The Ketambe Research Station - Before The Fire Burning ~ Wienjourney

Minggu, 11 Desember 2011

The Ketambe Research Station - Before The Fire Burning

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Before massive fire that burned down Ketambe Research Station on July 2011

The Ketambe Research Station is located in the Aceh Tenggara district, in the middle of the Gunung Leuser National Park. The research area is delimited by the Alas and Ketambe rivers and is not accessible to tourists.

The entire research area is covered by primary tropical lowland rainforest and hosts seven species of primates:

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis)
Pigtailed macaques (M. nemestrina)
Thomas’s langur(Presbytis thomasi)
White-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar)
Siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus)
Orangutans (Pongo abelii)
Sunda slow lorises (Nycticebus coucang).

Orangutan (photo by Cathleen)

This undisturbed forest and its exceptional biodiversity offer exceptional research opportunities not only for primatologists, but also for botanists, entomologists, ecologist.

I crossed the river to Ketambe research station (photo by Erwin)

The station is well designed and well equipped. It comprises a kitchen building with a dining room, two houses for the camp staff (i.e. the boat man, the cooks and the camp manager) and five houses for the researchers. Each house has three bedrooms, a living room and two bathrooms. A research lab can be easily arranged in each of the house depending on projects’ needs.

Kitchen of the field station (photo by James P. Higham)

Fresh water is delivered by pump from the river and stored in a water tower. Electricity from a generator is available from 18 to 21. Two cooks are responsible for meals and someone is responsible for transporting people across the river, cleaning the common areas, and maintaining the station.