~ Aqua Vitae ~
© 2015 Marie Danielsen -All Rights Reserved
Indonesia – Hoga Island (part 2)
Posted on October 2, 2014
A monitor lizard casually passing me on the path one morning, it was huge (140 cm)! They were usually basking in the sun, not moving much, but if you got too close or surprised them, they sure knew how to run and hide incredible fast!
I was so lucky to get to join the cultural group for a trip to a neighboring island a day when I had nothing else planned, were all the following pictures were taken:
This Island did not have fishing as their main income, as most other islands do, but seaweed farming! They would grow seaweed on long ropes floating in the warm waters, collect it, dry it and then ship it off to the bigger islands where they use it in food and medicine.
We also visited a huge cave on another small island where the locals would get rain water/drinking water. It was also home for a bunch of bats, don’t be fooled by the picture, that’s my flash, it was really pitch dark and kinda scary.
Part 3 coming up soon. Need to finish the Indonesia posts now, cause I have so many new photos from the rest of the summer + coming back to Edinburgh that I want to share!
Indonesia – Hoga Island (part 1)
Posted on September 24, 2014
On the “slave boat” on our way to Hoga Island. A 9 (+/-) hour long boat ride where we were sleeping on mattresses that covered the whole floor. Pretty much everyone got seasick, and all we had to eat and drink was a 1.5 L of water and some pastries with banana & chocolate filling.
Even though the boat ride was hell, it was definitely worth it when we finally arrived at Hoga! Just look at this place, it’s a PARADISE!
My home for the last two weeks, that I shared with another research assistant, Hannah. Our house was named Seahorse!
Arriving at Hoga was like another world compared to the jungle site, although the jungle was amazing, Hoga had that paradise feeling that really just gave me the greatest feeling I’ve ever had. It was so BEAUTIFUL! I took so many photos of the nature, not so many of people, since we were mostly in/under water the whole day!
There will be a part 2 & 3 from Hoga as well, hope you guys enjoy!
Indonesia- Buton Island- Labundo Bundo (part 3)
Posted on September 14, 2014
We got a quick lecture in Indonesian language between all the rice eating and jungle hiking. Terima kasih!
Also did a butterfly transect one day, where we walked a certain distance in the jungle, identifying and counting all the butterflies we saw. We would also stop at certain times and try to catch and identify as many butterflies as possible. Since a lot of the Indonesian islands have some incredible biodiversity, the chances of finding endemic species are really high, and there was several new species identified just in the two weeks I was there. Pretty neat!
Kat made some really awesome drawings of us!
I’m the one down in the left corner, haha.
One day was spent following a pack of macaques for the whole day, writing down all aggressive behavior, as well as the sex and age of the members. It was a lot harder for us down on the ground to move through the thick jungle vegetation than it was for the monkeys to jump from branch to branch up in the canopy, so this day was a true workout!
This was all the photos from my two weeks in the jungle! I’ll be posting the pictures from my two weeks at the marine site, Hoga, this (and next) week 🙂 Hope you guys like them!
~ Aqua Vitae ~ 