Last month I was fortunate enough to be able to have the trip of a life time that started in the Peruvian Amazon and ended high in the Andes exploring Machu Picchu. Less fortunately I was struck quite ill from the experience. That, on top of general life things and a cross country road trip I’ve been less than active on Endangered Living. Continue reading Into the Amazon
Tag Archives: anthropology
Guest Post: Tom in the Jungle
While I faced visa problem after visa problem I found comfort in knowing that one of my cohort, and a great friend, Tom was out in the jungles of Borneo living the dream. Somewhere between May and July of 2015 I asked him to write a guest post, and being the person that I am, I am only getting around to posting it now. Sorry, Tom! But it was worth the wait, he really brings the jungle to life:
In this summer of 2015 I had the good fortune to find myself in a Bornean rainforest conducting fieldwork for my MSc. The Sabangau peat-swamp forest in Central Kalimantan was my home for two months. As I write these words my time here is drawing to a close. Read on, if you will, and I will tell you about the remarkable place where I lived and the strange and wonderful things that I saw in my short time living in the jungle. Continue reading Guest Post: Tom in the Jungle
The Cultural Shift
Balinese culture has always had to fight for it’s survival in an increasingly Westernized world. In fact, Balinese culture was born out of the political turmoil that plagued the Indonesian island of Java that lasted from the 1200’s to the late 1400’s. In 1478 there was the last major exodus to Bali when the carvers, painters and artists fled to the small island in hopes of finding a creative sanctuary. Continue reading The Cultural Shift
Jane Goodall speaks from atop a chair at Woburn Safari Park
Forward: This is a long post, but it is my hope that you will make it to the end. Getting the chance to meet someone as inspiring as Jane Goodall is an experience I could not limit to a few hundred words. And although this is a post that may not introduce to you a new species or a conservation crisis, I think that it can introduce you to hope if you will let it.
I arrived exactly one hour early. I stood and watched the meerkats outside of the Woburn Safari Park’s Safari Lodge, biding my time until the doors opened and I could find my seat. Even before seeing Jane Goodall standing a mere 10 feet from me the day was perfect. I had seen my first ever wild pheasant, which could seem silly to many people, but for me it was incredibly exciting. Even the mundane turns magical on the day you get to meet your life-long hero.
Continue reading Jane Goodall speaks from atop a chair at Woburn Safari Park
The Great Limpopo Tranfrontier Park
The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is one of the largest national parks in the world and one of the few national parks that actually covers multiple countries. This was in hopes to create a protected migration path for a variety of the species found in this park. So lets learn a little bit more about this amazing park.
Education is key to conservation
Education is key to conservation. I think that this is an incredible message worth sharing. It is what I aim to do every time I post on endangeredliving.com, our FB page or my twitter. I want to educate people and teach them about species they may never have heard of, so that they can care. You have to know something exists and that it is in trouble to be able to want it to help it. It is such a basic idea that can get over looked.
So I encourage you to share this photo, to remind people how important it is to learn every day. Keep an open mind and it can lead to a great idea that might just change the world.
Bornean residents forced to evacuate
Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, Zulkifli Hasan has stated in a press conference on April 1st that all urban areas on the island of Borneo will be shut down. The reason for this sudden stop of not only the expansion of metropolitan areas, but also to their existence is the Indonesian government’s recent plan to evacuate all citizens currently residing in Indonesian Borneo.
What would you take into the field?
As the time draws closer for my first ever extended period in the field as a real-live grownup, I find my self wondering, what on earth do I bring with me? Of course as a girl I wonder what if I need to look nice? Should I bring make-up? Just in case? Maybe follow Mireya Mayor‘s lead and pack a little black dress? But then the outdoors[wo]man in me kicks in and I wonder which parts of my Wilderness First Aid training I’ll need to use… Will I have to splint a leg with branches and a sleeping bag? What about stop a gushing wound? Then I wonder if I’ll end up pulling something Bear Grylls-esc and get stranded away from my camp and have to use nothing but a knife, a lighter and the shirt off my back to survive for days on end while living on the leaves and trying to not get eaten by a lion.
Well most of this stuff probably won’t happen, but now you know what it sounds like in my head! But I was curious after reading Mireya Mayor’s book Pink Boot and a Machete about what kinds of quirky things are useful in a field situation, so I reached out. I asked the Twitterverse what their item they would never be caught without in the field was, which also morphed into, which books do you read in the field. Here are some of the great responses:
Everything to know about orangutans
Everything you need to know about orangutans. There are a lot of things, but if you want a quick run down of the species, what they’re like and the troubles they are facing in the wild. Orangutans are critically endangered, as over 50% of the orangutan population has been lost over the last 50 years. This is mainly due to hunting and habitat loss. There are quite a few different organizations working to save the orangutan, most notably OFI which was started by Dr. Birute Galdikas who conducted the first ever long term study of orangutans in 1971. Since then we have learned a lot about orangutans, especially in that they are extensive tool users and they are much more social than previously thought.
Click on the photo for the full infograph! (You won’t regret it!)
Masoala National Park
A little while back I posted about the Aceh Protected Forest, a national park in peril and some ways that it might be improved. But there are still a lot of parks in peril out there, one that especially comes to mind is Masoala National Park in Madagascar. Madagascar has lost 85% of it’s forest to slash and burn farming, but it’s also one of the most unique ecosystems on the planet. How can we keep the lemurs leaping through the quickly falling forests of Madagascar? Well I guess you’ll just have to keep reading…
Endangered Living 