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Harapan Rainforest's friends in Singapore, The Tree Shirt House, have created a great tee shirt in support of pangolin conservation at Harapan Rainforest: http://www.thetreeshirthouse.com/product/mens-pangolin-t-shirt They have also written beautifully about the plight of "the walking artichokes"...

I love a good biscuit. I’m traditional when it comes to my choices though and I love nothing better than a digestive, hobnob or ginger nut. I’m even proud to admit that yes, I do dunk! So imagine my horror when, during a conversation with our tropical commodities guru the other day, it came...

I’m currently working my way through my bookcase, reading all the books I have had since childhood that I haven’t quite gotten round to reading. In the last few months I’ve ticked off The Diary of Anne Frank, Little Women and Jane Eyre . Surrounded by the books that have been my faithful...

It was 11 years ago that the RSPB started looking for suitable sites for our first flagship rainforest project. We finally settled on a site in Indonesia, which is now known as Harapan Rainforest . Harapan means hope in Indonesian and the project really has been a beacon on hope in many ways. The project...

Bathin Sembilan children from Harapan’s mobile school became TV stars this week. They had parts in the first of two episodes of children’s series, Si Bolang, being shot in the forest. Si Bolang roughly means “Adventure Boy”. It is shown right across this nation of more than 230...

There have been a couple of new snake identifications in Harapan. They are both pit vipers, Hagen’s Pit Viper Trimeresurus hageni and Wagler’s Pit Viper Tropidolaemus wagleri (shown in the photo). They have “pits” between their eyes and nostrils. These pits contain infrared sensors...

On a recent trip deep into the forest, we came across Pak Batyam and his family. They are jelutung tappers in Harapan Rainforest. They have been doing it for generations. As a sustainable activity based on non-timber forest resources, it is entirely in line with Harapan’s conservation and restoration...

It’s the middle of the dry season in Sumatra. Everything is dry and dusty. Fire is a constant threat at the moment. But all Gatot Mandarsih is thinking about is planting trees. He is one of Harapan Rainforest’s tree nursery officers. He helps to produce up to two million tree seedlings a...

Stephanie Sim from RSPB Northern Ireland is in Harapan Rainforest for a month. She's supporting the team there with the expertise she normally uses back home in Belfast - public affairs and media. Steph is recording her impressions and we’ll pass those on to you. As with most visitors to the...

Fifty-five pupils attend the mobile schools we run at Harapan. The schools are registered with the local education authorities. The pupils get a certificate when they leave, proving which grade they finished. It will help them get into further education, or a job. Not all of the pupils can attend all...

Camp Harapan has recently changed its water supply. The lake by the camp, the previous water source, had become cloudy. It got worse in the rainy season. Water is now being taken from another small lake close to camp. The water from this source is clear. The lake is sheltered by dense forest. A pump...

Harapan’s patrol wardens, all local community members, are one of our greatest assets. In the field all day, every day, they have the most contact with the forest’s wildlife. Discovering what they encounter is vital for learning how wildlife uses the forest. The wardens were recently trained...

Grey-breasted babbler, lesser adjutant, spot-necked babbler and large-billed crow. Not birds you'd see on your average birder's list, but they're on the list for the Harapan rainforest team. These little gems have pushed the number of bird species seen in Harapan over the 300 mark, which...

Seedlings are very important at Harapan. The man for that job is Usman. He is a member of the Bathin Sembilan indigenous community. They have lived in Harapan for generations. Pak Usman manages the Durian Dangkal community nursery. It can produce over 160,000 seedlings a year. With a team of five to...

It’s a macaque, and those teeth are very big. What more is there to say? Just enjoy the fantastic photo. Think how, if it wasn’t for Harapan Rainforest, this might not exist.

Harapan’s indigenous community is the Bathin Sembilan. They rely heavily on the forest to support their lives. It gives them materials needed to live day-to-day. They collect bengkuang leaves to weave sleeping mats, and rattan to fashion baskets. They collect damar tree resin and jelutung latex...

A steady supply of seed is vital for forest restoration, so there are always seedlings to be planted out. Recently, three of us from the nursery team headed into the forest to collect bilakang seeds. As we headed out along the trail, our eyes didn’t stop scanning the forest floor – many seeds...

We know that the animals and birds in Harapan Rainforest are important for moving seeds around the forest. Hornbills fly for miles across the forest canopy, taking with them the seeds of fruit they have eaten. We want to find out which animals and birds eat what types of seed. This will help us as we...

Three of Harapan Rainforest’s forestry team and five staff from Sarolangun district forestry service recently went to Harapan Rainforest’s western border with Taman Bandung village, to conduct a boundary survey. They found good quality forest with a high density of trees and very good canopy...

Fifteen members of the Green Generation, a group of young nature lovers from various high schools in Jambi, recently spent New Year's Eve in Harapan Rainforest. As they normally live in a city of half a million people, they camped out in the forest, to make sure they experienced the forest close...

A really noticeable development at the Harapan Rainforest main camp has been the growth of our central nursery. Lines of metal poles support enough shade netting to cover half a football pitch. Fully equipped with an irrigation network, the rehabilitated nursery is big enough to hold up to half a million...

Thirty five pupils from Harapan Rainforest’s mobile school had a fantastic day out in the provincial capital recently - despite a 5am start and two and a half hours bogged down in the mud. Upon arriving in Jambi city – another three hours drive – they first visted a school to get a...

We have just completed our first Malayan Sun Bear research project, funded by the International Bear Association. The sun bear is the smallest bear in the world and one of the globally threatened mammals found in Harapan Rainforest. It gets its name from the golden disc of fur on its chest. Its name...

It was a very proud day for me recently as I presented the indigenous Bathin Sembilan children who attend our mobile school with uniforms. The school has been running for nearly a year and was set up to give the indigenous children in and around Harapan Rainforest the opportunity to get an education;...

The normally quiet Harapan Rainforest recently became a hive of activity when over 400 school children arrived in camp to assist in a day of tree planting. They came from eight different schools in the local area and also included the indigenous children who are taught through our mobile schools. The...