So it's been two weeks since I arrived to Cabang Panti research station (FYI: the Indonesian 'C' sounds like the /ch/ sound in English. So it's actually pronounced "Chabang Panti").
Before I get into details, a sidenote: As any rational person might predict, rainforests don't come equipped with wi-fi (except maybe a particular fancy-schmancy research station in Ecuador...ahem, Tiputini). Given this technical limitation induced by living in the middle of nowhere, I am left no option but to write any blog updates on my phone, and email them to the blog page sans pictures. So if there's a reason I haven't done any updates in the last couple weeks, that's a big one.
The other big reason? I've been out in the field following orangutans almost every waking hour. The small remainder of my non-orangutan-following time has been spent doing domestic chores around camp. It's been particularly busy for us because it's a special time of year in Indonesia. Typically, there are Indonesian assistants that do most of the Orangutan following and camp chores like cooking and cleaning. But they have been away the past couple weeks because they were on Idolfitri, their end-of-ramadan vacation (Indonesia is the country with the 4th largest muslim populatiom in the world). This is basically like christmas break for them. Given our shortage of man-power, all of the responsibilities have fallen on a handul of western researcher, including myself. Which means virtually zero time for things like posting updates.
But Idolfitri is over, and camp is back to normal. So here I am. The last two weeks have been crazy, but I've seen some amazing things that I will enjoy sharing very much, now that I have time to write about it. Lots of updates coming soon.
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