Murung Raya Expedition Leaders Report by Heart of Borneo Project

MURUNG RAYA EXPEDITION L E A D E R S

R E P O R T

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY, INTERACTIVE EXPEDITION TO STUDY A REMOTE AREA OF RAINFOREST IN THE HEART OF BORNEO

BUKIT BATIKAP PROTECTION FOREST CENTRAL KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA 2010-11

MARTIN C. HOLLAND

ÂŠ 2012 Heart of Borneo Project

Heart of Borneo Project A charity registered in England and Wales No. 1138860. 28a High St, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 9BL

www.heartofborneo.org

mholland@heartofborneo.org info@heartofborneo.org

Table of Contents Acknowledgements

A Note of Apology

Expedition Leaderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Summary

Lead Scientists Executive Summary

Team Members

Introduction

Expedition Aims & Objectives

Discover: Research Aims & Objectives

Educate: Expeditions as a Tool for Outreach

Inspire: Motivating Positive Action

Background to the Expedition

The Heart of Borneo

Tumbang Tohan

Mohot River and Camp Foyle

Expedition Team

Logistics and Brief Log

London to Jakarta

Equipment and Supplies, Immigration and Freight

Barito River to the Joloi River

Final Leg: The Joloi to the Mohot via Tumbang Naan and Tumban Tohan

Camp Foyle: Determination and Construction

Preparing the Transects

Beginning the Research

Camera Traps: Terrestrial Vertebrates

Mammal Transects and Observations

Small Mammals

Hybrid Gibbons

Avifauna

Herpetofauna

Canopy Herpetofauna

Epiphytes

Invertebrates

General Discussion on Research

Interactive Media

Capacity Building

Life at Camp Foyle

Food and Cooking

Powering Camp

Communications

Filming and Other Media

Arrivals and Departures

Medical Issues

Breaking Camp and Extraction

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Strategy & Planning

Appendix 2: Team Selection and Training

Appendix 3: Permissions and Permits

Appendix 4: Managing Finances

Appendix 5: Insurance and Emergency Evacuation

Appendix 6: Travel, Transport and Freighting

Appendix 7: Food, Water & Htgiene

100

Appendix 8: Breakdown of Income

101

Appendix 9: Breakdown of Expenditure

102

Appendix 10: Mammal Species Lists

103

Appendix 11 Birds Species Lists

104

Appendix 12: Amphibians Species Lists

108

Appendix 13: Reptiles Species Lists

109

Appendix 14: Trees Species Lists

110

Map 1: Map of study area ÂŠ Tim van Berkel

Acknowledgements We would never have been able to experience such a remote part of the world, working in a virtually undisturbed and beautiful rainforest and witnessing the intimate knowledge of the forest the local people possess without the help, advice and contribution of many. The foundation of the expeditionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success is based on their unconditional support and faith in a group of young and ambitious scientists and explorers. Without this we would never have been able to prepare and achieve such a successful expedition. Many thanks for the support of the following people and organisations (in no particular order):

Les and Claire Halpin, Rupert Ridgeway, Shane Winser, Neville Shulman, Christopher and Catherine Foyle, Robin Hanbury-Tenison, Jamie Buchanon-Dunlop, Dr David Chivers, Dr George McGavin, Steve Oliver, Tristan and Sonja Wood, David Morgan, Lindsey Leyden, Steven Trotter, Godwin Limberg, Suzanne Bull, Chris Greenwood, Pak Yunting, Sophie Persey, Brendan Godley, Nigel Winser, Cathy Hookey, Dr Peter Smithers, Alasdair McMillan, Natalie Gibb, Graham Stokes, Emily Wilson, Melati Gray, Catherine Wolfgang, Paul Inman, Paul Beerling, Simon Thompson, Tim Turnbull, Sam Burrows, Charlotte Coales, Tony Scorah, Stuart Hughes, Kirsten Mack, Robert Knott, Matthew Oates, Noel Rowe, Nick Vansittart, Michelle Desilets, Adam Vaughan, and all of the students and volunteers who helped us plan, prepare, and fundraise. Thank you. Our special thanks to the people of Tumbang Naan and Tumbang Tohan, and of course our invaluable field assistants, Pak Wik, Pak Bobo, Pak Parman, Pak Lundun, Pak Muji and, above all Pak Aspor, and to our cooks, Ibu Dewi and Ibu Wi. We are especially grateful for the support of the Research Centre for Biology - Indonesian Institute of Sciences; Pusat Penelitian Biologi â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) and the University of Palangka Raya (UNPAR). Institutional Support, Trusts and Grants Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), Universitas Palangkaraya, the Royal Geographical Society with IBG, Project Barito Ulu, University of Exeter (in particular the Department of Alumni Relations) University College Falmouth, the Gilchrist Educational Trust, the Orangutan Land Trust, World Wildlife Fund, Heart of Borneo Initiative, Natural History Museum in London, Primate Conservation Inc., Mission Aviation Fellowship Palangkaraya, the Zoological Society of London, the Rainforest Club, Ministry of Science and Technology, the Indonesian Department of Forestry, Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, the Explorers Club, the Foyle Foundation, the Adrian Ashby Smith Memorial Trust, the Falmouth and Exeter Students Union, Fauna and Flora International, Skinners Brewery, Our Media Sponsors and Partners UCF Media Dept, Panasonic Toughbook, Livewire Digital, Lightfoot Solutions, AST-Systems, Digital Explorer, Guardian Online Our Kit Sponsors Treeworker, Teufelberger, Doro, Craghoppers, Marlow, AST, Lightfoot Solutions, WorkWare, Nikwax, Digital Explorer, DD Hammocks, Paramo Directional Clothing, Aquapac, Tupperware, AECOM

A Note of Apology This report and the accompanying Science Report is published 18 months after the completion of the Murung Raya Expedition. We acknowledge that this is later than normally expected, and indeed later than many of the grants we received stipulated in their conditions of approval. For this we apologise sincerely. This was the first expedition that that I had ever organised or led, and for many of the participants it was the first expedition they had ever participated in, and first research projects independently planned and executed outside of a university setting. Yet it was also very ambitious in its scope. We were, I believe, well prepared for the work involved in the planning stages, which took 18 months and thousands of man hours. We were, as a result, well prepared also for the challenges we would face in the field, as I hope this report and the results detailed in the Science Report will demonstrate. However, we were not well enough prepared for the post expedition phase, and this includes the writing of these reports. There is much we could have prepared in advance, and I would encourage any future expedition leaders reading this report to learn from our mistakes. We should have begun preparing our reports well before our departure, and the whole team, especially the research team, should have been involved in that process. I think this knowledge of exactly how our findings would be reported would also have helped us in the field. As it was, upon completing the expedition, the team naturally dispersed to recuperate both their energies and their finances, and once that had happened it proved difficult to gather the various elements of the report and collate them, delaying both reports. We were further challenged by our desire to maintain the momentum created during the run up and execution of the expedition. We had founded the Heart of Borneo Project as a charity, and quickly learned how daunting the task of defining, funding, and growing this new organisation would be. Pursuing various new projects with little funding and a skeleton team has been by no means easy. Lastly, apart from managing this process better, I must take personal responsibility for paying particular attention to presentation. I believe that our reports will be more widely read and used for longer as a result, but it has inevitably slowed the process. Apart from being better prepared, and having the report templates ready and being added to on an ongoing basis, I make some further suggestions to future expedition teams toward the end of this report that I hope will prove valuable. We are extremely grateful for the patience of all those who have been waiting expectantly for this report, and hope that its contents are worth the extra wait.

Martin Holland Expedition Leader

Aerial view of Bukit Batikap Protection Forest and the Muller Range ÂŠMartin Holland

Expedition Leader’s Executive Summary From December 2010 to February 2011 a young, international and multidisciplinary team of researchers and creatives explored an as yet unstudied area of extremely remote but threatened primary rainforest in the centre of the island of Borneo. The Murung Raya Expedition team spent 8 weeks at their base camp site in the Bukit Batikap Protection Forest, Central Kalimantan, combining science and the media to discover, educate and inspire. The expedition was created as an open and inclusive platform for the professional development of students at the Combined Universities Cornwall Tremough Campus. Over 400 people registered an interest with over 40 playing an active role in the expedition from conception to execution. The research team conducted an interdisciplinary biodiversity survey of the area, making many important discoveries that lead to the conclusion that the area is of high conservation value, while the notably higher levels of biodiversity recorded in northern Borneo are likely a result of a survey bias weighted in favour of Sabah and Sarawak, indicating that Kalimantan more widely harbours far greater biodiversity than is currently represented in the literature (see next page for research summary and MRE Science Report for full details). Meanwhile a media team produced professional quality film, photography and articles to document the various elements of the expedition activities and results. Over 45 films, 50 blogs, and 20 photo galleries were produced, written and edited on location, and the latest satellite communications technology was used to broadcast these resources online almost daily to create an interactive expedition that would engage and inspire an international audience In addition, two live video links between the team at the expedition base camp and family audiences in the Attenborough Studio of the Natural History Museum, London, were successfully conducted, along with two live online web chats hosted on the Guardian website. Bukit Batikap Protection Forest is now being used as a release site for orang-utans by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, thanks in part to the expedition research results, while the regional government has written its strong support for plans to begin a permanent, participatory research program in the area. This ongoing attention should act as a deterrent to further illegal logging activity that has been present in the area. The Murung Raya Expedition received wide support and sponsorship, notably from the RGS Neville Shulman Challenge Award, University of Exeter, and ZSL Darwin Erasmus Award. Originally called ‘fx-pedition 2010’ (for Falmouth and Exeter universities), it eventually operated under the banner of the Heart of Borneo Project: a charity founded by the Expedition Leader and Lead Scientist to continue the work begun by the expedition. The expedition was awarded an inaugural University of Exeter Impact Award, and was named Expedition of the Year by Explorer Magazine. The FXU Exploration Society founded by the expedition team at Tremough Campus is a legacy that will continue to encourage ambitious, creative, interdisciplinary expeditions among the student population. The Heart of Borneo Project continues to explore interesting and threatened areas on the island, as well as pioneering approaches to participatory and interactive research projects.

Lead Scientistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Executive Summary By Tim van Berkel (from the MRE 2010-11 Science Report)

As part of the Heart of Borneo Projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Murung Raya Expedition a preliminary biodiversity survey was carried out in and around Bukit Batikap Protection Forest from December 2010 to February 2011 to study the flora and fauna. A team of researchers of British, Indonesian and Dutch nationalities conducted surveys on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and epiphytes, providing the first evidence of the species inhabiting this previously unstudied and remote rainforest in Central Kalimantan. Mammal diversity was studied by camera trapping and line transect surveys. Avifauna was recorded using line transects and point counts, while terrestrial birds were also recorded using camera traps. Reptiles and amphibians were recorded using diurnal and nocturnal line transects, pitfall traps and basking surveys. Canopy access techniques allowed the study of epiphytes in the higher canopy, which further aided placement of canopy camera traps and the study of arboreal herpetofauna. Additionally, a short expedition was undertaken in search for the western distribution boundary of the threatened hybrid gibbon (Hylobates albibarbis x H. muelleri), employing an auditory sampling technique along the Mohot and Joloi Rivers. A total of 47 terrestrial mammal and three bat species were recorded. Most notable mammal records are the Sunda otter-civet (Cynogale bennettii), proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), whitefronted langur (Presbytis frontata) and Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi). The most notable absence was that of the orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus). The hybrid gibbon, previously believed to range no further than the Busang River, was located in the upper reaches of the Joloi River. This finding extends its distribution to a minimum estimated total of 3,300km2. A total 152 bird species were documented. Observations of importance include: Fairy pitta (Pitta nympha) which is the second ever record for Indonesia; Bornean peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron schleiermacheri); Bornean ground-cuckoo (Carpococcyx radiatus); blue-wattled bulbul (Pycnonotus nieuwenhuisii) and black partridge (Melanoperdix niger). We also list an extension of the breeding season of the rufous-crowned babbler (Malacopteron magnum). We documented 45 reptile species; 21 snakes, 22 lizards and 2 turtles. Here we provide the first record of the reed snake Pseudorabdion saravacense for Indonesia and the first Kalimantan record of the blue-throated skink (Sphenomorphus cyanolaemus). Since insufficient distribution data about the vast majority of reptiles exists, these observations constitute valuable records. Thirty-six amphibian species, including one caecilian were observed. Of the 35 anuran species, 25 represent significant range extensions. Most of these have only been recorded from the Northern parts of Borneo.

EXPEDITION TEAM MAIN TEAM Martin Holland (UK) – Expedition Leader and Production Manager Tim van Berkel (Netherlands) – Chief Scientist, Terrestrial Vertebrates, Small Mammals, Birds Lara Rogers (UK) – Assistant Chief Scientist, Terrestrial Mammals, Primates Russell Goodchild (UK) - Invertebrates Misbahul Munir (Indonesia) - Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians Holli Kilburn (UK) – Canopy, Amphibians, Epiphytes Dale Mortiboys (UK) - Reptiles, Amphibians Ismail Agung (Indonesia) – Primates Ian Blessley (UK) – Base Camp Manager, Medic, Birds James Harwood (UK) – Photographer Dan Sargison (UK) - Technician, Power & Communications

GUEST RESEARCHERS

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS AND GUIDES

Jan Beck (Germany) - Moths

Bapak Aspor (Head Guide)

Bapak Parman

Carsten Bruhl (Germany) - Ants

Bapak Wik

Bapak Lundung

Bapak Bobo

Bapak Muji

Ibu Wi (Chef)

Ibu Dewi (Chef)

INTRODUCTION The Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 was a large and highly ambitious multi-disciplinary expedition into one of the most remote areas of primary rainforest left standing on the island of Borneo. The aim was to contribute to the conservation of the Heart of Borneo rainforest through discovery, education, and inspiration, using a combination of scientific research, capacity building, and interactive multimedia. The rainforests of Borneo have been decimated over the past few decades, first through timber extraction and later through mining and land conversion for agriculture, especially oil palm. Today less than half of the original forest cover is left standing, while much of that is degraded and fragmented. The Heart of Borneo is a solid band of rainforest found in the centre of the island, straddling the mountains of the interior. The three governments of Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, have pledged to sustainably manage this 220,000km2 area, but what that means in reality remains to be seen after 5 years of the agreement being in place. The expedition aimed to record the biodiversity in an as yet unstudied and threatened area of lowland dipterocarp rainforest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, providing a first line of defence by demonstrating its high conservation value to local people, regional and national government and businesses alike. The expedition was broadcast in real-time from the base camp on the river Mohot, sending high quality videos, photography and blogs to our website and other media outlets via satellite, as well as speaking live to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;realâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and online audiences via video link and web based chatsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a truly pioneering effort from such a remote rainforest location. The purpose was to raise awareness of the unique and globally important rainforests of Borneo, and increase understanding of the issues threatening their future survival, along with the many thousands of species and people who rely on them for their survival. It was the first expedition that any of the participants had been involved in organising for themselves. It was conceived and initiated at Tremough campus in Cornwall, which is shared by the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth, with both institutions offering their support. A new Exploration Society was established by the expedition team, and continues to thrive. Over 400 students applied to join the expedition, which was designed to act as a platform for professional development for students from any and all disciplines. A philosophy of inclusiveness was central to the planning process, intended to share all of the learning to be gained from the experience of planning and preparing the expedition as widely as possible. Indeed, not even the location of the expedition was decided before the team was formed. Multidisciplinary expeditions create fertile environments for study, and the multimedia element encourages scientists to focus on the significance of their work, learning how to make their sometimes abstract research not just accessible, but relevant to a lay audience. We took particular inspiration from the 1979 Mulu Expedition to northern Borneo, and the Catlin Arctic Survey, in designing the expedition.

EXPEDITION AIMS Disover: To explore and document an as yet unstudied area of primary rainforest in the Murung Raya district of Central Kalimantan, Borneo. To create a representative picture of the biodiversity in the area through surveys on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, epiphytes and forest structure. To extend these surveys to the rainforest canopy via rope access. To establish and map the range of a hybrid gibbon species thought to present in the region.

Educate: To raise awareness of the Heart of Borneo Rainforest and conservation/sustainability issues more widely. To create and share educational resources online before, during and after the expedition. To create and share multimedia during the expedition that provides insights into expeditions, research methodologies, species, ecosystems and wider issues, in an interesting and exciting way. To build capacity among Indonesian researchers and the remote communities in our research area.

Inspire: To reach and engage with an international audience by creating an interactive expedition through the use of satellite technology and the internet, uploading videos, blogs and pictures near-daily from Camp Foyle. To use the expedition as a learning platform for students from all disciplines at the universities of Exeter and Falmouth to gain professional experience. To inspire future conservationists, researchers and explorers. To engage with live audiences through live video links and online web chats to create a more personal empathy with this environment and its threats.

DISCOVER: Research Aims & Objectives By Tim van Berkel

Effective conservation management is not possible without knowledge of the species in the area. It is the knowledge of species occurrences and distribution patterns that form the basis for prioritisation of conservation areas. Obtaining species inventories is particularly important to identify high conservation value (HCV) areas; which require conservation priority over areas containing less biodiversity, those containing fewer endemic or threatened species or species that are not sufficiently covered in protected areas such as national parks and nature reserves. Very little is known about the biodiversity in Kalimantan, less even in the central parts of Borneo where considerable logistical effort is needed in order to be able to conduct research. It is however these parts of the island where most of the remaining forests are located and biodiversity can be expected to be high. We aim to further the conservation of the Bornean rainforests by obtaining the first biodiversity data for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and epiphytes in Bukit Batikap Protection Forest (BBPF) in Central Kalimantan.

Below: One of our guides, Pak Wik, trying out a pair of binoculars ÂŠMisbahul Munir

The objectives of this expedition were to collect biodiversity data in the threatened and unstudied, primary lowland rainforests of Bukit Batikap Protection Forest (BBPF), located in the district of Murung Raya, Central Kalimantan. Research on the status of the biodiversity in this area is virtually absent, (McConkey & Chivers, 2004) and only one previous published account of the biodiversity in BBPF exist (Partomiharjo, 2005). To date, the vast majority of ecological research has been conducted in the northern parts of Borneo; Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the island’s more accessible coastal regions. In contrast, relatively little is known from the Indonesian interior of the island (Holmes & Burton, 1987; Kueh et al., 2004; McLeod, 2010; Beck et al., 2011), and where research in the Heart of Borneo is being conducted, new species continue to be discovered (WWF, 2010). So little is known about the interior forests of Kalimantan, it is argued that part of the considered higher animal biodiversity of the well-studied Northern parts of Borneo is in fact a result to larger sampling effort rather than a representation of actual biodiversity patterns (Gaston et al., 1995; Meijaard & Nijman, 2003; Slik et al., 2003; Kueh et al., 2004; Beck et al., 2010; McLeod, 2010). Exploring and documenting the unstudied and threatened areas in Kalimantan is important as it will undoubtedly provide additional species records which form the basis for augmented conservation effort and attention. Early in the planning process we established contact with Dr David Chivers and Rupert Ridgeway. Dr David Chivers is scientific director of Project Barito Ulu (PBU) and is based at the University of Cambridge, while Rupert Ridgeway is the Project Manager. PBU was established in 1985 and is the only research centre in the centre of Borneo. It combines studies on natural forest regeneration and the ecology of forest dynamics and is located approximately 60 km from this expedition’s base camp, Camp Foyle. David Chivers identified the need to locate the western boundary of the hybrid gibbon Hylobates albibarbis x H. muelleri, which is known to occur in the area. The Joloi headwaters were investigated for suitability during a five week recce trip by Martin Holland, Tim van Berkel and Rupert Ridgeway in February and March 2010. During the trip contact was established with various partners, such as the University of Palangka Raya and the Bornean Orang-utan Survival Foundation (BOS) as well as with the villages of Tumbang Tohan (also known as Taja Bankang) and Tumbang Naan. The forests here are still relatively untouched, with only local disturbances occurring along the river edges in the form of regenerating cultivation sites, locally known as ladang. Although the area enjoys Hutan Lindung (Protection Forest) status, until now this has not guaranteed total protection. Illegal logging has occurred in BBPF and additional logging and mining concessions have been granted in BBPF and other Protection Forests in Central Kalimantan (MoFor, 2008), making the presence of conservation organisations and baseline biodiversity data in the area all the more important.

(Opposite) A logging road snakes through dense rainforest close to BBPF ©Martin Holland

EDUCATE: Expeditions as an Outreach Tool People are fascinated by expeditions and exploration generally, and this fascination presents an excellent opportunity to educate people about the places, peoples, topics and issues that expedition teams are concerned with. Of course this is not a new concept. Articles, books, films, lectures, schools visits and exhibitions are all common ways that expedition teams share their stories and findings. Increasingly, websites and new media are the primary method of reaching out to people, and with satellite communications technology becoming more affordable and portable, the ability to report from the field via blogs and videos is being utilized more and more often. Awareness of tropical rainforest deforestation generally is probably at an all-time high, and this topic is usually covered in school curriculums in the UK. However awareness does not necessarily equal understanding, and we believe that understanding is the crucial link to empathy which in turn is necessary for action. Many people will have learned how to solve complex mathematical problems at school without ever understanding why it was at all important. In the same way, many people are aware of the deforestation issue, and of links with climate change, but are perhaps unaware of the scale or importance of this global crisis, or of the many interconnected systems (including humanity in all its social forms) that are and will continue to be negatively affected. Moreover, Borneo barely features in the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s imagination of these issues. The Amazon rainforest, for example, has rightly achieved international attention as an area of huge global environmental import, and probably due in part to this public opinion, deforestation rates have reduced dramatically in the region.

Schoolchildren of Tumbang Tohan during Recce ÂŠRupert Ridgeway

We intended to put the rainforests of Borneo on the map, particularly the Heart of Borneo rainforest which we believe should be receiving the same level of attention as the Amazon rainforest, Great Barrier Reef, and other natural wonders that have achieved similar celebrity. We also wanted to demonstrate the methodologies of scientific research to the lay person, to give an insight into how studies are carried out and, crucially, why. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not apparent to most people why knowing what species are present in an area is important to conservation. We hoped to produce resources which would provide an insight into these questions. Videos are excellent resources and so we planned many on a variety of subjects. We also collected existing rainforest related lesson plans and shared them on our website, hoping that schools would use our expeditions as a platform to discuss these topics while we were in the field, making use of the opportunity to really engage the students in the subject matter by following our progress live, and by asking us questions and perhaps taking part in live links into their classrooms. We also planned to visit schools and work with local cub groups, creating our own badge that cubs could earn by spending a weekend learning about and practicing various expedition and research related tasks. (Above) Munir with Wallaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus)

INSPIRE: Motivating Positive Action Inspiration is a powerful force. I have always been interested in travelling and exploring, but I can pinpoint the inspiration to actually design and lead an expedition to just two or three individuals and a handful of well-timed comments. So much of my life will be different because of those moments, and perhaps the same is true for the other expedition team members and those involved in the project more widely. From the beginning the expedition was designed to maximise the potential opportunity for this kind of inspiration. Being at a university campus during the conception and planning stages, the expedition was opened up as a platform to individuals from all subjects and backgrounds to contribute to, whether they were joining us in the field or not. The whole pre-expedition phase, right from deciding where and what to study, would be inclusive, meaning that everybody would contribute to and learn from the different elements of the planning and preparation, from budgeting to marketing, fundraising to logistics, research design to camp design. In all we had over 40 students very engaged with the project. We called it a platform for professional learning, partly motivated by my own frustrations of a university experience that simply does not prepare young people for the exciting but challenging reality of the modern world, nor taps into the potential for interdisciplinary study. I wanted to demonstrate what young people were capable of and hopefully create a legacy of similar activities once I had left. Beyond the expedition team and volunteers, we intended the expedition to inspire a broad international audience. Our message was constantly positive, focusing on the fact that so much rainforest is still left, that it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too late to protect it, that doing so really is worthwhile and, more importantly, really is achievable. We would incorporate personality and adventure into our blogs and videos, but hopefully not so much that the focus drifted away from our core messages. We also hoped to inspire young people around the world, and especially in Indonesia, to make a career in conservation or its related fields, by demonstrating how incredibly exciting and diverse the opportunities are if you are willing to put the work in. Lastly, we hoped to inspire others to follow in our footsteps by designing their expeditions and research activities to maximise the potential opportunities as we had tried to do, by incorporating creative people and interdisciplinary approaches, and by letting others contribute to and benefit from the learning involved in the many and varied obstacles and challenges to be overcome in order to realise such an expedition.

(Opposite) Rainforest vegetation close to Camp Foyle ÂŠMartin Holland

BACKGROUND TO THE EXPEDITION The Murung Raya Expedition was the result of seed of an idea that became lodged in my mind in Spring of 2009. The concept then was to recruit a team of people from different scientific disciplines and multimedia backgrounds to plan, organise and execute an expedition. The expedition team members and those involved in supporting the expedition on the ground would benefit from the learning involved in such an operation. This was organised under the name of ‘fx-pedition2010’, with the intention of running the expedition in the summer of 2010, and won the support of the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth – the two institutions which share Tremough Campus in Cornwall where the idea was first born. The criteria for the expedition were to go somewhere remote, threatened and unstudied; to contribute to scientific knowledge and conservation through research; and to combine science and multimedia to raise awareness and inspire others. With these and a number of other factors in mind such as security, seasonality and cost, the team decided on an area of Central Kalimantan, Borneo as their chosen area of interest. This decision was in part due to the presence of a research station called Project Barito Ulu (PBU), run by Rupert Ridgeway for the past 26 years, and introduced to us by Shane Winser of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). Rupert Ridgeway proved to be such an invaluable resource of local knowledge and tireless enthusiasm that much of the scale of the expedition can be attributed to his support. The precise location of the expedition, the primary rainforest of the upper Joloi headwaters nestled against the dramatic escarpment of the east side of Muller or Batikap Mountains was chosen for the lack of research so far undertaken in the region (due probably to its remoteness and difficulty of access); the presence of two remote villages, Tumbang Tohan and Tumbang Naan; the very present threat of mining and logging concessions moving ever deeper into the region; and the theory put forward by Dr David Chivers of Cambridge University and PBU that the Mohot River, a tributary of the Joloi, may mark the boundary of a little-studies hybrid species of gibbon . Along with the Royal Geographical Society, we received enormous support throughout our planning from the University of Exeter (especially from Steve Trotter and Catherine Wolfgang of the university’s Department for Alumni Relations, DARO). We were also especially grateful to the enthusiasm and advice of Robin Hanbury-Tenison, who led the RGS Mulu Expedition in 1979. Les and Claire Halpin were very important to our success, as were Christopher and Catherine Foyle of Foyle’s Bookshops. We were also supported by a small army of volunteers students from Tremough campus who responded with great energy to the opportunities we offered. The role of the expedition as a vehicle for personal and professional development was mutually beneficial to our goals and those of the students, with PR, fundraising, art and design work, media projects, and support with designing the research all contributed to by an inter-university, multidisciplinary team.

The original ‘fx-pedition 2010’ team at the Tremough Freshers Fayre in 2009 ©Graham Stokes The number and capacity of people interested allowed the ambition of the expedition to grow, and with this ambition many sponsors were attracted allowing us to attempt some new and interesting techniques in remote interactive media. Key to this was the use of satellite technology to create an interactive website allowing schools, youth groups and people from around the world to follow our progress in real time through videos, galleries and blogs which were created in the field and uploaded onto our website. We also aimed to take part in the first live video link of its kind with audiences in the Natural History Museums new Attenborough Studio, and live Q&A sessions on the Guardian newspapers website. The planned dates for the expedition were July to September 2010, but issues with our research visa application meant that the expedition was postponed, with revised dates of November 2010 to February 2011 being agreed with the team and sponsors. We used this delay to become the Murung Raya Expedition, and to register a charity - the Heart of Borneo Project (HoBP) - to act as the vehicle for a long term presence in the area which was central to our original philosophy. For fear of legal/insurance complications, the expedition was considered to be independent of the newly formed Heart of Boneo Project, meaning for example that the income and accounts for the expedition are separate to and different than those of the charity, although for all intents and purposes the Murung Raya Expedition was a Heart of Borneo Project expedition. The final plan for the expedition was to spend 9 weeks in the field conducting research and creating multimedia for online broadcast, with 2 weeks either side for entry to and extraction from the field site. Despite many setbacks detailed in this report, we successfully managed 8 weeks of research time in the field, completing all of our objectives and exceeding even our own high expectations of success.

Red Square shows area detailed on Map 1 (p6-7)

Research in the Heart of Borneo For centuries, the extensive forests of Borneo have captured the imagination of explorers and scientists alike. Today however, over half of the island’s forest cover has disappeared and deforestation continues to be amongst the highest in the world (Jukka et al., 2011). It has been projected that if business (in the form of timber extraction, oil palm plantation and coal and mineral extraction) continues at the current level less than a third of Borneo’s forest will remain by 2020 (WWF, 2005). The lowland dipterocarp forests (Holmes & Burton, 1987), in which it is estimated that more than 60% of Borneo’s rainforest species reside, face the greatest threats. They are the most commercially attractive and most heavily exploited habitats and are disappearing at alarming rate. Even Kalimantan’s protected areas do not provide the shelter one might expect. From 1985 to 2001 over 56% of the lowland forest situated in legally protected areas was logged or converted (Curran et al., 2004). With the rate of deforestation at an all-time high, the implementation of more effective conservation measurements is thus of utmost importance. Despite the continuing extensive forest conversion, Borneo’s central areas still harbour one of the largest continuous stretches of primary rainforest in Southeast Asia. To conserve the biodiversity in this vast region, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei signed a declaration in 2007:

“To cooperate in ensuring the effective management of forest resources and conservation of a network of protected areas, productive forests and other sustainable land-uses within an area which the three respective countries will designate as the “Heart of Borneo (HoB)” Although this is considered to be a historical agreement on a political level, looking at what is actually being implemented on the ground, the reality paints a less optimistic picture: implementation of regulations is slow, illegal logging and corruption are still serious issues, and the establishment of new conservation areas is falling behind, despite Indonesia’s goodwill. The research carried out during the Heart of Borneo Project’s Murung Raya Expedition took place within the gazetted boundaries of the Heart of Borneo, in a remote primary lowland rainforest of Central Kalimantan. The study area is part of Bukit Batikap Protection Forest (Map 1, page 6-7). It is located in the north-west of the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan; sub-district (kecamatan) Seribu Riam of the Murung Raya district. Camp Foyle (expedition basecamp) was constructed on the northern bank of the Mohot River (Figure 1.2) at latitude -0.0922 ̊, longitude 113.4875 ̊. Some further information on the area follows, but full details of the topography, vegetation, climate, and other relevant information can be found in the Science Report.

Tumbang Tohan Two villages are located 15 and 30km downstream along the Joloi. Tumbang Tohan, the village nearest to our research site (with which we had more contact) was originally located north of the Mohot, at the mouth of Sungai Tohan, but a cholera outbreak c.35 years ago killed a large proportion of the inhabitants, forcing the remaining population to move away. One of the village elders, Bapak Ajung, informed us that only ten of the original inhabitants still live in the newly built village, although we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the percentage of the population who are descendants of the original inhabitants. Many of the current population are migrants, the majority from West Kalimantan who have walked across the mountains in search of work and new beginnings. The word Tohan actually translates to transit, which is very apt for this frontier town. Tumbang Tohan is still very isolated: since a logging road was left to abandon by the operating company, the only means of transport is by boat which, due to price of fuel which has to be transported far upriver from Puruk Cahu, remains prohibitively expensive (Rp.25,000/litre instead of the government regulated price of Rp4,500/litre, and the actual price in Puruk Cahu of Rp.8,500/ litre). The villages are financially very poor, and the economic situation very difficult. Over 90% rely on subsistence farming (rice and some vegetables such as cassava and water spinach) using swidden techniques. The average family farms an area of around 1ha, opening up a new area every 1-2 years, and leaving land fallow for 10-15 years. The clearing and burning of land and the sowing of the rice are communal activities: 30 people at a time work on one familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farm in rotating shifts. Rice and the occasional vegetables are supplemented with fish and meat. Large fish have not been present in the river close to the village for some time now, and so fresh fish has risen to a cost of around Rp.30,000 (ÂŁ2) per kilo, because of the cost of fuel to reach places upstream where larger fish are still abundant. While in the forest collecting gaharu or birds nests the men will hunt to support themselves, but from conversation it seems that the younger men in the village are less inclined to go hunting to bring meat to the family meals. That said, there is still plenty of hunting activity in the area, with bearded pigs and the various deer species the main targets. Traps are set and these are apparently very successful, while rifles, hunting dogs, and spears are also used. A very small number of families are practicing pig and fish husbandry. The two major economic activities and additional sources of income are from the collection of gaharu, a valuable incense collected from the trees infected by a fungus, and the harvest of edible bird nests from caves. Both of these activities commonly involve spells of 1-2 months in the forest at a time, leaving the women to care for the children, and both women and children to care for the farms. This impacts on the schooling of the children who are often either too busy to attend or too tired to concentrate. Some people have begun planting rubber, while illegal gold mining of the river bed has taken off in recent years. Occasional manual labour can be found with the logging and mining companies that operate in the area. The villagers complain that this is only short-term contract work, given out by the companies until migrant workers can be employed, who are given long-term contracts.

Children of the rainforest, Tumbang Tohan ÂŠMartin Holland

Mohot River & Camp Foyle Camp Foyle was constructed at the site of an old hunting camp on the north bank of the Mohot river, after consultation with the people from Tumbang Tohan. The Mohot River flows north and then east from the Muller, or Batikap mountains to the west, joining the Joloi upstream from Tumbang Tohan. The river is used as an entry point by local people going into deeper rainforest where gaharau is collected, and also into the mountains either to cross into West Kalimantan or to harvest edible swiftlets nests from the caves. Freshly cleared as well as old lading sites in various stages of forest regeneration line the banks close to the mouth of the river, but this human disturbance gives way to primary rainforest once beyond the tributary Bulu river. At the time of the expedition no gold mining activity was taking place along the river. As well as this localised and small scale agricultural activity, selective logging activity can be seen from the river in the form of collapsed bridges made from logs, built by the logging company that holds a concession in the area. Accurate and consistent information on the land use status in Central Kalimantan is almost impossible to obtain, but it is clear that illegal logging activity has been systematically pursued by the company. Satellite images and even Google Earth clearly detail the network of logging roads spreading like tendrils up to and across the river Bulu, well within the Protection Forest area. The presence of the collapsed bridges betrays the pursuit of illegal timber on the north bank of the Mohot by this same company, and roads can be seen heading north alongside the west bank of the Joloi. This illegal activity has been reported to the authorities by members of the village but no action has been taken. This logging activity is ongoing, and currently approaches to within 7km of Camp Foyle to the east and 9km to the south. Across the mountains to the west, the closest logging activity observable by satellite is 13km. The forest canopy bridges the river at several locations, including at Camp Foyle, and long-tailed macaques were frequently seen using these natural causeways. The forest found beyond the reaches of the logging activity described above is pristine, with many emergent canopy trees with enormous buttress roots found throughout the area we studied. The terrain is undulating with 40m hills cut with streams and rivers. Our transects could not navigate the easiest route through the forest, and so the research teams had to follow straight lines up and down these hills, crossing the water courses and their steep banks and many bogs. Being so close to the mountains and collecting all the rainfall from this large watershed area, the Mohot could rise by 5m in the space of a few hours, carrying enormous logs and breakneck speed and making river tral dangerous to impossible. Of course, the smaller streams and rivers would also flash flood, potentially stranding research teams during heavy weather, and making proper safety precautions all the more crucial. (Left: Map 3, showing rivers in blue and logging roads partially coloured in yellow, with illegal logging roads visible but not coloured)

(Opposite) Map 3: Google Earth image of BBPF with rivers and logging roads marked

The Mohot River in flood ÂŠMartin Holland

EXPEDITION TEAM

Martin Holland – Expedition Leader and Production Manager A double graduate from Exeter and Falmouth Universities, Martin brought a broad range of skills and experience to the team. He attempted his first expedition at 18 with a solo effort to overland from the UK to Australia. Since then he has worked and travelled in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia, South America, Australasia, and Europe through his work with charitable organisations, including as an aid worker for international disaster relief charity Shelterbox. He is a photojournalist and filmmaker, and wrote his first book, ‘Rodrigues: Paradise Lost?’ in 2009. Tim van Berkel – Lead Researcher - Mammalogy Tim started his degree in Natural-Environmental Sciences in 2001 at Utrecht, where he developed his interests in the living natural world. Tim put effort into finding research abroad for his thesis, and subsequently found himself doing research on lions in Cameroon at Leiden University. Due to this research his interest in the conservation of endangered mammals and especially the human-wildlife conflict further increased. Tim graduated from the University of Exeter with an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity in 2009.

Lara Rogers – Assistant Lead Researcher - Primatology, Nocturnal Mammals Lara grew up in Hong Kong, although a concrete jungle she managed to find wildlife where ever she went. Lara worked at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre in Thailand and then went on to train and work as a Safari guide in South Africa. Lara has recently completed an MSc in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University studying the Bengal slow loris in the Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia.

Ian Blessley – Base Camp Manager, Medical Officer, Research Assistant After commissioning from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 2002 Ian joined the 1st Battalion, The Green Howards. Since leaving school in 1998 Ian has been on expeditions to Pakistan, Nepal, Kenya, Tanzania, Belize and Guatamala, and has driven from the UK to Gambia across the Sahara ian has successfully summited a 7000m and 600m peak in Pakistan and three 6000m Peaks, in Nepal and a 5000m Peak Tanzania. Ian also graduated from the University of Exeter with an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity in 2009. Russell Goodchild – Researcher – Entomology Russell has spent as much time as possible outdoors on various adventures up mountains, in woods and on water. Graduating in 2008 with a BSc from Plymouth university in Environmental science; Biodiversity and Conservation, he has spent time living in Italy, teaching in a school, volunteering with the RSPB and catching reptiles and amphibians for a consultancy, although his first love is spiders and insects.

Holli Kilburn – Researcher – Canopy Holli had spent the previous ten years working around the world as a carpenter and after a winter of discontent living in France she decided to throw herself into her true life’s passion – Conservation. She completed a Conservation Biology degree in 2008, gaining a 1st with honors and went on to study research techniques in the rainforest of Honduras. After a course in scientific tree-climbing in Panama, Holli hopes to pursue a career in canopy research.

Dale Mortiboys – Research Assistant – Herpetology Dale's youth was spent chasing all manner of reptile across the New Forest whilst developing a strong love for nature. With his camera and notebook at the ready he has documented bats and herpetofauna on his travels across India, Fiji and Europe. Having graduated from Plymouth University in Environmental Science, Dale made his hobbies full time employment as an Ecological consultant specialising in bats and herpetofauna.

Misbahul Munir – Research Assistant - Ornothology Munir was studying Biological Sciences at the University of Negeri Semarang when he developed his devotion to the conservation of birds and amphibians. Since then he enrolled in and started numerous studies and initiatives assessing bird distributions and amphibian diversity in Java. Studying the biodiversity of the Borneo rainforests was a dream come true. Munir also set up the Green Community, an organisation that studies and aims to protect the habitat and wildlife of Mount Unguran, for which he received the Conservation Leadership Programme Future Conservationists Award. Ismael Agung (Ung) – Research Assistant – Primatology Ung was a recent graduate from the University of Padjadjaran, Bandung. He has a keen interest in primates and his experience is varied, including research on surili, Javan slow loris and Javan gibbon. His research focused on behaviour, population distribution, anthropological impacts and DNA analysis. He was also one of the participants on the Biology Expedition to Kuta Traditional Village Sacred Forest to stud the distribution and population of the ebony leaf monkey and butterfly diversity. Dan Sargison – Base Camp Technician Dan had been working professionally within IT for the previous 9 years, and has experience in web design, problem solving, IT training, server management and teaching. Always up for a challenge, Dan likes to push himself and try new things which in the last few years have included getting into new sports like spearfishing, skydiving, bodyboarding, and climbing mountains for charity.

James Harwood –Photographer After working as a mechanic for 15 years something had to give! James applied to the University College Falmouth to study Marine and Natural History Photography in 2008, finally following his dreams and ambitions of becoming a successful wildlife photographer. The Degree gave him the chance to pursue his two main passions, the natural world and photography.

Carsten Breuhl and Jan Beck – Guest Researchers Carsten and Jan are specialist entomologists, focusing on ants and moths. They are linked to the Universities of Landau (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland, and have years of experience working in the Malaysian and Brunei parts of Borneo.

LOGISTICS AND BRIEF LOG The Mohot River is a tributary of the Joloi River located in the undeveloped centre of Borneo, the third largest island on earth, some 380km as the crow flies from the town of Banjarmasin on the south coast. It is extremely remote, and access difficult by definition.

Map 4, showing Central Kalimantan with our access routes to amp Foyle

London to Jakarta The team flew in two groups from London to Jakarta, the first team comprised Tim van Berkel and myself leaving on the 15th November directly after the Explore weekend at the Royal Geographical Society where I had been invited to give a talk on fundraising, and Tim had sat on the rainforest panel. The rest of the UK team landed in Jakarta on Friday 19th November, and were met by Misbahul Munir and Ismael Agung from Java. Tim I spent the preceding days making transport arrangements, meeting with officials from LIPI and ZSL Indonesia, and preparing for the complex immigration process with the help of Steve Oliver.

Equipment, Supplies, Immigration, & Freight Ian Blessley, Dan Sargison and James Harwood were left in Jakarta with Rupert Ridgeway to buy some communications supplies and to expedite the release of our freighted goods from customs, and to retrieve the necessary documentation to move through the secondary immigration process in Palangkarya, the administrative capital of Central Kalimantan. The rest of the team flew to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, where we would buy the majority of our food and equipment. The hope was to move all of our team and supplies up the Barito river in one unit, aboard a public Bis-Air (water bus) or a chartered vessel, as far as Puruk Cahu, Muara Teweh, or Batu Ampar depending on the river condition.

Specimen from the LIPI collection ÂŠMartin Holland

The team were joined by Ian and Rupert, and were helped enormously by a fixer called Hendrik. Food was bought from supermarkets and local markets, while equipment was sourced from the innumerable tiny stores found crammed inside the many dark and enigmatic indoor markets that run like rabbit warrens along the river banks.

Ian Blessley shopping in the Banjarmasin markets

Ian Blessley led the Banjarmasin team while Tim, Agung and I travelled to Palangkaraya to begin the immigration process in Palangkaraya. While here, Tim and I met with officials from the local counterpart, UNPAR, to discuss the project. Some confusion at the immigration office over who our sponsor was caused delays. Immigration officials in Palangkaraya are used to dealing with researchers coming under sponsorship of CIMTROP, which is connected to UNPAR.

ÂŠJames Harwood Our official sponsor was RISTEK, but we were unable to convince the immigration office of this, and so had to duplicate all of the paperwork already created in Jakarta with RISTEK, with UNPAR now as our sponsor. Dan and James also encountered problems at customs in Jakarta which caused further delays, but managed to successfully negotiate the release of our freighted goods, albeit at substantial extra cost. DHL were hired to courier the freighted goods to Banjarmasin, but proved singularly inefficient and troublesome, causing still further delays. Around this activity, team members were moving between Palangkaraya and Banjarmasin to engage in the immigration process when required, and assist with the procurement of supplies where possible. Lastly, the bis-air we had wanted to hire was under repair, so a major task was to find a cargo vessel travelling upriver which would take our supplies and at least some of the team on the 3 day journey. This was certainly the most frustrating part of the expedition, and required some fancy footwork to make sure we were moving forward as quickly as possible within the confines of the various problems we were facing. The spirit of the team members throughout this period was inspiring, as was their acceptance of almost daily changes to itinerary as events occurred. Because of that resilience, this leg was navigated as fast as was as physically possible, and the team were able to leave Palangkaraya and Banjarmasin with all necessary documentation and equipment on Friday 3rd December.

The Expedition Team with supplies at Batu Ampar ÂŠJames Harwood

Barito River to the Joloi River Dan, James and Munir travelled with the majority of our supplies aboard a cargo ship bound for Muara Teweh. The rest of the team travelled by minibus overnight from Palangkaraya to Puruk Cahu where they would buy more supplies, and join the cargo boat for its final day upriver. Puruk Cahu is also where we met our Head Guide, Aspor, for the first time. The cargo boat arrived in PCHU on the morning of Sunday 5th December. The captain advised us that the journey to Muara Teweh could take 5 more days, so we charted two smaller boats who could do the journey in a day. Negotiations take time in Indonesia, and so we were late away and spent that night in a hut on the bank of the Barito River. We arrived at the logging camp, Batu Ampar, the following morning, and chartered 6 jeeps to take us along the logging road to a secondary logging camp, Camp Bravo, located on the bank of the Joloi river. This route was necessary given 4 large sets of rapids close to where the Joloi joins the Barito River which make river access between the two impossible.

41Logging road from Batu Ampar to Camp Bravo ÂŠMartin Holland

Final Leg â&#x20AC;&#x201C; From the Joloi to the Mohot via Tumbang Naan and Tumbang Tohan We had sent a request for boats through the Mission Aviation Fellowship which flies a small float plane into Tumbang Naan twice a week. In their absence, I chartered a boat locally and travelled upriver with Agung, only to breakdown and be forced to return, whereupon the small camp was descended upon by the boats we had requested from upriver. The loading of these small wooden boats would become a theme of the next week of travel. Agung and I again attempted to reach Tumbang Naan to announce our arrival and meet with the village headmen and elders. Half of the equipment arrived that night and was unloaded into a room on a floating landing where we slept. We were well received in the village, and advised that we would need to use boats from Naan for the next leg of the journey to Tumbang Tohan, but would then have to change again. In the morning, the rest of the team and equipment arrived from Camp Bravo. Everything was immediately unloaded onto the landing and then reloaded onto boats hired from the village. We now

left as one group on a flotilla of a dozen of these small wooden crafts travelling up to the last human settlement in the area En route, one of the boatmen crashed into the bank while trying to refuel, spilling its cargo into the river. Aspor famously saved most of the equipment from being lost, but it delayed our progress slightly. The bulk of the team remained in their boat with the stranded vessel while I went ahead, accompanied by Munir and Rusty, to prepare the village for our arrival and send a rescue boat for the stricken vessel. Negotiations in Tumbang Tohan were more difficult than in Naan, and we decided to stay an extra day in the village to allow for the whole team to meet the villagers during an open discussion in the school building. After this we were able to hire more guides, transect cutters and boatmen for the move to Camp Foyle.

(Opposite) Villagers look on as the team begin to arrive in Tumbang Tohan ÂŠJames Harwood (Above) One of many meetings with village members to discuss fees and wages ÂŠJames Harwood

Men from Tumbang Tohan work on a new boat while a wife and child look on ÂŠMartin Holland

CAMP FOYLE Determination and Construction Berkel, James Harwood, Dan Sargison, Aspor, and some further guides. The site of an old hunting camp was chosen for its safe access from the river, provided by a picturesque sandy beach which would double as a washing area, and elevation above the river to provide safety from flooding during heavy rains. Part of the site had already been cleared for its purpose as a hunting camp, so we were also reducing our impact on the area by setting our camp here.

Camp Foyle, named after one of our major benefactors Christopher Foyle, was founded on Friday 10th December, located on the north bank of the Mohot River roughly 30km upstream from its mouth into the Joloi. The team moved to the camp in stages from the village of Tumbang Tohan to allow for the camp area to be cleared and structures to accommodate team members and supplies to be built. The construction was led by Ian Blessley and was competed to a ‘fit for purpose’ level hosting 24 people within 3 days – a fantastic achievement.

The camp consisted of 4 main structures built from wood with tarpaulins for roofing: a mess tent, sleeping quarters, store room and science/ multimedia tent. As the finishing touches were put to the camp, 12km of transects were cut into the surrounding forest for the purposes of the research.

The research area was chosen with the advice of our Head Guide, Aspor, based on the quality of the forest, the relative abundance of wildlife, while the specific location of Camp Foyle was determined by an advance party consisting of Ian Blessley, Tim van

Small boats called cis provide the only means of transport in this area ©James Harwood (Opposite) Tim van Berkel and Ian Blessley hunting for a suitable site for Camp Foyle ©James Harwood

Preparing the Transects The research program centred around a network of transects spreading out from Camp Foyle. In order to make the research possible these transects had to be clear and well marked—a process which took considerable effort and man hours. The terrain in this area is extremely tough, with the dense vegetation covering steep hills cut by streams and rivers, the banks of which were often vertical and 10ft or more in height: an indication of the rise in river levels during heavy rains. A network of five transects each 2km in length was cut over a period of one week. The transects branched out from a central path running north from Camp Foyle. This 10km network was significantly shorter in total length than our original hopes, and we found ourselves limited to the north bank of the Mohot. In essence, we severely underestimated the difficulty of the terrain when planning our transects from the comfort the UK. However, it proved more than enough, and seriously tested our team’s endurance. These transects were named after some of our donors, and thus became the Hay, Tenison, Barnes, Butler, and Cody Transects, while the central path connecting them was named the Ridgeway Trail—an apt name given the many ridges one had to climb to walk it!

Ung and our guides as we begin to create the Ridgeway Trail to access the surrounding forest 48 ©Martin Holland

A long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) that adopted us as his troop during ÂŠJames Harwood

Beginning the Research After 18 months of planning, fundraising, organising, and training, and a another four weeks of travelling, buying, packing, negotiating, cutting, building, lifting and carrying, we were finally ready to begin the reason behind it all.

tough network of transects both at day and at night on a gruelling schedule designed to make as most of the time here as possible. Survey techniques included camera trapping, using humane mammal traps, climbing into the canopy with rope access techniques, diurnal and nocturnal surveys, pit fall traps, listening posts and incidental observations.

A full account of the research with methodologies, results and discussions can be found in the expedition Science Report. I will briefly outline the activities here in order to give a sense of the activity that took place at Camp Foyle for the next 8 weeks, and to share a sense of how the field research that underpins our understanding of the natural world is conducted in a rainforest environment.

The scientists worked in teams of four for safety: usually the lead researcher accompanied by guides and an assistant researcher or photographer/ cameraman. Although each had their area of expertise, all the team members were keen to join in all of the other research activities, in keeping with our interdisciplinary approach.

Our science team set out to discover as much as they could about the species that were present in this as yet unstudied area of rainforest, looking specifically at mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and epiphytes, as well as conducting vegetation surveys and attempting to find a hybrid gibbon species. Their exhausting work would take them high into the canopy and down into the soil substrate, walking the

The curiosity and wonder that naturalists have about our world is pure joy to witness and experience, and is perhaps our greatest hope of saving what remains of our natural world before it is too late. Inspiring this joy in others was a core element of the expedition, through engaging documentation and interaction with the rest of the world .

Camera traps: terrestrial vertebrates Principal Investigator—Tim van Berkel “Camera trapping is now widely used as a non-invasive method to study terrestrial vertebrates. It has the advantage of being able to detect elusive species such as felids and nocturnal animals which are difficult to observe with the more traditional techniques, such as transects. This study aimed to create an inventory and obtain abundances and activity patterns of the terrestrial mammal and bird community. Furthermore, the efficiency of two of the three camera trap types used was evaluated during the survey.” (Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.13) Camera trapping is a superficially simple and easy way of studying the more elusive creatures that roam the rainforest. They are essentially burglar alarms that are triggered by movement, but instead of warning a property owner, they silently snap a photo or video of whatever it was that happened to pass by. In the day a full colour picture emerges, while at night a flash of either incandescent or infrared light is triggered. So there you go, simply set your traps, wait a couple of weeks, and put your feet up. Not so. Firstly, placing the traps is a delicate art—it’s no good putting them places where no animals are likely to pass by, so using the knowledge of our guides was a crucial part of determining the most frequently used trails. Of course, you don’t find out how good your aim was until you back to collect the traps (which, by the way, are scattered around an area roughly 8km2). Then there are the vagrancies of the traps themselves, which sometimes don’t trigger, and sometimes flash too easily filling your SD card with nothing but leaves in slightly different positions.

Tim van Berkel checking camera traps live in the field using a Panasonic Toughbook 51 ÂŠMartin Holland

I had the pleasure of following Tim around for a day with a camera as he checked his camera traps, taking photos and filming for one of our educational videos. The 10 minute film caught the reality of field research perhaps better than any of the others we made: the terrain was tough but invigorating, nearly all of the traps had failed to capture anything either because of technical errors or the learning curve involved in setting the traps well. But finally, at the very end of the transect not only did Tim realise he has captured an argus pheasant on camera, but seconds later he caught the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first and only sighting of a proboscis monkey , all in the shade of a magnificent strangler fig, towering up into the canopy like some giant, twisted, fairy tale Eiffel tower. Timâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s traps captured a total of 24 mammal and five terrestrial bird species, including 20 of the 31 known medium and large terrestrial mammals potentially present in the area (IUCN 2011). Recordings of particular note include an adult and juvenile Sunda otter civet (Cynogale bennettii) and two Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanusâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;above) recorded in separate locations. Much more research time is required to capture evidence of the more elusive species, although a leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was photographed (left).

Mammal Transects & Observations Principal Investigatorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Lara Rogers â&#x20AC;&#x153;Line transect surveys were carried out alongside camera and small mammal trapping to provide a list of occurrence and estimate the relative mammal density within the research site. In addition to furnishing a species list, these line transect surveys are intended to provide baseline data for future research in the area.â&#x20AC;? (Rogers, R. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report, p.21) Line transects are essentially straight paths cut through the forest to allow the easy and quiet progress of research teams through a standardised cross section of the study area. When successful, this method allows the researchers to build a picture of not just what species are present, but in what abundance or density. This is obviously far more informative and useful than a simple species list, but takes more time and resources to estimate accurately. Transects are walked slowly and quietly, during the day (between 6am and 2pm) and at night (between 6pm and 3am). This schedule requires a well planned schedule to ensure researchers and guides are not overworked. The research team stops frequently to scan the forest for animals, and records a standard list of observations detailing things like groups size, animal height from the ground, and behaviour. As noted above, the 10km network of transects was less than originally hoped for, and this fact combined with the designated minimum size of our research teams (3 during the day and 4 at night, discussed further later), and use of the transects by other research teams, led Lara to determine that the disturbance level along the transects was too high. In addition, the terrain in this area was very tough, and as a result of these factors, along with the increased rainfall of this time of year, the detection rate of this method was considered to be reduced, perhaps significantly. In short, many more species were likely present, and in higher numbers, than were observed. In spite of these factors, a total of 21 mammal species were observed during these surveys, with some very interesting results discussed in full in the Science Report. Some observations of particular interest include the binturong (Arctictis bintorung), Malayan sun bear (Herlactos malayanus), the Sunda pangolin (Manis javinica), and the moonrat (Echinosorex gymnura). The moonrat is almost entirely white, which makes it very conspicuous in the rainforest environment, and unique among tropical mammals. The pangolin is also a most unusual mammal, being covered in scales and having no teeth. It wraps its tail around itself when threatened, in order to protect its softer underside, and uses its strong claws to open up termites nests, licking the insects up with its long sticky tongue. Binturong and sun bears are both important seed dispersers, meaning they play an important role in maintaining healthy forest ecosystems. Sun bear populations are thought to be declining significantly in Borneo as a result of habitat loss, which can lead to increased human-animal conflict and hunting pressure. Bintorungs, meanwhile, are considered rare in Borneo, though widely distributed. Three individuals were spotted, including one with unusual white facial markings forming a halo around the animals muzzle. This was my sole contribution to the research side, and was incredibly lucky sighting along the last 100m of the final nocturnal survey of the expedition.

Small Mammals Principal Investigator—Tim van Berkel “The aim of this study was to obtain an indication of the small mammal community assemblage (<500g) and how this would differ for various habitats. Due to the small capture effort it was not possible to estimate density and habitat associations and relative abundance was calculated instead. A second aim was to determine the effectiveness of the two trap types employed. ” (van Berkel T. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.30) The method chosen to study the smaller mammals of the forest, such as rats and mice, and squirrels, was to use humane traps. These are baited and left on the forest floor or in trees or walkways onto trees. Upon entering the animal triggers the trap and the door closes. The animal is not meant to be harmed, either by the trap mechanism or the environment during its time inside the trap. Traps are therefore checked twice daily, in the morning and before night, to ensure that no animal spends too long exposed to the elements while inside the trap. These smaller mammals are not what people think of when they consider the rainforest, preferring instead to imagine the more enigmatic mammals, birds and butterflies, along perhaps with snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies. However, they play an important role in the ecosystem both as predators and prey, as well as dispersing seeds throughout the forest. The traps were baited with either durian (a pungent local fruit that has the ‘Marmite’ effect of causing delight or revulsion according to your taste) or peanut butter, and the bait was replenished with each visit if it had been devoured by insects or other fauna. This study is a demonstration of the challenges of research in such environments, and the need to be responsive and flexible, as it had to be abandoned after just 8 days of the intended 28 despite the considerable effort that had gone in to buying, transporting, placing and checking the traps up to that point. The main reason for this decision was the death of two of the captured animals, caused by ants presumably attracted by the bait. Termite nests were also found in almost every trap and proved too difficult an obstacle to overcome, despite their diminutive size Of the 22 individuals caught, five different species were represented, all rats and mice. Tim presented another excellent video on the techniques and rationale behind small mammal trapping, to an audience who would probably wonder why on earth it is at all important to capture and record rats and mice. (Above) Brown spiny rat (Maxomys rajah) (Opposite) Lara Rogers resting before beginning a nocturnal survey ©Martin Holland

Hybrid Gibbons Principal Investigator—Lara Rogers “Two gibbon species (Hylobates muelleri and H. albibarbis), endemic to the island of Borneo, are both in danger of extinction due to trade and habitat loss from illegal, as well as legalised, selective logging, clearance of forest for oil-palm plantations and slash-and-burn practices from small villages… There exists a natural hybrid zone between H. albibarbis and H. muelleri in Central Kalimantan. The hybrid, H. albibarbis x H. muelleri, has yet to be recognised by the IUCN and, therefore, forgoes the protection associated with an Endangered classification. Documenting the occurrence and distribution of the threatened hybrid gibbon population that occurs in the Joloi watershed assumes critical importance in view of the rapid clearing of forests in Borneo.” (Rogers, L. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.33) The attempt to discover populations of hybrid gibbon in the research area, and thus significantly extend their known range, was both one of the most engaging studies of the expedition, and perhaps that with clearest goals in terms of outcomes. It concerned a single species, as yet unprotected although threatened with extinction along with the other gibbon species in Borneo. The research itself was also immensely enjoyable to participate in. Rising well before dawn and travelling in the dark along the river to the listening posts of the days designated research site, 3 teams would sit quietly, 300m apart from each on either side of the river of the day, and wait patiently. The cool morning light would slowly penetrate the canopy, and if lucky, the gibbons would start to call.

Most mornings at Camp Foyle we would be serenaded by these wonderful creatures singing to each other, marking out the territory of their groups. Indeed it is one of the things I miss most about life in the rainforest. Waiting at a listening post (not a physical post, merely a location) gave the opportunity to hear the calls from as near as 50m away. The three teams allowed for accurate triangulation, meaning the number of groups calling in the area could be determined with confidence. Each gibbon species has a slightly different great call, which is the call made by mated females of the group. Interestingly, the great call of the hybrid gibbon does indeed sound something like a hybridisation of the great calls of its two parent species, although the analysis of the call is much more complicated, involving plenty of maths and algorithms. Proof of a hybrid population in the area would come in the form of this analysis of a recording of the great call of the species. No hybrids were recorded along the Mohot, so an away team travelled North up the Joloi, spending 10 days searching in this area in the same manner. Our sat hones allowed for daily updates via text message, and each day the result came back negative. The team arrived back at Camp Foyle, somewhat jubilant, with news that on the last morning of research they had indeed recorded the great call of the hybrid, on the eastern side of the Joloi river. The habitat was also assessed around the area of the listening posts, with a total of 20 vegetation plots of 20x20m. Within these plots all tall trees with a diameter greater than 10cm at breast height were measured and recorded, along with other date concerning the canopy cover, tree density, tree families, and trees important to the gibbons diet. 92 different species of tree were recorded, and in this area specifically our local guides were invaluable, recognising 83% of trees to at least genus level despite having no formal training at all. While this is not enough information to perform some of the more detailed statistical analysis of species richness, it does demonstrate both the value of not simply hiring local guides, but providing opportunities to demonstrate and employ their knowledge, and also the potential of local people to be leaders in the research and conservation of their own environment, if provided the proper training and support. Lara concludes that, while this study has already greatly extended the known range of the hybrid gibbon (to 3,300km2) the actual range is still far from clear. The great rivers have been presumed to act as natural barriers and boundaries, however this view may well be challenged by further research in and around this area. It does indeed seem unlikely that the Joloi represents a western boundary in this area, given its small size and the many areas where canopy extends completely across the river. If this is the case, and the hybrid zone extends across the Mullers range into West Kalimantan, the range could well reach or even exceed 10,000km2. On the day of filming we were incredibly lucky to be surrounded by a number of singing groups, some very close indeed. Lara not only presented a very clear understanding of the methods involved in the research, and the importance of the findings for the future survival of the species, but did so with the kind of wonder and excitement so badly needed to inspire the public not only to care, but to want to understand.

Opposite: Our camp boat, names the Halpin Flyer, moored next to our beach ÂŠJames Harwood

Avifauna Principal Investigator—Misbahul Munir

“Birds are among the most studied animal taxa in Indonesia and much is known about their behaviour, distribution and ecology although the geographical interior of Borneo remains, from an ornithological perspective, largely unexplored terrain. The aim of this study was to compile an inventory of the bird population in BBPF to give an indication of the quality and the importance of the forest for the Borneo avifauna. The observation of some lesser known species will further shed more light on their distribution patterns and status.” (Munir, M. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.42) A startling 152 bird species were recorded in the relatively short time of the expedition. The majority of the species (132) were recorded around Camp Foyle, but additional species were recorded along the Joloi river from Camp Bravo north, along the Mohot river, and in both villages, Tumbang Naan and Tumbang Tohan. The methods included walking line transects at dawn and dusk, camera trapping, and incidental observations around camp, the villages, and during transit. Of the 152 species, 7 species are endemic, and 50 are threatened according to the IUCN Red List. New species were being recorded up until we left, indicating the many species eluded our researchers. Munir notes that with more experience, a better knowledge of bird calls, and the use of mist nets, the species list presented herein would be greatly expanded. Of the many records worthy of note, a few expanded upon here are the Bornean ground-cuckoo (Carpococcyx radiates) fairy pitta (Pitta nympha), straw-headed bulbul (Pyconontus zeylanicus), and rufous-crowned babbler (Malacopteron magnum). The Bornean ground-cuckoo is endemic to Borneo, and is highly elusive. Only 4 previous recordings in indicated its presence Central Kalimantan. The fairy pitta is only the second reported record for Indonesian Borneo. It is an uncommon migrant in northern Borneo, though little is known about its wintering habitats. Given that the species is declining across its range, this record could prove significant if more individuals are found in the area. The straw-headed bulbul is collected for its song, and its numbers are in serious decline for this reason. The only records of this species from Murung Raya are in the remote regions of the upper Barito, demonstrating the need for strict conservation of these areas. A single rufous-crowned babbler was recorded nesting on two cream coloured and brown blotched eggs. Munir described the nest as “a small cup made of intertwined rootlets and creepers approximately 1.5 m from the ground in a small tree on the banks of a small stream” (Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.47). The record extends the known breeding season, and is possibly the first description of the nest and brood.

(Left) Rufous-crowned babbler (Malacopteron magnum) ©Misbahul Munir

Herpetofauna Principal Investigatorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Dale Mortiboys, Holli Kilburn

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reptiles and amphibians comprise the least studied vertebrate groups in Borneo. Given that new species are continually being discovered, the current known species account does not make up the full diversity likely to occur on Borneo. In fact, even the major distribution and general aspects of ecology of most of the Bornean herpetofauna are largely unknown, mainly because many areas remain highly under sampled or have never been studied (Inger & Stuebing, 2005; Das, 2011). For instance, virtually no herpetological sampling has been carried out in the interior forests of Kalimantan and any species accounts obtained from these parts are likely to include significant extensions of the known range of some species.â&#x20AC;? (Mortiboys, D. & Kilburn, H. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.48) Of all the groups present in the rainforest, the frog has become perhaps the most widely used to symbolise and represent these habitats around the world. Their variety of often beautiful and striking colours and patterns, and patient manner in front of a camera, make them ideal candidates for this sort of celebrity. Amphibians include more than just frogs of course, and the exciting field of herpetofauna also stretches to reptiles, which of course includes snakes. To my mind, hunting around at night for these often bizarre creatures is the method of study that comes closest to how most of us imagine tropical research to be conducted. Decidedly less slow or formulaic than almost all methods, and much more fun. The field also appears to attract the more colourful members of the scientific community. For the variety, the intrigue, the fun, and the potential for new discovery, I would encourage anyone as yet undecided to seriously consider herpetofauna as their area of expertise. The scurrying around at night I describe is of course the Visual Encounter Survey technique, which is a highly stylised way of saying walking along transects and trying to catch, photograph and measure everything that hops or crawls. These VES surveys were conducted both during the day and at night, and seemed to be particularly enjoyed by the guides as well as myself. One of our guides proved quite adept at sniffing out frogs hiding behind trees. Perhaps a simple party trick, but impressive nonetheless. A second technique, the pitfall trap, was also employed by the team. This involves digging a smooth sided trap, such as a bucket, into the ground, and creating obstructions - or drift-fences - designed to ferry the animals that encounter them toward the buckets, where they will hopefully fall in. Unable to climb or jump out, the researchers can collect them, study them, and release them unharmed. Many surprising results were recorded by this team. Of the amphibian species, 5 of the 36 species encountered are endemic to Borneo, 11 are considered near threatened, and an incredible 25 were not previously known to exist in this area of Borneo. Another 45 reptile species were recorded, including 22 lizard, 21 snake, and 2 turtle species. The Bornean horned frog was a favourite of the team, with its incredibly effective leaf-litter camouflage, but by far the highlight of this element of the research was the discovery by Aspor, our

Reticulated python (Python reticulatus) and king cobra in battle (Ophiophagus hannah) ÂŠMartin Holland

Head Guide, of a reticulated python (Python reticulatus) and king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) battling in a stream just 5 minutes from Camp Foyle. This proved to be the most intense and memorable experience of the expedition for those members lucky enough to witness it. Aspor originally alerted the canopy access team who were nearby. After much persuasion they descended and were astonished by the find, quickly travelling back to camp, attempting to radio the news through as they went. At Camp, all we heard was the word snake in a tone clearly attempting to hide emotion. We feared the worse and began preparing the medical kit for our nightmare scenario. Rusty and Holli arrived a few minutes later and told us the real story. Within seconds the rest of us were booted up and heading off with camera equipment and the med kit (just in case) to try to record the event. There, in the stream, was the length of a king cobra shimmering as the water lapped over its body, its head trapped underwater in the coils of the python, in turn wrapped around a large log. There was little movement, and we presumed the python would eventually succeed in drowning the cobra. Perhaps, if we were lucky, we would witness the python attempt to eat its meal. Things did not go as we expected however. After half an hour the pythons behaviour began to change, its eyes lost their lustre, and it began to move around, lethargically but clearly agitated, as though looking for shelter. From then on everything happened very quickly. The cobra clearly sensed the weakening strength of its captor and gave a few violent twists of its body. The python manoeuvred itself into an escape position before releasing its grip on the cobras head and darting upriver and around the log.

The cobra, having bided its time and wrestled its way free, rose its head a clear foot out of the water in victory, displaying the yellow underside of its throat, before turning and speeding off downriver and up the bank. Dale went on to catch the python after a few minutes, to discover that the cobra had lethally injected the python prior to being trapped in its coils, and was simply waiting for the venom to kick in. The python died within minutes of the battle ending. We managed to film the entire sequence, and with the technology at camp we edited and uploaded the film to our website within ours of the event actually happening. A great success, and a demonstration of the power of modern communications technology to help scientists bring the world with them as they explore the natural wonders of the planet. We filmed a number of videos with Dale, each fascinating in their own right, if not as exciting as the Cobra vs Python movie. The highly evolved hunting prowess of a juvenile pit viper was examined in detail, and a small, leaf-nosed lizard was described and successfully hypnotised on camera by gently stroking the animals underbelly, before being woken up and released. (Opposite) Marquis Doriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s angle-headed lizard (Gonocephalus doriae) ÂŠMartin Holland (Below) Dark-eared tree frog (Polypedatis macrotis) ÂŠMisbahul Munir

Canopy Herpetofauna Principal Investigator— Holli Kilburn “Very little high arboreal survey work has been conducted in Kalimantan Borneo. Reptiles and amphibians are exceedingly adaptable animals with frogs especially occupying a very wide range of ecological niches from below ground to high canopy and within a large variety of habitats. In order to gain a more complete insight into the full range of species found in the area it was important to try and expand the research to encompass as much varied habitat as possible. The purpose of the high arboreal work was to give a more three dimensional insight into the ecology of the area, observe as wide a range of ecological niches as possible and also to potentially expand the knowledge of individual species ecological niches.” (Kilburn, H. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.58) Despite tropical rainforests receiving significant attention from researchers around the world, the rainforest canopy remains one of the true frontiers both in terms of physical exploration and, accordingly, scientific study. Perhaps because there is so much happening on the ground, as in our cities, not enough people have looked up during their activities, and wondered. Or perhaps the lack of research in the canopy is simply down to the difficulty of access. We were assisted in the latter enormously by Robert Knott of Treeworker, who succeeded in securing equipment sponsorship from some of the larger rope access suppliers. The method employed to explore the canopy is very demanding, taking strength, skill, tenacity, and patience. First, a suitable tree must be identified and assessed for its physical health and and other potential hazards in the surrounding area. Then, a catapult is used to fire a weight bag from a 3m pole up and over a suitable branch. The weight bag carries with it a thin line, and presuming the bag successfully clears the branch and returns to earth without becoming snagged in vegetation on the way down, a static rope can be hauled up and over the same branch. This rope is then used to climb up and into the canopy. It can take a day or more of repeated attempts to successfully get a line up a tree, but once in place it can be used repeatedly. The technique of climbing up a rope suspended from a branch is no less difficult. Using special harnesses and hardware, the climber shimmies up about a foot at a time, carrying with them whatever equipment they need for their aerial adventure. In the case of carrying camera and filming equipment, this can be extremely exhausting. Once in the canopy, a technique called double rope technique is used to move between branches. Once mastered, this is a very satisfying way of moving around quite freely and safely. All of the team members were given the opportunity to experience this environment, and learn the techniques. Something for which Holli should be very proud. The canopy research was intended to add an extra dimension to the herpetofauna surveys. Just three individuals were recorded, all from the same tree, and all of the same species, brown tree frog (Rhacophorus harrissoni). This species was not observed on the ground, and may be the first published record of this species in the upper canopy. The most significant output from this research is the demonstration of the need for further

development of herpetological canopy research techniques in order to improve the effort/return ratio. In the Science Report, Holli makes particular note of the need for techniques to be developed to assist in the study of mid-level canopy populations (that is from around 3m to the base of the crowns of the emergent canopy trees, or around 45m above ground level). Recording of calls is suggested in the report as the most practical way of quickly extending the reach and success rate of this area of study. Holliâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s video demonstrating the rope access techniques used and describing the need for this research made for wonderful viewing. The shots of Holli emerging through the epiphytes into the crown, and the views of the rainforest canopy and the mountains in the distance from the emergent tree chosen for the film, were truly inspiring. (Below) Brown tree frog (Rhacophorus harrissoni) ÂŠJames Harwood

View from the canopy at dawn ÂŠJames Harwood66

Epiphytes Principal Investigator— Holli Kilburn “Epiphytic plants are an important part of the structure in a rainforest and give it its typical appearance. This study involved the use of canopy rope access techniques to obtain preliminary data on the epiphyte diversity and community structure in the study area which could act as a precursor to more in-depth study.” (Kilburn, H. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report p.62) Epiphytes are plants that grow on trees themselves, often rooting in the nooks and crannies created where branches join the trunk. These plants create microclimates and can support whole ecosystems. They commonly exist in symbiotic relationships with the host tress themselves, and can grow to enormous size. Some thirty five species were recorded, using the same canopy access techniques described above, while more than that number were not able to be identified despite extensive photographic records being taken both in the canopy and back at camp which were subsequently scrutinised by experts from the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew. The need for specimens to be collected is thereby clearly demonstrated.

(Below) Holli Kilburn during an ascent into the canopy ©James Harwood

Invertebrates Principal Investigator— Russell Goodchild “The aims of the invertebrate sampling were to obtain general knowledge of the invertebrate species present in the study area and to record any undescribed species. Knowing in advance there would be significant quantities of invertebrate organisms only certain groups were being surveyed. In cooperation with Dr Merlijn Jocke from the Belgian Natural History Museum, the arachnid orders thelyphonida and amblypygi, the arachnid sub-order cyphophthalmi from the order opiliones, and the insect families cerambycidae and elateridae were included. These groups will further be referred to as the BINCO 5. Based on my own knowledge and expertise aranae (spiders) were also included. Dr Carsten Bruhl and Dr Jan Back investigated how different species diversity and community composition are compared to northern Borneo sites, with a focus on nocturnal lepidoptera and leaf litter ants. This will be particularly important to judge the value of these regions for biodiversity conservation, e.g. in the context of the proposed and ratified, trinational Heart of Borneo conservation area.“ (Goodchild, R. Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report Appendix 4) Insects make up the vast majority faunal biodiversity in rainforests, in terms of numbers of individuals, species types, and overall mass. Their importance to the ecosystems is only barely understood, and they are often forgotten or neglected in studies, except perhaps for moths and butterflies. So from a research perspective I was glad to have Rusty on the team, and also to be joined by our two guest researchers, Carsten Bruhl and Jan Beck. It was, however, the videos that were presented by these three enigmatic and inspiring people that made me really pleased they had joined the expedition. Rusty’s ‘Bug Diaries’ series was fascinating and highly informative, and his natural passion for his speciality species pours out of the screen. In particular, the description of a spider attempting to wrap and bite a queen ant who had stumbled into its web, filmed by Munir, was enthralling. I for one had no idea that spiders could detect the size and even species of their prey through the vibrations on its web, and would adapt its technique accordingly. The spider won, by the way. Carsten presented an excellent piece on his research into ants, providing a fascinating perspective on ant colonies as super-organisms that can really be viewed as one individual, with a body weight and territory not dissimilar to a large mammal. Jan took us back up into the canopy, at night and in the rain, to demonstrate the techniques used to collect and study moth species, and their importance as indicators of the health and biodiversity of forest ecosystems. Together, Jan and Carsten also presented a short video on how a species of spider mimics an ant, both through the evolution of its body shape and behaviour. This spider had a wasp shaped waist like an ant, and, amazingly, waved its two front legs around in the air to resemble antennae. Coming from different classes, it was compared to a reptile mimicking a human!

General Discussion of Research Tim van Berkel: Murung Raya Expedition 2010-11 Science Report During the expedition some truly interesting species records were obtained. 50 mammals, 152 birds, 36 amphibians and 45 reptiles were recorded. The most significant records are: the Bornean endemic reed snake Pseudorabdion saravacense, which has not yet been reported from Kalimantan; the Fairy Pitta, for which we provide the second record for Kalimantan; the blue-throated skink, for which we provide the first record for Kalimantan; the Sunda otter-civet, which is highly elusive and has not officially been recorded in Borneo; 25 frog distribution extensions, some of which are new for Kalimantan. Borneo harbours a rich biodiversity, but its flora and fauna are being destroyed at a phenomenal and increasing rate. It is the lowland forests, such as our survey sites in Bukit Batikap Protection Forest, which are under most threat of disappearance. Expansion of agricultural land for oil palm plantations, increased activity of logging companies and human settlements into areas made accessible by logging roads are the main direct forces behind deforestation. Forests are being cleared while we are barely starting to realise how much more these intricate ecosystems are worth left standing than cut down, and do we not yet fully know the diversity of species in many parts of the forests, particularly those still remaining in the central parts of Borneo which still harbour some of the richest forest on the island. The biodiversity inventories carried out during this expedition underline and partly fill the gaps still present in our knowledge of biodiversity distribution patterns in Borneo. Especially the bird, reptile and amphibian records with some significant distribution extensions demonstrate the importance of surveys in the central parts of Borneo. It is likely that many understudied areas in the Heart of Borneo harbour greater biodiversity than assumed, either as derived from distribution models, or from direct observations. We suggest that the fauna and possibly also the flora of this part of the island is richer than previously assumed. The presence of Pseudorabdion saravacense, Sphenomorphus cyanolaemus, and 25 amphibian species which were previously not recorded in the area, plus the presence of the nomadic fairy pitta both provide evidence to support this belief. These findings also support the hypothesis that the higher biodiversity observed in Malaysian Borneo could party be explained by a disproportionally larger research effort and thus not merely attributed to geographical differences. This study offers a strong argument for more intense studies into zoogeographic and biodiversity patterns and increased conservation efforts in the inlands of Kalimantan. The large number of forest indicator bird species (including the recording of all eight hornbill species) and high mammal prevalence (including the presence of proboscis monkey, Sunda pangolin, Malayan sun bear and Sunda otter-civet) indicate the lowland forests in BBPF to be of remarkable quality and of high zoological importance. We argue that this area should be considered a conservation priority and hope it to receive appropriate attention from the relevant conservation authorities to sustain its existence for the future. With the large scale clearance and degradation of most of the forests in Sabah and Sarawak, now is the time for conservation and biodiversity research organisations to focus their attention on those parts of Borneo that still contain large stretches of intact and highly biodiverse rainforest. Without further protection the continued existence of these forests is uncertain, and with their destruction we would lose a treasure of which we havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t discovered its full value yet. We hope to be able to continue our species inventories in the future and expand on the knowledge of the ecological requirements of especially threatened species to learn more about the magnificent, species rich and diverse place that is the Heart of Borneo.

Nettle caterpillar of (Limacodidae moth family) ÂŠMisbahul Munir

INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA After some initial problems with workflow which meant that videos took some time to edit and get online, we settled into a good routine and managed to document and share a large amount of the expedition in the form of videos, blogs, and photo galleries. We tried to document as many aspects of the expedition as possible, including research activities and discoveries and day to day life at camp. We were aiming to strike a balance between the adventure and science to both educate and inspire our audience, and made use of the personalities of the team members to achieve this. Nearly every member of the team proved to be a natural on camera, and our kit held up well enough under the testing conditions. The satellite communications hardware and software provided by Livewire Digital was the star performing element of kit we had in the field, providing us with better internet speeds than we could find even in Jakarta! It was extremely easy, reliable and efficient to use, and the Newscaster software was particularly impressive, crunching Gigabyte videos down to a few megabytes for transfer before unpacking for HD broadcast online. The two live video links with the Natural History Museum went ahead flawlessly to audiences of around 100 members of the public, who were able to ask us questions with only a very minor lag. We were also able to engage with the public in two live Q&A sessions on the Guardian newspaper website, at the beginning and the end of our time in the field, and these proved very popular, increasing traffic to our website by a thousand fold. We did not have the uptake of schools we had hoped for, but we did receive questions from some schools from children working on related topics which we were able to answer. We have learned a lot to make us better prepared for next time and have a large amount of materials which we will look to use to produce educational resources in collaboration with other parties, including within Indonesia to make our resources accessible to those who live in the host country. (Opposite) Postcard created by artist Cathy Hookey and sent to sponsors from the rainforest (Below) Live audience at the Natural History Museum interacting with the team via satellite link

CAPACITY BUILDING Exeter and Falmouth Students Key to the philosophy of the expedition was to provide a platform for professional and personal development for students of the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth reading at Tremough Campus in Cornwall. Students could engage in any aspect of the expedition, and the uptake of this opportunity was overwhelming. Students from many different disciplines volunteered their time to help plan, organise, fundraise and promote the expedition, as well as using the skills they were developing through their courses to create multimedia in the form of artwork, promotional materials, graphics, videos, photography, and educational resources. Without the support of so many people not given the opportunity to join us in the field, the expedition would have been greatly restricted in its scope and ambition. It was hoped that the expedition would encourage the development of the Exploration Society which we founded into a flourishing and active group with members undertaking their own independent expeditions each year. Initial activity suggest this was a success, and it is the intention of those members of the expedition connected to the campus to stay involved with that society with a view to encouraging and supporting future expeditions. We believe and hope that the Heart of Borneo Project can continue to provide an interdisciplinary platform for the professional and personal development of students, either as an extracurricular activity or as an integrated aspect of modular coursework. This is model we would like to explore and envisage being taken up by other institutions in the future.

Indonesian Counterparts Our two fully funded young Indonesian researchers, Misbahul Munir and Ismael Agung, were central to the success of the expedition. By being exposed to and highly involved in the logistics, management and administration of the expedition, as well as by working alongside the European scientists on team and gaining hands on experience of the research methodologies employed, Munir and Agung went through an incredibly steep learning curve. Their already very good English improved dramatically and their feedback at the end of the expedition was very satisfying. Both Munir and Agung are committed to working in conservation in the future, and both have already gone on to achieve even greater things.

Local Guides The local knowledge and field skills of our guides were invaluable, and in return for their effort we tried to go beyond financial remuneration for their services by training them in the research methodologies we were engaged in, as well as the good practice we and future researchers would expect from professional guides. It is our hope that this knowledge will be retained and can be built on during our future activities in the area. At the end of the expedition we talked with both villages about formalising this training on a rotating basis to train future researchers and field guides who could go on to look for employment in research activities beyond our own project.

Local Villages Both villages expressed a strong need for income diversification, and the skills and training that are required to make that a reality. The idea of a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;school for fieldworkersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; described above is one way in which we can contribute, but we also discussed English teaching and other possibilities which have been put forward by the villagers. Both villages are keen to protect their forest, and understand that that not only means protection from external influences such as the nearby logging and mining activity (both legal and illegal), but better understanding of the impact of their own activities. We offered our intention to support these goals through the Heart of Borneo Projects goals of establishing more permanenet research activity in the area. Other topics considered were participatory land use mapping, waste management, alternative sustainable farming techniques, and studying the impact of swidden agriculture, hunting and the gaharu industry. We believe the future of conservation efforts lies not just in working with local people, but on their behalf, with the ultimate goal of passing on the skills, techniques and resources that have proven to be successful in conservation and environmental management in other areas.

(Opposite) The picturesque village of Tumbang Naan ÂŠMartin Holland

Half of the team slept in these very comfortable DD Hammocks ©James Harwood

LIFE AT CAMP FOYLE We lived outdoors, in the elements, 24hrs a day. We slept in hammocks under mosquito nets and woke in the cool early hours, either to the sound of the morning rainfall battering on our tarps, the calls of the gibbons, or with slightly less romance, the camp rooster or the generator being fired up to charge our batteries and power the demands of our media team. Except, that is, for those who had spent the previous night conducting a nocturnal survey, in which case sleep would continue for a little longer. We had a small sandy beach on the river at our camp where we washed ourselves and our clothes, the cool water a welcome break from the constant heat and humidity. The mess tent was the most communal place, with chats over breakfast lunch and dinner often continuing long after the meal of rice, noodles and tinned fish was finished. During the day teams of scientists and guides would come and go on their various surveys into the rainforest. Our five transects spreading out into the surrounding rainforest were walked regularly. Tim van Berkel spent his time checking his mammal traps and camera traps for specimens and sightings while Dale Mortiboys and Russel ‘Rusty’ Goodchild worked closely together, often at night, searching for frogs, reptiles and spiders. Holli Kilburn and James Harwood spent nearly all of their time getting up into the canopy of the rainforest to extend our research into the third dimension, where many of the species found here live exclusively. Meanwhile, Lara Rogers was regularly getting up at 3am to lead gibbon survey

teams downriver, or getting home at 3am after searching for the reflection of the eyes of nocturnal primates peering down from the canopy. I split my time between managing the day to day problems of camp life – the arrival and departure of guests, managing our guides and relationship with the nearby villages, issues with the food and, for a while, acting as medical officer – with handling the production of our media. Filming and editing our videos and preparing the blogs and galleries to be sent back onto our website was my main daily activity—not something I imagined when planning a two month stay in the rainforest!

Food and Cooking Our staple diet was rice, noodles, and tinned fish and meat. We supplemented this with some fresh vegetables we bought in Puruk Cahu such as onions, garlic, pumpkins, potatoes, and cabbages. Most of the vegetables lasted the duration of our time at camp, except the cabbages which rotted within days, and some green beans which we lost on our way in. The pumpkins and potatoes were particularly resilient to the conditions. Food was prepared in the mess tent on wooden fires (something I would like to address in future expeditions to reduce our environmental impact) by one of our guides to begin with. Food preparation was perhaps the most problematic element of camp life, made difficult by tasking this role to an inexperienced person from Tumbang Naan. Team members often ended up doing the cooking until we hired two women from Tumbang Tohan to handle this. This was one of the biggest areas for learning from a camp management perspective encountered during the expedition.

(Below) Christmas Dinner at Camp Foyle ©James Harwood

79from above, showing three of the four tents ÂŠMartin Holland Camp Foyle

Powering Camp Dan Sargison was in charge of keeping the camp powered, and controlling power usage, which he did with great skill and dedication despite the high demands. Power was needed to charge batteries for torches, GPS units, radios, sat phones and cameras, as well as laptops which were used extensively for media editing, blogging, inputting data, and emailing. Email use was not something I had considered before the expedition and turned out to be a major drain on power. I also began to feel that such constant connection with life back home was also an emotional drain on the team. For both reasons it is something I would look to limit in future. Power was generated mostly from a diesel generator using fuel purchased in Puruk Cahu. This was topped up with solar energy from two 40watt solar panels. In future it is deemed feasible to power a camp with energy demands as high as ours entirely with solar energy. This may be more expensive in the short term, and certainly transporting these fragile units is an issue to consider, but in the long term solar power is sustainable, cheap, and noise free. A back-up generator would be sensible if this option was chosen.

Communications We used walkie talkies supplied by Doro as our initial form of communication between field teams and Camp Foyle. However these were limited to a maximum range of 500m. These did prove very useful for canopy access teams to communicate, and allowing smaller teams to work within radio comms closer to base camp. Field teams also carried an Isatphone Pro which could be used to call or text Camp Foyle. Neither method was superb, but texts would get through eventually if canopy cover prevented teams from making a call, and proved effective at facilitating the recovery of a canopy access team caught in a sudden and heavy downpour some 3km from camp. Dan Sargison sending updates using the BGAN sponsored by Livewire Digital ÂŠMartin Holland

At Camp Foyle, the clearing made satellite communications easy and reliable. Without such a clearing the sat phones were not reliable. Texting was used to update the UK support team and our Twitter account. Our satellite terminal, a Thrane&Thrane Explorer 700 BGAN supplied by Livewire Digital Ltd gave us extremely reliable high speed internet access at Camp. This made email our most effective and cheapest form of communication. In this way we were able to handle day to day admin and situations that would have otherwise posed potentially serious problems. We were also able to send back images, blogs and videos, the latter with the help of excellent compression software, Newscaster, again supplied by Livewire.

Filming and Other Media The media element of the expedition was extremely ambitious, and is not something any of the team had attempted before, nor am I aware of a similar attempt to produce high quality video almost daily from such a remote and hostile environment. We tried to go beyond the type of ‘talking head shots’ that are quick and cheap to film and easy to edit, and produce high quality shorts that would not be out of place on television. We were shooting on high quality video and stills cameras sponsored by University College Falmouth. After losing the original expedition photographer, James Harwood was assigned photography as well as filming responsibilities, and I would support the filming. In the field this proved problematic. On the route to base camp James and I almost always found ourselves in separate locations, with camera equipment dispersed between us. As Expedition Leader it proved very difficult to film during this stage with any continuity, not least because of the challenge of coordinating this complicated stage of the expedition, but also because, by default, I was directly involved in the very things which ought to have been filmed, in situations where self-filming was not practical. Further problems were encountered when we began trying to edit and send back videos. Due to the nature of finding sponsorship, we were only able to secure our media equipment at a very late stage meaning that there was no time for testing before we left the UK. We quickly realised there were compatibility issues which created a huge backlog of work. In the end, a solution was found in the form of my old personal laptop (christened Die Hard) and the decision was made to jump straight into editing videos shot in the field, discarding any hope of getting footage from the journey online. In the field, James gravitated toward his preferred medium of photography, and found himself working closely with Holli Kilburn in the canopy, and so I took on the filming. Filming and editing is very time-consuming, and certainly impacted on my ability to perform my other duties. Through a fairly diligent routine, however, we were able to produce a large amount of high quality media, and to share this as we had intended, once we had established a good workflow. We were also able to successfully take part in two very well received live video links with the Natural History Museum in London – the first of their kind in the museum. We also took part in two very popular live web chats on the Guardian website, which generated a lot of interest. This was a challenging, but highly rewarding and very worthwhile element of the expedition.

Arrivals and Departures Ian Blessley left Camp Foyle on 2nd January to return to the UK to attend interviews for medical school. With his departure, Lara Rogers was made Medical

Officer and I took on much of Ian’s duties around Camp. Ian has since started a course at Nottingham University. Two guest researchers from Germany, Jan beck and Carsten Breuhl arrived at Camp on Saturday 15th January and spent 14 days with us, leaving on 28th January. The travelled on the MAF float plane between Palangkaraya and Naan, and by cis from Naan to Camp Foyle.

Ian Blessley at Christmas ©James Harwood

Rupert Ridgeway (PBU) and his wife Diana joined us toward the end of the expedition, on Monday 31st January. It was a pleasure to host Rupert and Diana who have two decades experience of managing a nearby project, and have given so much to the expedition over the past two years. They travelled in on the MAF plane, and stayed while we broke camp and began the return journey home.

The Mission Aviation Fellowship float plane landing at Tumbang Naan ©Martin Holland

A nasty blister on Dale Mortiboyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right foot ÂŠMisbahul Munir

Medical Issues We were fortunate not to have any serious medical issues during the expedition, though we were fairly prepared. Four of the original team were trained in Advance Medicine for Remote Foreign Travel, while most of the other team members had taken two-day first aid courses. We had an extensive medical kit (advised and supplied primarily by Wilderness Medical Training and Nomad), comprehensive insurance (with ihi Bupa), and a membership policy and rescue plan with emergency response provider International SOS (or SOS Medika as they are known in-country).

request by Jan and Carsten.

Issues of note were stomach problems at the beginning of the expedition as a result of drinking untreated water in Tumbang Tohan, by mistake, which affected three of the team. Bites and stings were a constant irritation, and some of the team developed foot rot which incapacitated them for a few days while it was treated. Almost all of the team was infected by subcutaneous worms which were treated by medication brought in by

Cuts, skin rashes, twisted ankles, swellings from stings, fatigue, dehydration, and stomach problems were expected and common ailments. Good care to avoid such issues and swift treatment and management once diagnosed kept the team healthy for the duration of the expedition. I recommend planning and enforcement of rest days for both health and morale boosts in future.

We had one malaria scare after news that a villager in Tumbang Tohan was infected, and one of our guides began displaying all of the symptoms. We began treating him and sent him back to his village (where there is a trained nurse and health clinic) with a full course of medication, both for his comfort and the safety of those remaining at camp. He returned ten days later fully recovered. Whether or not it was a bout of recurrent malaria is unclear.

Huge boulders on the Mohot river, upstream from Camp Foyle 84ÂŠMartin Holland

Breaking Camp and Extraction The last day of research was Tuesday 1st February, and on the 2nd Feb Camp Foyle started coming down systematically, planned to extract the team in the most efficient way possible so as to maximize the time for research. This phase of the expedition ran very smoothly. The majority of the team left Camp Foyle on Thursday with a large amount of the equipment, spending the night in Tumbang Tohan. On Friday 4th Dan Sargison, James Harwood and Misbahul Munir left to retrace the overland route to Palangkaraya, while Lara Rogers, Holli Kilburn and Ismael Agung travelled to Naan and flew to Palangkaraya with MAF. Through careful coordination the overland team made it to Palangkaraya in 2 days from Tumbang Tohan: very encouraging for future expeditions to the region. Tim and I stayed at Camp Foyle with our guides and Rupert and Diana until Friday 4th, when we travelled to Tumbang Tohan to join Rusty and Dale. We took part in meetings with the village to share our findings and discuss future activities, and agreed to leave much of our kit in secure storage with one of the village elders. We travelled to Tumbang Naan on Sunday 6th and again met with village elders here to discuss the expedition and the future. On Monday 7th Rusty and Dale flew with MAF to Naan and Tim and I began the overland journey, taking the same route as James and Dan. We stopped in Puruk Cahu to meet with Godwin Limberg from Flora and Fauna International to talk through future initiatives in the area.

Martin Holland steadying the boat during a refuel ÂŠRupert Ridgeway

Ismael Agung at the Camp Foyle sign ÂŠMisbahul87 Munir

CONCLUSION The research results and their significance to the understanding of species distributions across Borneo; their demonstration of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;remarkable qualityâ&#x20AC;? of the forest in our study area of Bukit Batikap Protection Forest; and the additional weight they throw onto the calls for a step-change in the conservation effort on the island are discussed in detail on p.70, so I will not attempt to duplicate that discussion. Rather, the main conclusions discussed here are to be drawn from an assessment of the efficacy and value of the approach of this expedition, which was positive, youthful, multidisciplinary, inclusive, and interactive. The scientific results alone are a towering testament to the approach. That such a relatively inexperienced team could gather so much new knowledge and information in 8 short weeks, despite testing environmental conditions, is a powerful statement the special potential for young people to make important and meaningful contributions to conservation through their still vibrant creativity and positive energy. The same can be said for the expedition as a whole, which, despite its ambition and the many challenges and obstacles faced, was conceived, designed, organised and led entirely by its young members and volunteers. Indeed, through personal communication I am aware that the teams audacity in attempting and eventually executing something so large and multifaceted has energised and inspired many of the veteran researchers and explorers who have been involved as advisors, or who have watched on as interested spectators. That the expedition excelled in its aim to inspire is borne out further by the now thriving Exploration Society at Tremough campus in Cornwall, and the innumerable comments and emails we continue to receive from people of all ages, backgrounds and interests who have come into contact with the website, or the team members at talks and other events. It has also inspired in many of the team members themselves a belief in their own potential. The multidisciplinary approach during the research inspired new interests and insights between the team, while the inclusion of a media team brought elements out of the researchers that otherwise would never have surfaced. The assumption of a common knowledge and understanding stifles conversations, both between people and internally in ones own mind. Being forced to confront what one takes for granted during filmmaking is not only a necessary part of the scripting and production process, but actually opens vaults that might have been closed for some time, allowing a now more developed mind to consider these assumptions for the first time, and perhaps making new connections and creating fresh insights. Sharing these videos and our other resources in real time, thus becoming interactive from the field, was expensive in terms of time and resources. A large part of the budget was allocated here, and a large amount of my time, therefore reducing my attention on other areas. However it was integral to the energy and excitement that we had managed to build up around the expedition, and so was absolutely worth the cost in both areas.

The area we struggled to meet our ambitions was in the educational areas. While we produced a number of very interesting educational videos, and have reached many thousands of people who would not previously know about the deforestation issue in Borneo, we did not manage to penetrate far beyond the lay individual (important though she is). The educational ambitions of the expedition were not well enough defined from the beginning, lacking in focus and detail, and should have had more expert involvement. In the event, our approach was altogether too far and too wide. That is not to say that incorporating educational programs into expeditions is a waste of energy, simply that to do it right requires a clear target audience, and for the goals to be understood by the team members involved. The aim to be inclusive and open throughout the preparation stages was in many respects the most challenging area of the expedition, since it creates an entirely new level of extra work and administration in the tasking and management of this extended team. Inevitably, the most time consuming of your volunteers will produce the least reward for your effort, and It can be easy to wonder what the value in this approach is. Firstly, if it is primarily for the volunteers benefit, that you open yourselves up as a platform then this issue becomes less frustrating, although no less time consuming. Secondly , perhaps 1 in 10 of the volunteers will be an absolute super star who you will quickly come to wonder how you ever coped without! The contribution to in-country capacity building could have been significantly increased through the inclusion in the team of some experienced community development workers. Conducting participatory land use mapping alongside the other activities would have been of great benefit to both the communities and the other expedition activities, adding greater depth to the research and the outreach work. We should also have had more Indonesian team members, although this was not through a lack of effort, simply effort expended in the wrong directions. As a final concluding comment, the world needs inspired, motivated, creative, and positive people to come together to lead projects like this, and to inspire and motivate creativity and positivity in others, more than anytime in the history of humanity. The challenges we face today and tomorrow are enormous, global, and connected by common threads. The island of Borneo is an excellent case in point, and it was right to conduct this expedition to the island, and to continue the work we have started there. There exists a window of opportunity to turn the tide of destruction, to begin once again to value our natural resources and wild spaces for everything they afford us as a species, and to expect and demand that they be protected for the common wealth, not destroyed for the enrichment of a few. This wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen without the greatest of efforts from a few to mobilise and capture the support of the many. Having worked on this project for the past three years, I firmly believe that multidisciplinary projects that emphasise the positive and bring science and the arts together with communities can play an important role. I hope that our experiences and the lessons from them, shared in this report and happily shared in more detail though personal communication, can help others to go beyond what we have attempted, and to keep going beyond until that tide is firmly turned.

The Murung Raya Expedition team on the last day at Camp Foyle. This felled log was crossed daily to reach the transects that spread out from the Ridgeway Trail ÂŠRupert Ridgeway

APPENDIX 1: STRATEGY AND PLANNING The Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society, and in particular Shane Winser who heads the Geography Outdoors team, was an important source of inspiration for this expedition, and the most important body with regard to almost all areas of our planning and preparation. If you are starting from scratch, go to the annual Explore weekend, soak up the atmosphere and network your heart out, and then speak to Shane and the team about where to start. It’s what we did and it’s what I would do again.

Work With the End in Mind We identified the aims our expedition, broadly, as to Discover, Educate, and Inspire. Within these categories we identified specific goals and then created action plans to achieve them. The RGS Expedition Handbook has an example 12 month countdown which is an excellent place to start preparing your own wider plan. We adapted it working backwards from our departure date and according to our specific needs, editing it as we went.

A Business Plan We very deliberately approached what we were planning in the same manner as a start-up company, partly to learn and share new skills in these areas. We considered branding and marketing strategy very early on, for example, and identified our fundraising strategy according to a growing sense of credibility after we had secured some key sponsorship (in our case from the RGS).

Network, Network, Network The RGS will be able to help you find contacts in-country, but don’t stop there. Think about every one you know and what they do, consider the companies you have worked for, the institutions such as universities that you have connections with, local papers and magazines, old schools. Identify how you can make use of all of these contacts for planning, promotion, fundraising, logistical support - everything that was in our budget or our activity schedule was considered a potential area of support or advice. But don’t stop at your contacts: get your team to go through the same process, and also work at your contacts’ contacts, which is often the most fruitful area.

Credible, Capable, Committed I was asked to speak at RGS Explore the weekend before our team departed for Jakarta, on the subject of fundraising. We had raised a lot of money despite having no experience or background in expeditions. I considered that the places we raised our funds from were based on our particular skills (writing grant applications, for example), whereas for other teams, fundraising events may well be more suitable. I decided that what had made the difference was our focus on not only being, but appearing to be highly credible, capable, and committed. We spent a lot of time preparing our brochure before we sent it to anyone, much to the dismay of many of my team who were clamouring for it to be ready sooner. We identified a PR opportunity in having our own beer named after us by a local brewery, not because it would raise a lot of funds, but because it would look fantastic to have it served at the RGS in the days before our departure. We used students to get high quality logos, photography, and videos made of our team and preparations. This wasn’t just PR fluff, it was demonstrating that were indeed credible, capable, and committed, as clearly and loudly as we could in order to attract support.

APPENDIX 2: TEAM SELECTION & TRAINING Posters, Lecturers and Interviews Over 400 people applied to join the expedition team, from a campus of about 4,000, all from a handful of posters and posts on relevant online forums. To narrow this down I held lectures to explain the plan and attempt to put as many people off as possible. Then I ran group interviews to identify the most promising candidates and, again, tried to put them off. I picked a small core team and then took around 20 remaining candidates to Dartmoor for a winter weekend of small tortures and good fun. My primary concerns were focused on the actual expedition. I was looking at skill (research, media, logistics, medical, management, etc), safety (personal conduct, hygiene and self-discipline, fitness and field skills), and psychology (emotional strength, personal character, team dynamics, ability to deal with stress and uncertainty). The team was selected, but did change as the expedition dates were altered. In future I would add a focus on pre-expedition skills (such as fundraising), and incountry administration so that tasks such as financial management can be spread between a few people. We struggled to find Indonesian team members, however in hindsight we relayed too heavily on one university for this. I would advise making good use of in country-networks and also utilising twitter and other social media.

Medical Training An original requirement for joining the expedition team was to go through an advanced first aid course so that in the event of an incident, everyone on the team would be able to carry out the most basic and potentially life-saving techniques in the absence of a team member with more training. Four of the expedition members making up the leader group (Martin, Tim, Lara and Ian) went through a 4-day training course called Advanced Medicine for Remote Foreign Travel run by Wilderness Medical Training. This course was well tailored to our needs, very organised, engaging and hands on. We highly recommend other expedition teams consider this as their first option for advanced medical training. The ability to order drugs and hardware after completion of this course is equally important.

Field Training Weekends We organised several camping weekends to serve as team building and basic skills training for less experienced team members. We covered topics such as navigation, communications, safety, and personal conduct. These weekends were fun and informal, and we invited other student members of the Exploration Society at Exeter and Falmouth to take part. While the weekends could only give a flavour of what to expect in the tropics, they were important

as bonding exercises and as an opportunity to raise and deal with any issues or questions such as what equipment to take, as well as getting the team members used to the cameras.

Satellite Communications Livewire Digital very kindly spent a lot of time with those members of the team who needed to be familiar with the workflows involved in sending videos back to the UK via satellite. This was crucial as it turned out that certain software limitations were in fact causing significant issues and new workflows had to be developed. In the field, once we had our laptops working properly, this training proved invaluable and the workflow was very smooth indeed. A trial run between our team, Livewire Digital and the Natural History Museum also gave us the opportunity to tweak certain aspects in preparation for the live video links, improving sound quality and lag time. When it came to doing the live links for real in the field we were able to set up and execute the process with little fuss and excellent results.

Equipment Testing Do to last minute sponsorship we were unable to properly test our video editing workflows before going into the field, and this caused significant problems in the field. The laptops were not powerful enough to efficiently handle the editing software for video or photography. We were filming partly on Canon 5DMkII DSLR which produces Apple Quicktime Movie files. These were almost impossible to edit with in Adobe Premier Pro CS4, and it turned out that we were missing some drivers and codecs. This caused much delay and frustration in the move to Camp Foyle, and some conflict in the first week at camp. Some of the problems were identified en route to our research site, meaning drivers and codecs could be downloaded. Eventually we found ways to work with the software, quickly realising that we would have to drastically increase the amount of time spent editing the videos, which also meant increasing power consumption.

The selection weekend on Dartmoor after a long and cold night ÂŠMartin Holland

APPENDIX 3: PERMISSIONS AND PERMITS Research Permits are difficult to obtain in Indonesia. The process is administered by RISTEK (Office for Research and Technology, based in Jakarta) and requires a lot of preparation which should begin will in advance of the application. RISTEK now meets to discuss applications twice monthly, and submissions should ideally be made 3 months before your departure date. This means that delays, postponements, and requests for further information can be dealt with. You will inevitably face a high level of uncertainty at this important stage. There are only really two options: book your tickets and hold your breath, planning fully for your departure date, with contingency plans in the back of your mind; or wait until you have the green-light from RISTEK before committing financially (this needs to come at least 2 weeks prior to your departure in order to give your local embassy the time to receive handle the request). After further experience of this, I think it is easier on everyone to take the first option, providing you can change or cancel your flights without too much expense. Our first application was delivered by hand during the recce. Our stack of paperwork was over a foot high. We used the University of Palangkaraya (UNPAR) as our scientific counterpart, but after months of back and forth with little advice from RISTEK, our application was declined. It turned out that the major reason for this was that we had applied for research permits for members of our team who would not be involved in the actual research. We could have rectified this had we been informed. We quickly hired Steven Oliver (now running these services through his Indonesian company, Lahuka) as a handler for our application, and contacted the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) as our scientific counterpart, retaining UNPAR as our local counterpart. Steven proved fantastic and our application was approved for our new dates. Steven also handled the ‘RISTEK run’ through Jakarta, which involves visiting various offices to collect stamps in the appropriate order. Things became more difficult in Palangkaraya, the administrative capital of Central Kalimantan. We used this office to provide our research permits because we were operating in their province. This caused heavy delays, as the official refused to accept LIPI as our scientific counterpart, declaring that this was in fact UNPAR. No amount of producing instructions from RISTEK to the contrary would sway him in his conviction. This meant replicating a lot of paperwork we had already produced, and waiting for paperwork to be delivered from Jakarta (phone calls to the relevant offices or faxes would not be considered). We applied for Social Cultural Permits for those members of the team not coming out as researchers. This is a much more simple process, but also proved problematic. Social visa stays are limited to 60 days, which was less than our total stay in country. Extensions can be granted but one must present their passport to the immigration office with proper paperwork for this to happen. This meant some of our team leaving camp and travelling back to Palangkaraya to extend their visas before returning to camp. The application can only be made within 14 days of the expiry of the visa. We agreed with the official in Palangkaraya that UNPAR staff could bring copies of the team members’ passports to the office to be stamped, pending the return of the team whereupon actual passport could be stamped. When our team members arrived at the office at the end of the

expedition to finalise this process, they were politely â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;quarantinedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and told they faced fines for overstaying their visas. The copies of the passports had proved insufficient, and we had not received information on this from UNPAR at the time. Again, no amount of campaigning to the office, supported by a signed letter from the original official declaring that copies would be sufficient, made any difference. We were duly fined our team members were released from quarantine after 3 days. The upside is that we learned that if passports are left with the local counterpart, instead of copies, this process can be used to have team members on social cultural permits work in country for over 60 days without having to leave their research site mid-expedition.

APPENDIX 4: MANAGING FINANCES By establishing a university society we were able to use the Student Union to manage our initial income, but we quickly set up a community bank account to have greater control and flexibility. The University of Exeter collected funds on our behalf allowing us to claim gift aid on donations before we established the Heart of Borneo Project as a charity. We changed some funds in Indonesia which allowed for a much better exchange rate, however we did also use money changers in the UK before realising the significance of the hidden costs in the exchange rates. To those with little experience, I highly recommend looking at the option of taking sterling into the country with you and changing it into local currency there. With so much cash we used a locked peli case chained to a large log supporting our main table in the Science/Media tent, which was the most occupied area of camp. It would have been impossible to take this case without force, which was of course a possibility all the same. During transit the cash was split between a small number of team members in order to reduce the impact of loss or theft. Cash advances were signed out to team members from the main float and accounted for with receipts for expenses. Guides were paid periodically, although most preferred to be paid at the end of the expedition. I recommend the Expedition Leader assign separate responsible person to act as treasurer.

APPENDIX 5: INSURANCE & EMERGENCY EVACUATION International Members – ihi

Bupa (Denmark)

BUPA provided a very good policy covering our international team members for every eventuality, including evacuation by air. The cost was reasonable and the policy all-encompassing. We would recommend, although we had no experience of making a claim or dealing with an emergency situation with this provider.

Indonesian Members – Chartis Insuring local researchers and guides can be difficult, especially given that knowing the names of your guides and their details can be impossible (as was the case on our expedition). Chartis Insurance provided us with a policy covering 5 unnamed Indonesian employees for a period of 12 months. This was affordable and comprehensive, however helicopter evacuation was not covered.

Equipment Insurance – Campbell Irvine Insuring equipment was necessary but problematic, for the reason that the kit was loaned by sponsors. In future we would try at all stages to have equipment loaned to us covered under the insurance policy of the sponsor, perhaps with an agreement that we would pay for any excess charges in the event of a claim being made. We hired Campbell and Irvine insurance brokers to find us a suitable policy, and used an office insurance policy to cover our equipment. This was expensive but necessary given the cost of some of the hardware we were using, but again, we would recommend Campbell Irvine for brokerage.

Emergency Response - SOS Medika Our international team members were put onto a membership policy of SOS Medika, (aka International SOS), Jakarta, to expedite emergency evacuation and medical arrangements in the event of a serious incident. Membership is expensive, but was considered important due to the remote nature of our site. In an incident we wanted to be confident that we could leave the coordination of logistics, including helicopter evacuation, in the hands of experienced professionals, instead of trying to coordinate this ourselves from the rainforest, or relying on an non-recommended provider. Rupert Ridgeway highly recommended SOS Medika. If we were insured by Bupa UK, all evacuation and medical costs involved in an evacuation organised by SOS Medika would have been approved without question, reducing potential delays as insurance providers question the need for such expense. Our experience would make us think twice about using their services again, and we will certainly look for alternatives before doing so. It is not only the cost that leads us to this conclusion, but also our experience of commissioning an Emergency Response Plan. The delays in the provision of this important and expensive document meant that it was not ready until the end of the expedition (some 3 months late), while the level of incorrect and inaccurate information in the report was astounding. We were labelled as being in East Kalimantan not Central Kalimantan; the float plane run by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) that serves the village of Tumbang Naan was not included in their evacuation plan; and much of the most crucial information was in fact prepared and supplied by our team. We received a 50% discount as a goodwill gesture after a lengthy meeting with their senior staff, but even this was hard won.

APPENDIX 6: TRAVEL, TRANSPORT AND FREIGHTING Flights International flights into Jakarta were booked with Emirates who were cheap and afforded 30kg of luggage in the hold, allowing us to transport much of our equipment as luggage. There were no problems on the way in, but Timâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bag was left in Dubai on the return leg. Medical supplies were kept with one person who carried a letter from a doctor stating that she had permission to transport these substances, and detailing what she was carrying and why. The team flew from Jakarta to Banjarmasin and Palangkaraya with Batavia who are cheapest. Luggage limits are low but the cost of additional luggage is also low. It is recommended to arrive early to ensure you fly with your luggage if you are over the weight limit, and also to expect delays of a few hours.

Freighting Freighting was as difficult, costly and frustrating as immigration. We had a ton of equipment freighted to Jakarta as personal effects. Customs maintained they were not personal effects and we would have to pay an import tax. James and Dan worked with Steven Oliver to get these goods cleared so they could fly with them Banjarmasin. A better understanding of this process would have been helpful. Equally difficult was the delivery of 25 camera traps from the USA. A huge import tax was levied which we were forced to pay, despite every effort by out team, our freight company, and Steve Oliver. DHL proved singularly inefficient in moving these goods from Jakarta to Banjarmasin once they had been cleared. We also needed an address and registration number of a business to deliver the goods to. Fortunately we were able to use the tourism company owned by the proprietor of the guest house we used to accommodate our team in Banjarmasin for this purpose.

Ian Blessley packing the medical supplies in the UK ÂŠLara Rogers

Cargo Boats and Bis-Air Cargo boats service the Barito River from the coastal town of Banjarmasin as far as Batu Ampar. It is possible to find cargo ships with space for your stores and some of your team to travel with them, or to commission a water bus (bis-air) for your entire team and cargo. A bis-air was not available for us so we used a cargo ship which was affordable and left and arrived on time. Be aware that the captain should be consulted before unloading your supplies. We unloaded at Puruk Cahu and moved onto two smaller, faster boats to reach Batu Ampar.

Road Transport Public minibuses are frequent between Banjarmasin and Palangkaraya, and between Palangkaraya and Puruk Cahu. These can be hired and prices negotiated. The driver will usually take a colleague, especially if driving at night. Drivers in our experience either need to be told to slow down or to speed up, depending on their temperament, but be prepared to allow the driver to have his music blaring on overnight journeys to help him stay awake. Jeeps along the logging road from Batu Ampar to Camp Bravo were readily available. We required 6 jeeps for the 2 hours journey. The road is navigable by night, but again, prepare for delays in the event of breakdowns (either yours or the lorries using the road).

Small River Transport â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Klotoks and Cis Once we were on the Joloi River we moved on small wooden boats with inboard motors. The larger boats are called klotoks, and can carry a c. 1 ton of equipment. Smaller boats are called cis, and in their smallest form carry around 3 people and their personal bags, plus the driver. None of the boats have any shade.

View along the logging road between the Barito and the Joloi rivers ÂŠMartin Holland

APPENDIX 7: FOOD, WATER & HYGIENE The vast majority of this was bought in the supermarkets and local markets of Banjarmasin, and delivered to and stored in the guest house which had lots of room downstairs for this purpose. Bulk items were bought in supermarkets. We attempted to pre-order this (organised during our recce) but failed because our order coincided with the closing of one supermarket while another was in the middle of restocking, and promptly sold everything we had ordered. Fresh and dried produce was bought in the markets, Pasar Lima being the most useful. Produce likely to perish more quickly was bought in Puruk Cahu. Potatoes, onions, garlic and pumpkins lasted the duration of the expedition, while cabbages and beans perished very quickly. We supplemented this with fruit bought from Tumbang Tohan (bananas, mangoes, and jackfruit) and foraged greens such as bracken. Each vegetable should be inspected closely for imperfections. Pumpkins should be stored on shelves out of the shade and not touching one another. Potatoes should also be stored in the shade and inspected and aired regularly. Once one vegetable rots the others in contact with it will quickly follow, so take care to remove and, if possible eat, vegetables reaching that point. Flat bread was made almost daily and was enjoyed with either jam or chocolate spread. On occasion we baked real bread using flour and oats, baked in our wok with a little water and covered using another pan. We had chickens at camp who laid a few eggs. They were quite a nuisance but were also entertaining, and could be found nesting in the oddest places (up trees, on peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beds, and in a box of noodles in the kitchen). The chickens were attacked once by a civet, but otherwise did not appear to attract wildlife. We ate most of the chickens by the end of the expedition which was always a treat. The first chickens were cooked in a hangey, or earth, oven on Christmas Day. The stores were overseen by assigned members of the team. The next days rations were brought to the kitchen the night before to ensure we were not going through our stores too quickly, and a schedule used to inform the chefs how many people who would be eating and how many packed lunches were needed. The food was generally good and varied enough, and was occasionally fantastic. Leftover rice made a tasty pudding, and tinned fruit was also well received. Most of the team remained a healthy weight and no one complained of hunger, although everyone recorded weight loss, some significantly so. It is important to check with the local staff that they are happy with the food, as diets and meal sizes vary between the two cultures. In future we will consider a western chef and a local chef to prepare for the two groups separately. Good communication with the kitchen staff as to meal times and number of people is very important to avoid frustrations on both sides. The local staff consumed vast amounts of coffee and sugar, which had to be replenished numerous times from Tumbang Tohan. Though not strictly food, cigarettes are a staple in this area. We brought in our own and sold them to the guides at the local rate. Consider lino to cover your kitchen surfaces where food is being prepared so that it can be wiped down. We used some left over tin to good effect. Slops should be emptied away from the kitchen to avoid attracting wildlife, and surfaces cleaned and leftovers either discarded or stored well for the same reason. Water was carried from the river to two water buckets: one in the kitchen and one in the science/media tent. Drinking water in the science/media tent was purified with two water filters and stored in jugs. The river water was heavy in sediment, and the filters needed replacing once. This was an effective system. Water in the kitchen was purified by boiling on an open fire. This was energy intensive so filters could be considered in future, or, as stated previously, solar cookers could be used in conjunction with fuel efficient stoves. Rainwater should be collected in future to avoid using river water which had high levels of sediment and tannins .

100

APPENDIX 8: BREAKDOWN OF INCOME Each team member contributed financially to the overall cost of the expedition, totalling some £15,000. Small grants were targeted as the main source of funding and consumed a lot of time both in the research and in the writing. Institutions such as our universities and other NGOs were also approached, and through our network we are able to secure significant contributions from individual major donors. We made many attempts to raise funds through events but for us this did not prove effective, often just breaking even and taking large amounts of time and motivations away from the team. In hindsight, I think we could have raised large amounts from the sale of merchandise given our connection to the talented student body in Cornwall.

GRANTS & INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

£29,063.53

RGS Neville Shulman Challenge Award Gilchrist Education Trust University of Exeter UoE DARO Annual Fund ZSL Orangutan Land Trust Foyle Foundation Primate Conservation Inc WWF Explorers Club FXU

£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £

FUNDRAISING AND DONATIONS

£22,922.05

TEAM MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS

£15,000.00

TOTAL INCOME

£66,985.58

101

4,000.00 1,500.00 5,500.00 5,000.00 1,000.00 500.00 5,000.00 1,648.86 3,162.16 1,252.51 500.00

APPENDIX 9: BREAKDOWN OF EXPENDITURE FEES AND PERMITS TRAVEL ACCOMMODATION SUBSISTENCE FIELD SUPPLIES & EQUIPMENT

£ £ £ £ £

3,402 12,375 985 733 19,778

Field and Camp Supplies

8,249

Medical Supplies

1,098

Multimedia and Communications

1,544

Research and Scientific

5,024

Food and Sustenance

3,491

Repairs and Maintenance

COMMUNICATIONS

372

6,338

Mobile and Telephone

Satellite Calls and Data

6277

INSURANCE & SAFETY

8,119

Equipment Insurance

2,049

Casevac Membership and Plan

2,444

Personal Health, Liability and Travel Insurance

3,826

TRANSPORT & LOGISITCS

Agent and Fixer Fees

Freight and Customs

FIELD STAFF WAGES EXCHANGE RATE DIFFERENCES RECCE COSTS EXPEDITION CELEBRATION EVENT OTHER COSTS

£ £ £ £ £

2,966 261 2,674

5,861 815 4,800 600 214

TOTAL EXPENDITURE

102

66,986

APPENDIX 10: LIST OF MAMMALS Order

Family

scientific name

common name

Insectivora Scandentia

Erinaceidae Soricidae Tupaiidae

Rodentia

Sciuridae

Echinosorex gymnura Crocidura monticola Tupaia dorsalis Tupaia longipes Ratufa affinis cothurnata Callosciurus notatus Callosciurus prevostii atricapillus Sundasciurus lowii lowii Sundasciurus hippurus Exilisciurus exilis Nannosciurus melanotis pallidus Lariscus insignis Sundamys muelleri Maxomys rajah Maxomys surifer Niviventer cremoriventer Maxomys whiteheadi Hystrix brachyura Trichys fasciculata Hystrix crassispinis Manis javanica Helarctos malayanus Aonyx cinerea Cynogale bennettii Viverra tangalunga Arctictis binturong Paradoxurus hermaphroditus Prionodon linsang Hemigalus derbyanus Herpestes brachyurus rajah Herpestes semitorquatus Prionailurus bengalensis Neofelis diardi Sus barbatus Tragulus kanchil Tragulus napu Muntiacus muntjak Muntiacus atherodes Rusa unicolor Nycticebus menagensis Tarsius bancanus Presbytis rubicunda rubicunda Presbytis frontata Macaca fascicularis Macaca nemestrina Nasalis larvatus Hylobates albibarbis Rhinolophus trifoliatus Cheiromeles torquatus Emballonura sp

Moonrat Sunda shrew Striped tree shrew Bornean tree shrew Pale giant squirrel Plantain squirrel Prevost's squirrel Low's squirrel Horse-tailed squirrel Least pigmy squirrel Black-eared pigmy squirrel Three-striped ground squirrel Müller’s Sundamys Rajah Sundaic Maxomys Indomalayan Maxomys Sundaic Arboreal Niviventer Whitehead’s Sundaic Maxomys Malayan Porcupine Long-tailed porcupine Thick-spined porcupine Sunda pangolin Malayan Sun Bear Asian Small-clawed Otter Sunda otter-civet Malay civet Binturong Common palm civet Banded linsang Banded civet Short-tailed mongoose Collared mongoose Leopard cat Sunda clouded leopard Bearded pig Lesser oriental chevrotain Greater oriental chevrotain Southern red muntjac Bornean yellow muntjac Sambar deer Bornean slow loris Bornean tarsier Red langur White fronted langur Long-tailed macaque Southern pig-tailed macaque Proboscis monkey Bornean white-bearded gibbon Trefoil horseshoe bat Greater naked bat Lesser/Greater sheath-tailed bat

Muridae

Hystricidae

Pholidota Carnivora

Manidae Ursidae Viverridae

Felidae Artiodactyla

Suidae Tragulidae Cervidae

Primates

Chiroptera

Lorisidae Tarsiidae Cercopithecidae

Hylobatidae Rhinolophidae Molossidae Emballonuridae

103

Borneo endemic y y y y y y Y y y Y y -

Red list status LC LC DD LC NT LC LC LC NT DD LC LC LC VU LC VU VU LC LC LC EN VU VU EN LC VU LC LC VU LC DD LC VU VU LC LC LC LC VU VU VU LC VU LC VU EN EN LC LC LC

APPENDIX 11: LIST OF BIRDS List of birds as observed in and around Bukit Batikap Protection Forest during the HoBP Murung Raya Expedition 2010-2011. Residence status: R = Resident, E = Endemic, M = Migrant. Sites include M = Mohot River, HJ = Hulu Joloi (Joloi River north of Mohot River), J = Joloi River (The Joloi River from Camp Bravo to Mohot River).

Phasianidae Melanoperdix niger Rollulus rouloul Lophura ignita Polyplectron schleiermacheri Argusianus argus

Black Partridge Crested Partridge Crested Fireback Bornean Peacock-Pheasant Great Argus

VU NT NT EN NT

Residence status R R R R, E R

Ardeidae

Egretta garzetta Butorides striata

Little Egret Striated Heron

LC LC

R R

x x

Ciconiidae

Ciconia stormi

Storm's Stork

Accipitridae Spilornis cheela Haliastur indus Ichthyophaga humilis

Crested Serpent Eagle Brahminy Kite Lesser Fish-Eagle

LC LC NT

R R R

Falconidae

Black-Thighed Falconet

Scolopacidae Actitis hypoleucos

Common Sandpiper

Columbidae Treron capellei Treron curvirostra

Large Green-Pigeon Thick-Billed Green-Pigeon

VU LC

R R

x x

Psittacidae

Loriculus galgulus

Blue-Headed Hanging Parrot

Cuculidae

Cuculus saturatus Cacomantis variolosus Phaenicophaeus sumatranus Phaenicophaeus chlorophaeus Phaenicophaeus curvirostris Centropus sinensis Carpococcyx radiatus

Himalayan Cuckoo Brush Cuckoo Chestnut-Bellied Malkoha Raffles Malkoha Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha Greater Coucal Bornean Ground-Cuckoo

LC LC NT LC LC LC NT

R, M R R R R R R, E

x x x x x x

Strigidae

Ketupa ketupu Bubo sumatranus Otus rufescens Otus lempiji

Buffy Fish Owl Barred Eagle Owl Reddish Scops-Owl Sunda Scops-Owl

LC LC NT LC

R R R R

x x x x

Apodidae

Collocalia esculenta Apus affinis Collocalia fuciphaga Rhaphidura leucopygialis

Glossy Swiftlet Little Swift Edible-Nest Swiflet Silver-Rumped Needletail

LC LC LC LC

R R R R

x x

Hemiprocnidae Hemiprocne longipennis

Grey-Rumped Tree-Swift

Trogonidae

Red-Naped Trogon

Family

Scientific Name

Microhierax fringillarius

Harpactes kasumba

Common Name

104

Red list status

Site M x x x x x

x x

x x x x x

x x x x

x x

LIST OF BIRDS CONT... Harpactes orrhophaeus Harpactes duvaucelii

Cinnamon-Rumped Trogon Scarlet-Rumped Trogon

NT NT

R R

x x

Alcedo meninting Alcedo euryzona Ceyx erithaca Ceyx rufidorsa Pelargopsis capensis Actenoides concretus

Blue-Eared Kingfisher Blue-Banded Kingfisher Black-Backed Kingfisher Rufous-Backed Kingfisher Stork-Billed Kingfisher Rufous-Collared Kingfisher

LC VU LC LC LC NT

R R R R R R

x x x x x x

Meropidae

Nyctyornis amictus

Red-Bearded Bee-Eater

Coraciidae

Eurystomus orientalis

Dollarbird

R, M

Bucerotidae

Aceros undulatus Aceros comatus Anthracoceros malayanus Buceros rhinoceros Rhinoplax vigil Anorrhinus galeritus Anthracoceros albirostris Aceros corrugatus

Wreathed Hornbill White-Crowned Hornbill Black Hornbill Rhino Hornbill Helmeted Hornbill Bushy-Crested Hornbill Oriental-Pied Hornbill Wrinkled Hornbill

LC NT NT NT NT LC LC NT

R R R R R R R R

x x x x x x x x

Megalamidae Megalaima rafflesii Megalaima australis Megalaima henricii Megalaima eximia Megalaima chrysopogon Megalaima mystacophanos Calorhamphus fuliginosus

Red-Crowned Barbet Blue-Eared Barbet Yellow-Crowned Barbet Black-Throated Barbet Gold-Whiskered Barbet Red-Throated Barbet Brown Barbet

NT LC NT LC LC NT LC

R R R R, E R R R

x x x x x x x

Picidae

Rufous Piculet Rufous Woodpecker Buff-Rumped Woodpecker Orange-Backed Woodpecker Maroon Woodpecker Banded Woodpecker

LC LC LC LC LC LC

R R R R R R

x x x x x x

Eurylaimidae Corydon sumatranus Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos Eurylaimus ochromalus Calyptomena viridis Eurylaimus javanicus

Dusky Broadbill Black-And-Red Broadbill Black-And-Yellow Broadbill Green Broadbill Banded Broadbill

LC LC NT NT LC

R R R R R

Pittidae

Garnet Pitta Fairy Pitta Banded Pitta

NT VU LC

R M R

x x x

Bar-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike Black-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike Lesser Cuckoo-Shrike

LC LC LC

R R R

x x

Bronzed Drongo Greater Racquet-Tailed Drongo

LC LC

R R

Alcedinidae

Sasia abnormis Celeus brachyurus Meiglyptes tristis Reinwardtipicus validus Blythipicus rubiginosus Picus mineaceus

Pitta granatina Pitta nympha Pitta guajana

Camphepagidae Hemipus picatus Hemipus hirundinaceus Coracina fimbriata Dicruridae

Dicrurus aeneus Dicrurus paradiseus

105

x x x

x x

x x x

LIST OF BIRDS CONT... Rhipiduridae Rhipidura perlata

Spotted Fantail

Monarchidae Hypothymis azurea Terpsiphone paradisi

Black-Naped Monarch Asian Paradise Flycatcher

LC LC

R R

x x

Corvidae

Corvus enca Platylophus galericulatus Platysmurus leucopterus

Slender-Billed Crow Crested Jay Black Magpie

LC NT NT

R R R

x x x

Eupetes macrocerus

Rail Babbler

Hirundinidae Hirundo rustica

Barn Swallow

Sittidae

Velvet-Fronted Nuthatch

Pycnonotidae Pycnonotus zeylanicus Pycnonotus eutilotus Pycnonotus nieuwenhuisii Pycnonotus simplex Pycnonotus brunneus Pycnonotus plumosus Pycnonotus erythropthalmos Alophoixus ochraceus Alophoixus bres Alophoixus phaeocephalus Ixos malaccensis Setornis criniger Alophoixus finschii Tricholestes criniger Iole olivacea

Straw-Headed Bulbul Puff-Backed Bulbul Blue-Wattled Bulbul Cream-Vented Bulbul Red-Eyed Bulbul Olive-Winged Bulbul Spectacled Bulbul Ochraceous Bulbul Grey-Cheeked Bulbul Yellow-Bellied Bulbul Streaked Bulbul Hook-Billed Bulbul Finsch's Bulbul Hairy-Backed Bulbul Buff-Vented Bulbul

VU NT DD LC LC LC LC LC LC LC NT VU NT LC NT

R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Irenidae Irena puella Muscicapidae Rhinomyias umbratilis Muscicapa dauurica Ficedula dumetoria Cyornis turcosus Cyornis superbus Cyornis unicolor Philentoma pyrhoptera Philentoma velata Rhinomyas sp.

Asian Fairy-Bluebird

Grey-Chested Flycatcher Asian Brown Flycatcher Rufous-Chested Flycatcher Malaysian Blue-Flycatcher Borneon Blue-Flycatcher Pale Blue-Flycatcher Rufous-Winged Philentoma Maroon-Breasted Philentoma Jungle Flycatcher Sp.

NT LC NT NT LC LC LC NT

R R, M R R R, E R R R

x x x x x x x x x

Turdidae

Chlamydochaera jefferyi Copsychus malabaricus Copsychus saularis Enicurus ruficapillus Enicurus leschenaulti Trichixos pyrropygus Zoothera interpres

Fruit Hunter White-Rumped Shama Magpie Robin Chesnut-Naped Forktail White-Crowned Forktail Rufous-Tailed Shama Chestnut-Capped Trush

LC LC LC NT LC NT LC

R, E R R R R R R

x x

Orthotomus atrogularis Phylloscopus borealis

Dark-Necked Tailorbird Arctic Warbler

LC LC

R M

x x

Eupitidae

Silviidae

Sitta frontalis

106

x x

x x x x x

x x

LIST OF BIRDS CONT... Timalidae

Trichastoma rostratum Trichastoma bicolor Malacocincla sepiaria Malacocincla abbotti Malacocincla malaccensis Malacopteron cinereum Malacopteron magnum Malacopteron magnirostre Malacopteron affine Stachyris maculata Stachyris erythroptera Stachyris nigricollis Stachyris poliocephala Macronous ptilosus Alcippe brunneicauda Erpornis zantholeuca

White-Chested Babbler Ferruginous Babbler Horsfield Babbler Abott's Babbler Short-Tailed Babbler Scaly-Crowned Babbler Rufous-Crowned Babbler Moustached Babbler Sooty-Capped Babbler Chestnut-Rumped Babbler Chestnut-Winged Babbler Black-Throated Babbler Grey-Headed Babbler Puffy-Backed Tit-Babbler Brown Fulvetta White-Bellied Yuhina

NT LC LC LC NT LC NT LC NT NT LC NT LC NT NT LC

R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Gracula religiosa

Common Hill Myna

Chloropsidae Chloropsis cyanopogon Chloropsis sonnerati Chloropsis cochinchinensis

Lesser Green Leafbird Greater Green Leafbird Blue-Winged Leafbird

NT LC LC

R R R

x x x

Dicaeidae

Yellow-Rumped Flowerpecker Crimson-Breasted Flowerpecker Yellow-Breasted Flowerpecker Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker Plain Flowerpecker

LC LC LC LC LC

R, E R R R R

x x x x x

Nectarinidae Anthreptes singalensis Anthreptes rhodolaemus Anthreptes simplex Hypogramma hypogrammicum Arachnothera longirostra Arachnothera affinis

Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird Red-Throated Sunbird Plain Sunbird Purple-Naped Sunbird Little Spiderhunter Grey-Breasted Spiderhunter

LC NT LC LC LC LC

R R R R R R

x x x x x x

Estrilidae

Dusky Munia

R, E

Sturnidae

Prionochilus xanthopygius Prionochilus percussus Prionochilus maculatus Dicaeum trigonostigma Dicaeum concolor

Lonchura fuscans

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APPENDIX 12: LIST OF AMPHIBIANS

Red list status ? NT

Distribution extension ? y*

Family

Scientific name

Common name

Bufonidae

Ansonia leptopus Ansonia longidigita

Brown slender toad Long-fingered slender toad

Phrynoidis aspera

River toad

Phrynoidis juxtaspera

Giant river toad

Pedostybes hosii

Brown tree toad

Pelophryne signata

Lowland dwarf toad

Limnonectes finchi

Rough guardian frog

Limnonectes laticeps

Corrugated frog

Limnonectes kuhlii

Kuhl's creek frog

Limnonectes leporinus

Giant river frog

Limnonectes malesianus

Peat swamp frog

Limnonectes palavanensis

Smooth guardian frog

Limnonectes paramacrodon

Lesser swamp frog

Occidozyga laevis

Common puddle frog

Leptobrachium abbotti

Lowland litter frog

Leptolalax dringi

Dring's slender litter frog

Leptolalax gracilis

Sarawak slender litter frog

Megophrys nasuta

Bornean horned frog

Chaperina fusca

Saffron-bellied frog

Metaphrynella sundana

Tree hole frog

Microhyla perparva/perpetriga

Narrow-mouthed frog sp

Hylarana raniceps

White-lipped frog

Odorrana hosii

Poisonous rock frog

Hylarana nicobariensis

Cricket frog

Hylarana picturata

Spotted stream frog

Nyctixalus pictus

Cinnamon frog

Polypedates colletti

Collett's tree frog

Polypedates leucomystax

Four-lined tree frog

Polypedates macrotis

Dark-eared tree frog

Polypedates otilophus

File-eared tree frog

Rhacophorus appendiculates

Southeast Asian tree frog

Rhacophorus harrissoni

Brown tree frog

Rhacophorus kajau

White-eared tree frog

Rhacophorus nigropalmatus

Wallace's flying frog

Rhacophorus pardalis -

Harlequin tree frog Caecilian sp.

LC DD

y -

Dicroglossidae

Megophryidae

Microhylidae

Ranidae

Rhacophoridae

Ichthyophiidae

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APPENDIX 13: LIST OF REPTILES *) Not previously recorded in Kalimantan

Lizards

Family

Scientific name

Common name

Gekkonidae

Cnemaspis sp. Cyrtodactylus consobrinus Cyrtodactylus malayanus Ptychozoon horsfieldii Aphaniotis fusca Aphaniotis ornata Bronchocela cristatella Draco melanopogon Draco quinquefasciatus Gonocephalus bornensis

NE NE DD LC NE NE NE NE NE

Gonocephalus liogaster Varanus salvator Apterygodon vittatum Eutropis multifasciata Eutropis rudis Eutropis rugifera Lipinia vittigera Sphenomorphus cyanolaemus Sphenomorphus multisquamatus Sphenomorphus sp. Tropidophorus beccari

Peters' bent-toed gecko Malayan bent-toed gecko Horsfields gliding gecko Dusky earless agama Ornate shrub lizard Crested green lizard Black-bearded flying lizard Five-banded flying lizard Bornean angle-headed lizard Marquis Doria's angle-headed lizard Blue-eyed angle-headed lizard Common water monitor Striped Bornean tree skink Common sun skink Black-banded skink Red-throated skink Common striped skink Blue-throated litter skink Many-scaled litter skink Beccariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s keeled skink

Python reticulatus Calamaria sp1 Calamaria sp2 Pseudorabdion saravacense Ahaetulla_prasina Asthenodipsas laevis Boiga drapiezii Dendrelaphis caudolineatus Dendrelaphis formosus Dendrelaphis pictus Lycodon effraenis Oligodon purpurascens Oligodon signatus Ptyas fusca Rhabdophis chrysargos Rhabdophis conspicillata Xenochrophis maculatus Xenodermus javanicus Trimeresurus borneensis Calliophis intestinalis Ophiophagus hannah Cyclemys dentata Amyda cartilaginea

Agamidae

Gonocephalus doriae Varinidae Scincidae

Snakes

Boidae Calamaridae

Colubridae

Crotalidae Elapidae

Turtles

Testudinidae Trionychidae

Red list status

Distribution extension . . . ? . . . . . .

NE LC NE NE NE NE NE NT NE

. n . . . . . y* .

Reticulated python Oriental vine snake Smooth slug eating snake White-spotted cat snake Striped bronzeback tree snake Elegant bronzeback tree snake Painted bronzeback Scarce wolf snake purple kukri snake Rusty banded kukri snake White-bellied rat snake Speckle-bellied keelback snake Red-bellied keelback snake Spotted keelback snake Rough-backed litter snake Bornean leaf-nosed pit viper Malayan striped coral snake King cobra

NE NE DD LC NE NE NE NE NE LC NE NE NE NE NE NE NE NE LC VU

. . . y** . . . . . . n . . . . . . . . n n

Asian leaf turtle Asiatic softshell turtle

NT VU

n n

**) Not previously recorded in Indonesia

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APPENDIX 14: LIST OF TREE SPECIES Names of trees sampled in Bukit Batikap Protection Forest, including scientific name derived from the local names where possible with the help of the Bornean Orang-utan Survival Foundation (BOS) and Cheyne, unpub. data.

Family Anacardiaceae

Local name Reggahas

Family Lamiaceae

Scientific name Geunsia tetandra

Local name Kato Topung

Tamehas

Lauraceae

Dehaasia sp

Pangowan

Eusideroxylon zwagerii

Ulin

Mahawai phuti Jelutong Tatong Durian Hongas Irat karamu Mahasom Balau

Leguminosae

Casuarinaceae

Scientific name Gluta sp Bouea oppositofolia Dracontomelon dao Dyera costulata Dyera costulata Durio sp Santiria laevigata Dacroydes sp Canarium sp Casuarina sp

Doho Kasinut Kempas Marijang Assam Menyerau Bunyo Papung Uhai

Clusiaceae

Garcinia sp

Gandis

Moraceae

Dilleniaceae Dipterocarpaceae

Garcinia sp Dillenia sp Dipterocarpus sp Dipterocarpus sp

Kondis Salam Mohing Bajan Bajanohith Kangkawan z Laning Karuing Katoi Kayu batu Kayu Matahri Kelapis Latang prengat Lutung Meranti Pahan Propock/Maharoon

Koompassia excelsa Koompassia malaccensis Sindora sp Magnolia bintulensis Michelia champaca Aglaia sp Sandoricum sp dysoxylum sp Artocarpus odoratissimus Artocarpus comando

Annonaceae Apocynaceae Bombaceae Burseraceae

Shorea pinanga

Euphorbiaceae

Fagaceae

Dipterocarpus sp Shorea sp Shorea sp Shorea sp Shorea sp Shorea sp Shorea sp Shorea sp Shorea rugosa Shorea sp Shorea macrophylla Shorea sp Croton sp Mallotus sp Macaranga sp Mallotus sp Neoscortechinia sp Croton argyratus Lithocarpus sp -

Tingkuan

Magnoliaceae Meliaceae

Myristicaceae Myrtaceae Nauclea Phyllanthaceae

Tankawang Tehan Balik Anging Belanti Hasang Klumpai Pupu palanduk Tembalik ingin Pampaning Tekarot

Rubiaceae Sapindaceae

Sapotaceae Simaroubaceae Sterculiaceae

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Binturung

Artocarpus anisophyllus Artocarpus sp

Bundut Gambir Poan Sampang

Artocarpus sp

Tampang

Syzygium sp Syzygium sp Rubiaceae sp Baccaurea sp Aporusa sp Baccaurea sp Baccaurea sp

Kumpang deha Kupung Jambu Burung Jambu Merrah Benken Kolo Lamba Kalibon Moloch Poak Umbak

Baccaurea sp

Unding Undang

Anthocephalus cadomba Nephellium sp Pometia pinnata Nephellium sp Disoxylum sp Dimocarpus sp Palaquium sp Heritiera sp

Hotap Lanamun Potamak Takuho Talonka Tenkuhith Nyatu Gading Gading Phuti Lambin

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