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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...

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...

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...

A film crew recently visited Harapan Rainforest to make a film. I was lucky to join them to learn about making the exciting conservation films we see on television or the internet. We spent the first few days with the Bathin Sembilan indigenous community; filming their daily lives and seeing how important...

The pangolin is a strange looking mammal; scaly, with a prehensile tail, and claws for opening termite mounds. I never thought I’d see one of these secretive animals in the wild. I got my first encounter last week in sad circumstances, and not just one but 40 of them! The governement wildlife...

We are currently holding discussions with one of the indigenous community groups living within Harapan Rainforest, at a place called Simpang Macan (Tiger Junction). This group of 27 families is based at Simpang Macan, but moves into the forest in search of fruit, rattan, fish and game from time-to...

It’s dawn. The frogs fall silent while gibbons tell everybody about their territories and the sunrise. The night-shift is over and the day-shift begins. I have now been at Harapan Rainforest for more than a month as Senior Technical Adviser, bringing the experience gained in 12 years of conservation...

It is a big relief to be at the end of the rainy season. Following a long dry season when our fire fighting teams were on high alert, we have experienced long periods of extremely heavy rain which brought a different challenge. Travel to and from, and within, Harapan Rainforest has become increasingly...

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...