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One of the most amazing things about working in a tropical forest is the ever-present thrill of what I might encounter next. On our last field trip, myself and our six research assistants woke up just before dawn to the unmistakable, deep resonating growl of a tiger, less than 200m from our tents. It...

We were recently visited by a local indigenous community member with the exciting news that a hornbill nest had been found. This is part of a scheme that pays local community members for providing information on hornbill nests so we can then monitor their breeding behaviour. Thanks to Pak Ajer we...

Camera trap images are often of large charismatic mammals, but during the last 14 months of camera trapping surveys we have come to realise the value of this equipment for collecting information on birds too, specifically the galliformes or ‘gamebirds’. So far we have recorded the globally...

More than sixty members of our nearest Pramuka troupe recently visited Harapan Rainforest. Pramuka is the Indonesian scouting movement. They got to experience rainforest close up on the forest trail – where there are regular sightings of hornbills (including two of the nestboxes erected for them...

Harapan Rainforest is located on fairly flat land, which means we have few vantage points for viewing the site. To address this, our trained climbing team and representatives from Indonesian climbing organisation IndoRope are installing five viewing platforms this month, at the dizzying height of nearly...

Despite the long dry season we are experiencing in Sumatra, a few hours of rain can have a dramatic affect on the forest landscape, as I discovered on the research team's latest forest trip. On one of our first nights, very heavy rain left many of our survey transects impassable the next day,...

Working with local communities and collaborating with local partners is key to Harapan Rainforest’s success. A film just released by a project partner, Jambi NGO KKI-WARSI, shows some of the activities that have been going on in villages around Harapan Rainforest over the past 3 years or so. ...

Deep in the forest, I woke at 4.30 in the morning to walk to our gibbon survey points under the cover of darkness, itself an exhilarating experience. Arriving at the survey spot, I prepared for a morning of recording calling gibbons. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of bright colour...

A recent trip down the Kapas River through the centre of Harapan Rainforest gave me fantastic views of the wild bee colonies hanging below the branches of the tall trees towering above the forest canopy. One tree may have dozens of combs. Being so high up, the combs are protected from most of the predators...

With no systematic surveys to date, adding a new butterfly to the Harapan Rainforest list is easy. But imagine my surprise when, after sending photographs for identification to a colleague at the RSPB (Martin Davies - who is compiling a list from published sources of ‘potential’ butterflies...

A t 9 o'clock yesterday morning, Harapan Rainforest was struck by a strong earthquake, measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale. It followed just hours after another strong quake caused devastation in the city of Padang, about 400km to the northwest, where more than 1,000 lives have already been lost.Fortunately...

An unusually long and hot dry season is currently challenging the Harapan Rainforest team. Logged forest quickly dries out and becomes prone to fire. Our long-term strategy is to restore the forest as quickly as possible - to re-establish the forest canopy, creating a cool and moist microclimate that...

A shocking report from Sumatra reminds me how important Harapan Rainforest is for tigers. In late August, a female tiger in Jambi zoo (less than three hours from Harapan Rainforest) was killed by poachers. They broke in to the zoo at night, poisoned her, and took her skin and body parts to presumably...

Harapan Rainforest was recently honoured by a visit from Tony Whitten, a senior biodiversity specialist at the World Bank. Tony was part of a team that produced a World bank paper in 2001 that was influential in prompting RSPB’s involvement in the conservation of Sumatra’s lowland forests...

Harapan Rainforest staff and local community members celebrated Indonesian Independence Day together on August 17th. After raising the national flag, singing the national anthem and reading of the declaration of independence, the fun began. Bathin Sembilan children enjoyed a number of games, including...