I’ve been in Khao Yai now for about a week and I've gone in to see the gibbon on four half days. So let’s recap:
First day back: Jackie is taking Norberto (the new guy) into the forest to find gibbons – it’s her first day back, will she find them? Will she get lost? Does she still know what she’s doing?
BOOYA! Jackie finds group N within 10 minutes. YA THAT’s RIGHT. Then over comes Chu from group A for an encounter... but where is everyone else? We better go find them – what’s that you say, TWO GROUPS on day one?! In yo’ face!
Once the encounter was over and group A started heading down a valley, I decided I was not up for following them into the valley, so I suggested we go find groups B and C. Up the main trail we head to the crest of the main hill in our field site, after a brief pause for reflection and some discussion about where we are in the forest to help Norberto orient himself, we head down another major trail to find the other gibbons – not 1 minute of walking down the trail when we hear this “GgggRRRRRROAR!”
Stop immediately! “What was that?” I look out into the forest.
“IT’S A BEAR” and I start running.
Ya, right in front of us, about 3m just off the trail was a very large (like Canadian size) Asian Black Bear staring right at us. It sounded like he started walking towards us, but to be honest I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. Then we decided to head off in a different direction, and at this time I was pretty much ready to go home for the day. But on our way out, KABAM! Jackie found group T also.
So to recap, day one: 3 gibbon groups, 1 bear.
(Incidentally, I will just add at this point my prof went in to see group R and didn’t find anyone all day, too bad)
Day two: Jackie takes Norberto in again to see more gibbons. We walk into the forest, 4 minutes in and Jackie finds GROUP R! This is how good I am people, this is how good I am :) We spent the morning with them and it was a lot of fun.
Day three and four in the forest were also filled with gibbon sightings, group S, group A again, group B, group D and group M. In the days ahead I will go and see group M again, group C, group W and group H. Then I will have seen everyone on this short trip except for group E. If there is time I will go see group E, but only if there is time.
I’ve also seen a couple of other cool creatures on this trip: yesterday a wild boar ran away from us in the forest. There was a scorpion (see picture) walking around our house a few nights ago after a heavy day of rain. And two nights ago a giant porcupine walked out from under our house while Jess and I were sitting on the porch talking – the pictures of him didn’t turn out because the flash was no good and it was night time. We have a few monkeys patrolling our house looking for food. One keeps climbing up and sitting on the roof. I have pictures of it, but on the other camera so I can’t post them now.
The house is... interesting... better than Panama and some other places I have stayed in Thailand, but not as good as my favourite place to stay outside of Khao Yai. (see picture of my room).
I am taking the next few days off from going into the forest, I think, because I am out of bug spray. And on Monday I have a meeting with the park chief. Only a little over one more week left.
Time flies when you’re on gibbon time!
All too often students begin fieldwork full of anticipation and high hopes for big adventure, only to end up burned out and on their way home within a month. This has inspired me to write a post about what it takes to survive primate behavioural research for people who may be considering taking this "road less traveled by" in the future. I won't water it down for you; primate research is not for everyone. Fieldwork is an uphill road, overloaded with obstacles that will test your personal strength every step of the way. (Perhaps there's a reason we opted to leave the forest and culture up our lives, oh so many years ago :). But if you've got what it takes to push yourself beyond the comforts of the average everyday world, and you're interested in finding out just how strong an individual you really are, then studying primates is one of the most inspirational and rewarding jobs available! Think you've got what it takes? Here are my tips for what it
Comments
Keep looking for Ronan!!! lol.
I see you have another canopy bed -like the one at home and in Carbondale. Looks like you were prepared for this life from the age of 3.
Have fun - stay away from those scary things.