Ellies, otters, and leaf monkeys--oh my!

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Remember when I said that there are numerous factors beyond one’s control that affect field work? Well, I forgot to mention elephants.



This morning we set out from camp for the final stream for which I need primary productivity data. There was a bit of rain last night, but the camp stream was perfectly clear this morning, so we decided to head out and get this last one done—taking advantage of the sunny Sunday morning and forgoing our day off. About two miles from our drop off point, we started seeing elephant dung—lots of it. It looked sort of like a parade of elephants had gone along the road—and into and out of the forest on either side of the road—for more than a mile. Just as I was telling Josh that we should try to determine which way the elephants were headed, our driver hit the brakes—about 200 m in front of us was a herd of elephants crossing the road.



I admit to being very happy and excited at the sight of elephants—especially in this forest where selective logging has been going on for years, and where the conversion to oil palm has happened patchily and will continue to increase. But like anyone who has experience with ellies, I was also a little nervous and wary about approaching too closely. Our driver was also quite wary and immediately turned us around and headed in the opposite direction. Then he said “Maybe you can work that stream in a week”—aaarrrrgghhh! I don’t have a week. I have 3 days. So despite my waxing and waning patience with the rain that sometimes thwarts me, and my flexibility in terms of drivers and other restrictions to our work, I completely forgot to allow for ellies. There are few things I can relate this to for people who don’t work in forests and deal with the whims of large mammals—and it’s not something I’ve often had to account for. This is one of the only places I’ve worked that has elephants, and this is the first time that my work here at SAFE has been affected by them. Our plan at the moment is to wait at least a day and then re-assess.



On our drive home, we also spotted three large otters in one of the rivers we crossed, and my best guess based on their size is the Smooth Otter—my first sighting! We switched to Plan B for the rest of the day, which was to do our final survey of the 0 m stream, which is accessed by walking 1.5 hrs upstream from camp, both through the stream and along a ridge paralleling the stream—where I was lucky enough to spot red langurs (leaf monkeys). A red-letter day for mammal sightings!



On our way home, I was starting to feel the brevity of my time here, and decided to relish the beautiful stream a bit—and I just happened to be wearing my swimsuit under my field clothes, so I took advantage of the waterfall we pass on our hike home and went for a swim. I sometimes get so focused on data collection that I take this environment for granted a bit. I forget just how beautiful the streams are when the sunlight is streaming into them and the water is crystal clear. There are pools and riffles and waterfalls big and small. Even during the day you can spot frogs hopping around, and birds flitting through the trees. It’s an awesome place to work, in the truest sense of the word, and I’m very lucky to get to spend so much time here.



Now let’s just hope the elephants allow me to get my final productivity measures before I have to leave!

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Photos

LFE Stream
Looking downstream from near the top of the transect.

Waterfalls on the LFE Stream
The streams are all a combination of riffles, pools, and waterfalls--this is one of my favorites.