Sulawesi, Indonesia.
A beautiful tropical paradise for tourists, but what happens when a full group of teenagers go to an animal nature reserve for a week? Great things, surprisingly.
Getting chosen to create an article for my classmates and I about our time at Tasikoki was an honor, and I am going to be discussing the important lessons and stories we learned from the people of Tasikoki and the amazing memories we will never forget.
We started off our trip to Tasikoki with a VERY nice and COMFORTABLE flight and bus ride to arrive at the main headquarters. I remember laughing with friends late that night while we were close to arriving and making random jokes and having to be shushed multiple times as we were rowdy in the back. I don’t blame the shushers, hearing a group of girls laugh at 11 pm manically about trees being people is not the most peaceful and tranquil bus setting they were hoping for. Although we were sleep-deprived, we were all so excited to finally see the reserve that we had been talking about for months.
When we arrived, it was a beautiful view of the horizon and star-filled skies- that we all took a moment to appreciate as a group. I was actually able to experience one of the best moments of the trip for myself. During the moments of looking up at the stars, I was able to witness a shooting star. It was a sign that this was going to be a great trip, and was the cherry-on-top of the first amazing day. While walking into the dorm halls, we moved to our respective dorm groups. We had 6 people in our dorm room, while the boys shared one dorm room and the remainder of girls stayed in another dorm. We had a fun-filled night of going up to the tower and getting excited for the following days of work and play.
Flying for 10 hours doesn’t necessarily put you in the mood for a full days worth of work. But that’s exactly what we did, and we didn’t regret it at all. The first night was chaotic: leaky air conditioning and recurring wasps that, instead of going away after a while, seem to duplicate after hopes were risen for a second. Despite it all, the first full day of working for the benefit of the Tasikoki wildlife center was exhilarating, exhausting , but overall, rewarding. Most of us were working on 6-7 hours of sleep, though we persevered with good meals prepared for us by the center.
Splitting into two groups, we all took part in tree-planting around the education center, enriching the bird enclosure, fearing red ants and wasps unfamiliar to Hong Kong’s set of insect species, and ended with a pleasant splash around the nearby black-sand beach after a brief beach-clean up.
All would agree that wading in the astonishingly transparent and shallow water with friends was a perfectly energizing (and for some, tranquil) end to the work. Ultimately, after watching more informational videos regarding the background of the center than we bargained for, we all thought the first day of the trip was successful, and enjoyed ourselves very much. ☺
(*) Written by:Ngai Ning, Lucy, Jacqueline, Euna
Monday 5th November
We started off the day with three main activities, one group was working on expanding the babirusa and deer habitat, another group was working on chiseling wood to create mini bird houses and the last group was working on painting the bird cages. The babirusa and deer habitat/waterhole that we were expanding was very muddy and messy, although it was very messy it was very fun to expand! The chiseling was difficult as the chisels kept getting stuck in the wood which made the process take longer, In the end we made a couple complete bird houses (editor put the actual name I forgot what the proper name for bird houses are)! The painting was quite chill but also messy as many people ended up with paint all over them. Later in the day we went on a walk through the jungle which was very fun and interesting. It was quite humid but surprisingly was not too bad, we ended up seeing a couple of Tarsir, a lot of Macaques, a few Kus Kus, a trio of owls, bats and a flying lizard at the start! It was very cool to see all the animals out of their cages and free in wild, we got many good photos and videos of the animals we saw!
When we finished our walk we went back on the buses which were very loud, everyone was singing and playing music whilst some of us were trying to sleep. Overall today was a very fun day and will definitely be remembered!
(*) Riley and Richie
Tuesday 6th November
Today started off early at 6:30am. We split into 3 groups, the first group went to go bug hunting, the second group had to collect jungle salad from the roads and the last group searched for general leaves from the beach.
Afterwards we gathered together before breakfast to fold panfornds from the jungle salad. For our last activity we collected dead leaves from the side of the road and filled up the bags. We then made our way to the breakfast table to shower and have breakfast. At 9:30 we went back to the caretaker area to split back into 3 different groups. The first group folded up gifts for the bears and orangutans, the second group chopped bamboo and filled it with marmite, dead fish and peanuts and the last group took apart boxes and filled them peanuts for the cockatoos.
We then placed all of the animals items into their enclosures. At 12 we had lunch and some people went down to the beach to swim.
At 1:30 we went to the education center and were assigned 3 hours to paint the murals inside the education center. Afterwards we were given free time from 4-6, to swim in the ocean and to set up the volley ball court on the beach with collected bamboo. Afterwards we had dinner, and the group who had collected the bugs were allowed to feed the slow Loris. Once they returned everyone was given coconuts to bring down with us to the beach, for the beach bonfire. We spent the rest of the evening down at the beach. We then all split into our own groups either playing card games with chocolate milk or showering down the sand from the beach. Overall today was enjoyed and filled with hard work, hoping the next few days will be as enjoyable.
(*) Ben & Maximus
Wednesday -7th
Today we woke up early, we had a light breakfast and had a bit of free time with the Wi-Fi and then we divided ourselves into two buses that took us to a local public school. When we arrived we were warmly greeted by all of the students there and even the principal.
Our time together started with a performance by the students there which they put together in their own time. We then got in one of the classrooms there and presentenced ourselves. We continued by learning about the Northern Indonesian culture, and we played multiple traditional games and even some of our games.
We took a tour of the school and proceeded to play a fun game of badminton. The school visit ended by sharing social media information and taking pictures all together. We then hopped onto those same buses on our way back home and had lunch.
The next activity that the Tasikoki wildlife center had planned for us was to clean and add enrichments to the sun bear cages. To do so, we started off with getting rid of all the old fruit skins, removing their feces and cleaning out their little pool. once that was done we commenced with the enrichments. Those included, putting in new and fresh fruits, throwing bits of rice here and there, squirting drops of honey around the cage, adding new dry leaves and adding new logs to their cage. The day concluded with a delicious dinner by the beach, and then a night swim. Not everyone wanted to swim so we got in groups and got in slowly and not to far. We relaxed for a while and looked at the sky above full of stars. When we were swimming we noticed little neon lights in the water slowly lighting up as we moved. Which we later found out that was the sea weed. We piled in a truck and got back to the place where we were staying for a quick shower. We played games and talked before calling it a night and going to bed for an early start again.
Thursday 8th
Today we woke up a bit earlier than usual, and got onto a bus to go a resort to spend the day diving. The bus ride was long and serene; we mainly listened to music and slept. I enjoyed watching the rolling hills and seeing the locals going by in motorbikes. It was raining in the beginning of the day, but when we finally got to the pier, the rain had stopped. We caught a short boat ride out to the resort; on the way, we were in awe at the beautiful clear water, beaches and small outlying islands. When we got to the resort, we were briefed by the friendly staff on our itinerary for the day; which consisted of visiting three coral bays. We split into groups and got into our boats; off we went! At our first reef, the water was a bit deep, and the visibility wasn’t that great due to the rainfall. The water was a bit cold as well, but we still had fun trying out our masks and diving down to get a closer look. At the first island we didn’t see many animals, but at the second island; we had a fun surprise.
Between visiting reefs, we helped ourselves to fruits, cocoa and coffee (I had 4 cups of coffee oops…) It was so much fun getting to fawn over all the cute fish and beautiful coral at each of the reefs. At the second island, I had my hand at freediving. We held our breaths and dove as deep as we could. I borrowed a pair of flippers; which really helped me to move around faster. (I may or may not have pretended to be a mermaid..) Some of the animals we saw included puffer fish, angel fish, starfish, sea urchins, jellyfish and eels. Speaking of jellyfish, almost every one of us was attacked by the mob of savage jelly babies which inhabited the ocean. On our third and final dive, the water was very deep. At this point, I was diving down to get a close look at the coral, and observed some of the fish. After our savage jelly attacks, the tides started to become strong. VERY strong. We all had to paddle back to our boat, and head off for lunch.
The divers at the resort brought so much yummy food, so we stopped at a beautiful beach with a giant rock formation. After finishing up lunch, we skipped stones, played games and took photos. We took a final boat ride back to the resort, where had some sodas and snacks; and swam in the pool. We relaxed for a while longer before we headed back to Tasikoki to finish our day.
To end this amazing journey, on the final day one of the best moments of the trip occurred. One of our teachers, Mr Bolton, created and presented a poem on the last day of the trip. I feel it was a great way to summarise our experience in Sulawesi.
This is the place
This is the place where we watched
Tiny bears snuffle treats
From boxes in the heat
Gazed at tiny faces from giant trees
The place where monkeys cat call,
Babirusas snuffle and gibbons brawl
Where schoolkids put down their science charts
And instead sang with their hearts
And for a glorious minute we were all part
Of the same goo that binds us.
This is the place that for a week was
Our place,
Our home,
Our land.
And who needs Thailand and who needs Vietnam?
Tell me why no Instagram,
And tell me why no snapchat,
And tell me why.. (you sing this bit in Louis’ voice!)
We didn’t visit this place,
We lived it.
We loved it.
We planted it and
We fed it.
And this was the place;
It was amazing, incomparable;
Sometimes crazy.
Our beautiful home for one week only….
Thank you, Sulawesi.
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