Trekkers send Rainforest Reports

Here are the reports coming in from the field.

April 1st

The trip is going great! Kids are having a blast!
We took a tough 3 hour rainforest and farm hike today, then went tubing about 2 hours down the Bohorok River! Really cool!
We also visited the Orangutan Center - lots of orangs - 1 male and maybe 10 females, most with babies.
Met an American woman volunteer at the center who gave us a talk on the orang.
We are meeting with another Frenchman tonight to learn about environmental problems in the area.
Our visit to the school was a riot! Kids had great fun and the school LOVED the gifts!
Tomorrow we go on our overnight campout. That's it for now, tell everyone we are having fun and everyone is well!

The Trekkers
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April 3rd

Dear Virtual Sumatra Trekkies,
Well folks we just finished a great experience into the rainforest.
The day started observing the 8:00 morning feeding at the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center. We witnessed the feeding of several females and one male. To see them move through the trees, brush by you while going for food, and their gentle disposition, are all truly a marvel. Babies clinging to mothers just like humans proves our only 4% genetic differences are very minimal.
Encountered an Orangutan name Mina in the rainforest, she was aggressive due to wanting our guides orange bag. She thought there were bananas in the bag and when she wasn't offered any, she bit him on the leg. He just had a scratch but it was unexpected and shocked us. The problem lies with the Indonesian guides who feed the rehabilitants (released orangs) in order to attract them for tourist photos.
Camping in the rainforest along the beautiful Bohorok River was great. This year we abandoned the leaky Western tents and slept in a Batak longhouse tent. It was a bamboo frame covered with black plastic and was about 40 feet long. The girls slept side by side at one end and the boys at the other end with us teachers mixed in. It was noisy but fun and the rainforest sounds took over about eleven PM.
This morning we rafted out from the campsite on tube rafts like a centipede or caterpillar, about 5 huge tubes lashed together in a row with half of us on each raft. We got wet but had a blast.
Later in the day we visited a limestone cave with lots of bats, the insect-eating variety. It evoked lots of screams and comments but was fun though smelly. T
Tomorrow we whitewater raft on the Waupu River - water is just right so will be perfect. Also we have new rafts and equipment. More Later!

To the Virtual Trekkies:

Kate - The hike is tiring and seems impossible. The view is spectacular and it's really fun so the hike is definitely worth it.
Louros - I had a really fun time on the hike but it was really hot and humid. I like seeing all the wild life but I really, really hate the bugs!
Laura - I love the hiking so much! It is so amazingly gorgeous here. We have seen many caterpillars!!!
Sarah - I love it here! It was really worth the money. Casey - The wildlife here is so cool! I'm having a great time, and I hope the kids next year have this much fun.
Georgia - The best thing we did today was go down the river on inner tubes tied together. It was like a huge caterpillar.
Ryan- The river is cool. The forest is huge, and I like the view from the top of the mountains.
Katrina - Hiking is fun except the leeches. I got one on my stomach. Even though you tire out easily on the hike, the view is worth it.
Natalie - The best things so few were tubing and running from the orangutans. It was really freaky, but fun at the same time!
Ashley - The view is beautiful here, and everything has been fun. The only ad thing that has happened so far is that I have gotten 2 leeches on me.
Scott - Trekking makes me absolutely sick, but going down was cool, and quite enjoyable. Tubing hurts my buttocks. The creek flowing at night is relaxing.
Jessica - Trekking is really tiring, but I kept up with the quicks. the tubing down the river was awesome! White water rafting is going to be cool! Chris - We went hiking and we got attacked by an orangutan. We got to our camp. It was cool. The trip is cool. We are going white water rafting tomorrow. We hiked for 6 hours to the campground. This has been the best time of my life. We do and see so much here. Even when I was hot, or disgusted, or tired, or freaked out of my mind, I was having (and am having) so much fun.
Karen - We are always doing something new and exciting everyday. I've never hiked before, and most is fun, but some is very tiring. I'm so glad I'm here because it's very beautiful and we hearn a lot about conserving the forest.
Lavanya - Tubing and rafting were great. Hiking was pretty cool - after were done! I'm having so much fun!

That's it for now--
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April 5th

Today was our whitewater rafting trip. It was a beautiful day and the level of the river was fine - a bit slow but good for the first rafting trip for many kids. The rating on the Waupu River is between 2 and 3 with an occasional 4 when the river is running. The surrounding countryside is gorgeous - some deep gorges, a hot spring where volcanic water smelling like sulfur wells up and runs into the river (we swam there), and local farms. We had 4 rafts, two were fairly new, and good safety equipment. Three rafting companies joined our trip and two of the companies had Westerners. We had a good preparatory safety talk by one of the locals (a German man) and he led the way in an inflatable canoe, filming our adventures. The kids had a fabulous time, splashing each other, racing, jumping into the river for a float or swim, enjoying the waterfall (though it had a lot of fallen logs blocking the way) and the scenery. Stefan was the only one who got bounced out and he bruised his knee and came up under the raft next to a rock wall. He popped up a few seconds later, spitting some water, scared, but before long was back to his old self (the story will be embellished of course). Tomorrow we're off to Berastagi and the Karo Batak villages in the highlands. We've had a great adventure in Bukit Lawang and will miss it. More stories to follow.... from the Trekkers
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It is estimated that

an acre of rainforest is destroyed every second!

We hope you will join us to find out why!

The contact for this project is Bill Cason, Dhahran School, Saudi Arabia.

There are also many schools studying Trees and Forests during 1996 and 1997 and you can link to their progress reports or join their project by looking at :

The International Trees and Forests Project

Information Contact: Patti Weeg, Title 1 Computer Teacher, Delmar El. School, Delmar, Maryland, USA. Home Page: http://www.intercom.net/local/weeg

KIDPROJ WWW Contact: Grant Dougall, Educational Consultant: Technologies, Saskatoon Board of Education, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CANADA. Web Site: http://198.169.140.21/

KIDLINK Home Page

KIDPROJ Page

KIDS-97, the KIDLINK name and associated logo are service marks of the KIDLINK Society.

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