Gabriel. A group of teenagers who are members of ASRI Teens and will spend the next three days learning a new life in the wild. Our journey that morning was accompanied by quite hot sunshine which seemed to be a good sign to start this adventure.
We went to the location using 3 cars from Sukadana. Our journey took four hours to reach the last village before we finally had to climb the hill which was our final destination. Apart from these seven teenagers, there were also several colleagues from ASRI and the Indonesian Rehabilitation Nature Initiation Foundation (YIARI) who participated in this adventure. We invited friends from YIARI because the area we were going to was one of the areas or work sites of these friends. The journey that day was quite smooth with various twists and turns and also new challenges even though the occasional voice "Stop, I want to vomit" was heard, said by a child from one of the cars, who apparently had a little motion sickness but he managed to get through until he arrived at the last village.
Arriving at the village, we took a short break to collect the energy we had lost in the first half of the day. Once everyone was ready, we gathered again and it was time to continue the rest of the journey. I still clearly remember that time, where we had to pass through an oil palm plantation as an opening for the climb before we finally arrived at the entrance to our destination which was the Protected Forest. It took us about an hour first to finally arrive at the entrance of the Protected Forest. Several times we stopped for a moment on the climbing route to rest our bodies which were carrying quite heavy bags containing our personal equipment.
It took us about an hour and 30 minutes to finally arrive at the final location of the entrance to the protected forest area called Camp Serumput. The building structure is full of wood and uniquely uses natural ventilation where air exchange is carried out naturally without mechanical aids such as fans. This natural ventilation is quite good because it can exchange bad air into new, fresher air in the room. When we arrived at the camp we packed our luggage and rested for a while while taking turns to clean our bodies before night fell.
When the sun went down and the environment changed to become a little cooler and darker, we had all finished cleaning our bodies and were ready to continue having dinner together. After dinner, we gathered again to start getting to know each other more closely and present a series of events for the following day. Of course, this time, YIARI friends as the owners of the place also provided a little information about the area and the rules that apply so that everyone who is active in the next few days runs well and smoothly. After the meeting that night, we all continued to rest to gather more energy for the next day.
Also read: When Teenagers Become Part of the Solution to Environmental Problems
The sun's rays penetrated between the wooden planks in the Serput camp that morning, we who had slept soundly since last night woke up very refreshed and ready to take part in the day's activities. After everyone got ready and had breakfast in peace we gathered again in the yard next to the camp, right in front of which was the river which was our source of life while at this camp. The day's activities began with a story told by YIARI friends about Protected Forests as conservation areas, especially for YIARI animals such as orangutans, where the protected forest area called Mount Tarak has become one of the orangutan release areas in recent years.
After that we departed from the camp to the location of the reforestation area which is right in the Gunung Palung National Park Area. Little do you need to know that this protected forest borders directly on the Gunung Palung National Park (TNGP). We traveled for about an hour and a half. In the middle of the journey, we stopped for a while to rest and now it was the turn of ASRI friends to introduce us to the biodiversity found on Mount Tarak, namely mushrooms.
The seven children who previously looked tired were again enthusiastic about the material this time and they asked so many questions that their friends from YIARI also wanted to know about this living creature. Finally the journey continued. When we arrived at the reforestation site, how lucky we were to be able to meet one of the orangutans released by YIARI in 2016, named Susi, who happened to be bringing her child, Sinar. We were all quite happy because we could meet this wild animal directly in its habitat, but of course we kept our distance from this animal, remembering that this animal is an aggressive animal when it feels threatened.
A slight shift from the orangutan meeting then we went back to learning about the reforestation area carried out by YIARI friends together with TNGP. Apart from explaining what seeds are used to re-green damaged conservation areas, we were also introduced to phenology. Phenology is an activity to determine the phases that occur naturally in a plant, especially in the flowering and fertilization phases. This phenology is very important because it is to understand the life cycle of plants in the forest and will be related to the number of food trees which are a source of energy for the survival of living things and also maintain ecological stability in the area.
After learning quite a lot, we continued our journey for about 15 minutes to arrive at the edge of a river with a fairly calm current. The river was clear enough that we saw several fish passing by through the small river current. We stopped to rest and take out our lunch while enjoying the quality of the natural surroundings. "It really calms the mind to be here," said a child who was very happy with today's activities.
It was getting late in the day but the weather was a bit gray, at exactly half past one in the afternoon we returned home to camp. The journey home was a little different because suddenly raindrops fell and touched us under the wide tree canopies. It wasn't too thick, but it was enough to make the dirt road we were on a little more flooded and slippery. Luckily, the journey home went smoothly even though our feet were full of wet soil which we rarely encounter when living in the city.
Arriving at the camp, we cleaned ourselves up and rested for a while while chatting with some friends. Some other people chose to sleep because the journey was quite tiring for them. At exactly four in the afternoon we returned to carry out further activities in this series of activities. This time we learned about plant identification. This study was carried out to observe the surrounding plants and see more detailed characteristics related to each type of plant.
"All this time I thought that each plant had the same leaf color and characteristics but after studying they were all different," said one of the girls from the ASRI Teens study group at that time. Recognizing plants is very important so that these successors can know more about forest plants which are diverse and worthy of continuing to be preserved so that the stability of the ecosystem within them can continue to be maintained.
Also Read: Mobile Clinic: Caring for Health, Saving Forests
Then the learning activities in the field were also continued with an introduction to zoonoses, diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa. Considering that recently cases related to zoonoses are becoming increasingly common, it is very important for these teenagers to know from now on about several types of exposure to diseases caused by zoonoses. Coincidentally, YIARI friends also provided similar examples based on their experience in the field when dealing directly with wild animals and any diseases that had occurred before. The afternoon's learning and discussions were very interesting and of course the seven children were very enthusiastic in absorbing knowledge. Before evening, we finished and free activities continued for everyone.
At exactly seven o'clock in the evening we all gathered, before dinner, we again shared various impressions of messages during today's activities. one by one telling stories that interested them during this adventure. There was quite a lot of laughter there, but there was also sadness that came considering that the next day was the time for us to return home to the land of Betuah, Sukadana. That evening after dinner, we filled it with various activities, playing cards and many other activities to create stories for the future.
The next morning, the weather was less friendly. Heavy rain has poured down on our camp again since midnight last night. Puddles appeared in several places. At first we were hesitant to go home considering the bad weather conditions. But lucky for us, just before 8 o'clock the rain started to stop. We got ready again and said goodbye to everyone. And so our journey home began. After that the journey felt the same as when we arrived at the beginning yesterday. Follow the same climbing route until you arrive at the pick-up location. However, there is one thing that is different this time, especially the enthusiasm of these seven children to do good to the natural environment which has now grown much bigger. They are also aware of the threats that are starting to occur in the surrounding environment and of course this generation is also starting to think about things in the future, whether they will be part of saving the earth or part of its competitors.
