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At the bus station for Bitung we found our bus, it's not full and we have to wait a long time before it left, maybe one hour. I quickly fell asleep soon as we left and I remember being stuck in bad traffic there was a political rally going on in one town and took ages to get past it. Everyone in the bus is annoyed.Maybe 2 hours later we arrived at the bus station in Bitung, lots of touts trying to get us to go with them they will take us to Tangkoko park for horrendous amounts, the bus conductor of the Bitung bus helped us seal a deal with a mikrolet, 5,000 rupiahs each we got dropped at the waiting area for trucks/pickups to Batuputi the town where we want to stay the night, this is were you access the park from. We got pointed to one pick up they refused us they say they are full, then we went to another one, also full, we are getting annoyed now we've been passed around from one truck to the next, then someone told us the owner of Mama Roos is here and pointed to their truck, so approached them
and were told we can't ride with them cause they are full also but if we wait a bit there should be one eventually that will take us on.
By this time I was in a bad mood and Tomas tried to calm me down, I decided to have a late lunch at the eatery next door, we left our packs at a store, then when we finished our meal the driver for Mama Roos walked us to the truck that will leave soon for Batuputi, so eventually we left, it was a good road going up a mountain fresh clean air, occasionally we encounter patches of bad roads where kids try to make a living by patching it up with volcanic black sand and asks for donation. Black pebbly sand we see all over meaning we are on a volcanic area. The scenery is nice, green and lush but all of a sudden the driver realized we had a flat tire! We got off and in 15 minutes he replaced it with the spare tire but when we went again it was a bit wobbly maybe not the right fit but we went on anyway, me and Tomas
Tangkoko Nat'l Park
Dalai Gil sheltering from the torrential downpour in the forestwere a bit worried, on windy road this could be not good but somehow we made it to town. We got dropped off at Mama Roos we got a big room one big king sized bed and a small single bed with toilet inside, for 250,000 rupiahs, we took it. Jeck the guy staff here and also serves as a guide pitched his trip to the mountains to see wildlife, 200,000 rupiahs each from 5:30am to 7:30pm hiking on easy trail, we said we will think about it, he speaks good english and seems reliable.
Tomas and I decided to walk towards the beach after I finished my Bintang beer,then as we were about to leave a new backpacker came along, a guy from Czech republic, he walked with us to the beach, he owns a bar in Prague and has been to Togean islands too so we asked him heaps of questions. We walked on the black sand beach with kids playing and having a swim, the waves are quite big and current strong so they stay near the shore. Tomas joined them later to the delight of the locals, he yelled to us he has sand all
over his shorts and in his cracks, and went on to fix himself while standing in front of us and young local girls saw him and were giggling, so I yelled to Tomas that he is making a show, he yelled back he didn't care! We walked as far as we could then turned around and walked up the beach and walked the path, everyone was saying hello Mister to us, kids and even older people. Not a lot of tourists here so are the center of attention. We got back and had a shower and get ready for dinner.
The next day it was pouring down rain for 3 hours,5am it stopped and we got ready for the big trek today, then half hour later it started raining again! We got our raincoats ready and braved the elements, the walk is easy 3 of us, Tomas, me and a Czech dude Skoda, when we got to the forest trails it stted to rain continuously and heavily which lasted for couple hours, we went around the trails anyway, this is a good way of expreriencing the rain forest at it's best! In some parts of the forest it's slippery
and dark so we have to watch our steps, lots of large trees abound most are ficus trees. Tomas got soaking wet and wanted to get back to to the hostel so he joined the other group while me and Tomas explored the forest with our guide Jeck, we eventually spotted wildlife, macaques! These monkey look like small version of chimps and they crossed our paths, walking on the ground. Then we saw more later, it's a group that a French researcher is following, we tagged along for awhile and she explained to us different behaviors and personalities among the clan, we saw a young mom and her baby, these macaques are fun, they climbed trees walked around and play, they totally ignore us. It came yo a point we have to leave them and we walked towards the beach.
Jeck collected some palm leaves and made a makeshift tent for us and we had lunch there the waves are very big so we did not swim. We took a walk amongst the black boulders which look like volcanic rocks smoothen by the waves. We saw lots of sea critters, while Skoda was in the swimming hole atop the
Tangkoko Nat'l Park
tarsier with a cricket in it's mouth boulders we saw 3 young sea snakes about 6 inches long each! then a walking rock like creature very tiny, butter fishes stuck in the swimming hole, a giant baby clam and lots of snails. It drizzles every now and then, soon we headed back to the jungle. Jeck wanted us to see a hornbill, and maybe maleo birds. He listened to the sounds and we followed it occasionally making the hooting calls to see if they answer back, with luck we found a couple and we stayed with them for awhile, about 20 minutes, we took time taking photos of them atop the canopies. When they fly they make a whoosing sound, really big birds these are the sound they make is incredible. When they flew away we tried to follow them again but they flew away quickly.
Then it's time to see the tarsiers, Jeck told us we are 100% guaranteed to spot them in the wild if not we don't have to pay him! Then he explained there are several trees in the forest where these critters live and so it happens when we arrived at this ficus tree, he shone a light on a hole
in the trunk and lo and behold! a tarsier that just woken up. Jeck said we wait for dark and they will come out, a few more tourists arrived and we all waited for the moment. One guide has some insects with him and started to put them where the tarsiers can see it and they jump for it! These guys can leap far, about maybe 50 meters! They are so cute and cuddly but we are not allowed to touch it. 5 tarsiers live in this tree and one time 3 of them are in the same area so fun to photograph! Then when it got darker they started to hunt and all jumped out and away from their tree and the hint for bugs begins, and also we left to leave them be. The top predators of these guys are snakes and owls, we ll hope they come back safe in the morning, they are nocturnals and sleep all day. I forgot to mention that all the while we were walking in the forest a strong delicious fragrance pervades and later only we realized it was coming from the flowers of wild ylang ylang trees, the petals are
falling on the ground and the smell is heavenly! We picked up a few along the way, to mask our wet stenchy self.
The walk back is long, we are tired after all day wet and in the jungle looking for animals, the only major thing we did not see is the cuscus a type of marsupial/bear,the mom and son French people saw them but not us. Once we got back I took a quick shower and let out my wet clothes and dried them out, my boots are soaking wet! Dinner was good, and we socialized with the French and German in the hostel and exchanged e mail addresses then off to bed. We woke up early to see the fisherman haul in their catch in the beach, Jeck drove us there,5 of us, the Frenchies, me, the Slovenian and the Czech. We did not see much action as the sea was rough last night and not a lot came out to fish. We went back and got ready to leave for Tomohon, we hired Jeck to be our guide between the 3 of us we pay 500,000 rupiahs, he drive us to Tomohon and a day trip
to the attractions along the way. We said goodbye to the Frenchies only to return back 2 minutes later cause Tomas and me forgot our boots drying in the sun in the hostel.
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Nice pic! :)