Phunnapha tells us about her personal "Meet A Need" experience
I joined the “Meet A Need” trip to Ujung Kulon National Park in 2010. Our mission was to “save the last rhino.
I loved every minute of the trip! Unbelievable those seven days passed so quickly. When I returned, I told my family every detail.
Later, I talked to my colleagues and told them everything about the journey too. That was quite a good thing to do as they knew very little about Indonesia, the Javanese rhino, and all the amazing things we saw.
How it started
From Jakarta, where we met, we took a bus ride for almost the entire day, followed by boat trip. Actually, we travelled by a boat quite a lot throughout the trip.
We woke up really early every morning to prepare ourselves and head to the rhino island. World Wide Nature Fund (WWF) staff in Indonesia took good care of our group and taught us what they undertake to save the endangered animals.
It felt like we were the first human beings to reach Ujung Kulon National Park. There are enormous, old trees, many different animals like snakes, birds and lizards who silently creep through the forest. Our lodge was surrounded by deer, wild pigs, monitor lizards and birds.
We spend our evenings and early mornings bird watching, a wonderful exercise which taught me a lot.
What we did
Every day, we ventured into the jungle to build tree houses and check and install video traps. Video traps are used to record the activity of the rhinos and monitor when and how often they pass the location where the camera is installed. We also engaged in counting and recording the rhino staple diet, cutting the arenga palm, an invader plant to the rhino’s diet, and removing weeds.
Sadly we didn’t encounter a rhino, they are extremely shy animals! However, the National Parks officials gave us some general rules to obey:
1. If you have a face-to-face meeting with a rhino - run away as fast as you can
2. Do not stroll through the jungle alone
3. Keep quiet at all times in the jungle
4. Don’t pee in the jungle as it will confuse the territorial rhinos
After three days in the jungle, we continued our trip to plant corals. We drove to a coral garden and planted mangroves at a nearby island and soft corals in the sea.
After a wonderful week, we headed back home, filled with memories, joy and awe.
It really was an overwhelming and amazing experience. I was able to help conserve an endangered animal and bring nature back to balance by planting corals. But much more than this, the trip taught me things I only knew from the National Geographic or Animal Channel – suddenly, I was an actual part of it.
I was able to touch, feel, experience and work in pure nature and the sea. I met amazing, inspiring people who were kind, helpful, witty and friendly.
By Phunnapha Phanompoom, JJ-Lapp Cable, Thailand, Ujung Kulon National Park, July 2010