Heading out to check slow loris sleeping sites (SS) with Abbie and Joe. SS took quite a while, as each of our three collared slow loris had moved into dense forest but along the way, we were able to see a young male orang-utan, which was delightful. When we first approached the tree he was in to take photos, he made klissing noises (which is a sign that they are upset) and then attempted to pee on us. Thankfully, we were out of range from his barrage.

The insects and other macroinvertebrates here are very abundant and diverse. Nearly every day I see and hear bees which sound like tiny helicopters, and the other day I saw a gigantic cicada which flew into my face and felt like a child’s punch, and it was nearly the size of a child’s fist. There are tiny ants everywhere inside and outside of the buildings; if you leave food out on your desk for even a few minutes, you can well guarantee it will be blanketed in a legion of the little buggers. They are also attracted to water, which means that our shower is always covered in a small army of them; in fact we had one of these armies transporting a dead gecko across our bathroom just the other day, which was both fascinating and disgusting. On the topic of ants, I mentioned the other day that Abbie and Katey had a run-in with some fire ants. Well, Katey received a handful of excruciating bites, which I have been told by a few people, are more painful than bee stings.

After returning from a short mid-day ciesta to escape the heat (our fans and few A/C units are working overtime with the mass of people here right now)  I returned to the centre to find that a group of elephants had been spotted across the river from the jetty. This puts our facility on red alert, as it were, due to the dangerand unpredictability of bull elephants. If they cross the river to our side, all activities will be suspended for tomorrow, and we will either have to stay in our rooms or in the main facility, depending on the location of the pygmy elephants (which are just slightly smaller than Indian elephants, so still quite massive). We will also be required to sign in/out when entering  or leaving the main building, so that everyone is accounted for and no one ends up becoming a stepping stone or ragdoll for our local elephants to play with.

I should note that our food here is quite incredible, and that tonight I had the best macaroni salad ever, hands-down. It was like a great Hawaiian macaroni salad, with chunks of pineapple and watermelon added. This may sound strange, but it was absolutely marvelous.

Selemat malam (good night)!