We saw a lizard and two eagles but none of the wild Macaques which live there. I suppose it's not too surprising since there were so many of us and we weren't being that quiet.On Kim's back you see a bag full of trash which we found littering the trail.
The jungle is deep, wet and lush and everything grows and decays at an astonishing rate; if a landslide opens up some raw soil or a tree is uprooted moss and ferns grow over it in no time. Maybe this is why it seems like a little garbage is harmless. In a place where natural forces like volcanoes, tsunami, typhoons, earthquakes and landslides are so much more common and have such immediate consequences for peoples' lives a little litter may seem insignificant. Of course plastic wrappers, rubber, alluminum, glass etc. will not decay but accumulate and pollute.This is another situation where it's easy coming from a rich
industrial country to condescend. I wonder how much of our own pollution is either exported or swept under the landfill carpet, to still have almost as much negative long term effect on the environment as open sewers and burning garbage. I try to keep that in mind and be as sensitive to my own state of hypocrisy as possible. Still it's easy
to be frustrated when people spraypaint grafitti on the rocks next to the jungle waterfall, toss plastic bags of waste by the wayside and burn batteries and styrofoam in the gutters.
2 comments:
hey guys, great pics! really seems like an exciting adventure.
Hi Barrett, thanks! It is an adventure. The best adventures here are out in the country, in the jungle, etc.
The hairy insanity that is the city of Bogor just makes us want to get back out into the hills here.
Even here the sounds can drive you crazy. Around 4am is the first call to prayer from the Mosques. You here several at once coming from loudspeakers in the surrounding area - some nearby, others far off. I would estimate we can hear 3 or 4. People often play music into the night and even out here in the village it seems like there is often a party going on somewhere in earshot. Scooters and minibuses known as Angkots rip and roar around all night. The 5 or more dogs that stay here click across the balcony or bark at anything that moves (and there is always something moving). The roosters don't limit themselves to sunrise or sunset but you hear more in the morning hours - they precede the call to prayer. Then there are the crickets, frogs, mosquitoes and other, as yet unidentified creatures and sources of noise. All in all it's not a place for those who like their peace and quiet. It's a nightmare for the soundman on the documentary crew (me) who can't get an interview without background noise. But that's Indonesia - this populated area of Java, anyway.
Best to Antonia and enjoy a cool mass for me, eh?
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