Hazy jet-lagged catch up day

I.A.R.’s guest house is a bamboo thatched paradise bungalow with a covered eating area. We are guarded by a friendly pack of extremely clean, healthy looking ex-street dogs. They take a little time to get friendly but they will become very loyal we are told.

We made it out of bed and up to the IAR headquarters around 9a.m. The baby Gibbon Saar, whose name means ‘Lost’, is learning how to climb and is incredibly cute. It’s pretty easy to see why baby apes are so popular as pets. They’re hardier and more interactive than human babies of the same age, running, climbing, making faces, shy and very sociable, they react differently to different individuals and integrate you in their play. Of course they are wild animals and when they are older they become impossible to handle, sometimes aggressive, difficult to predict and impossible to provide a good home for and that is one of the reasons for the cages full of unwanted adult Macaques.

A spicy breakfast of Nasi Goreng and sweet coffee helps get my blood out of stasis. Karmele arrives with a pack of happy dogs and she takes us on a tour of the facility. There is a lot to see and keep track of.

One main focus at the moment is enrichment for the Macaques. Enrichment means improving the quality of life of the animals by providing them with stimulation in the form of challenges and an interactive environment. It is a growing trend in zoos to put more resources into enrichment and it is essential to help prepare the animals for reintroduction to the wild. Asman and others are constructing objects out of wood, burlap and rubber from tires and straps, which are hung from the ceiling of the cages. They swing freely and provide a robust, organic form with an interior to practice their natural instinct to hide.

Other forms of enrichment are puzzles with an edible prize inside – something which provides a challenge suitable to the perseverance and intelligence of the animal, in other words not so difficult that he gives up but not so hard that he gets it right away. A piece of bamboo, stopped at both ends and containing some choice nuts is an example.

Enrichment takes many forms I am told but that is a quick introduction for people like myself who aren’t in the know.

The Slow Lorises are nocturnal and so we just catch sight of their bushy bottoms sticking out of a sheltered box nestled in a shady tree.

A group of elementary school students arrived around 10a.m. to get some animal welfare and environmental awareness education which includes some information on endemic species. Afterwards they planted some trees. Indonesian school children are quite well-behaved. At the gates of the complex some poor children who weren’t in school were peering through the fence while the school children had a soft drink. Karmele asked that they also be invited in.

We head down to the guest quarters for lunch and then Endang and Iing took us into Bogor to register with the police, go to the bank and hit the shopping mall for some essentials we didn’t pack.

One police station wasn’t enough – we had to go from the local to the regional station but we just ended up waiting in the car. After a confusing mix-up at the till where I was charged three times for batteries, refunded once and received one pack and then finally received cash back we decided to hit Starbucks. The prices are as European as the flavours.

The drive back is long. Since I don’t speak Indonesian and Endang doesn’t speak a lot of English our communication was a bit stilted but in the end we talked about football – he plays in goal and his hero is Olli Kahn or King Kahn, keeper for Bayern Muenchen.

In the evening we are serenaded by the frogs and geckoes again and chat with Marlene, a Danish biologist building the education program.