Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Sur les terres oubliées des Petites Iles de la Sonde
Indonesia: Expedition in Forgotten Lands by the Iris Foundation
EPISODE 4
IN WHICH WE ARE ATTENDING THE NIGHT MIGRATION OF FOREIGN FLYING MAMMALS
July 16, 2015
This morning Agus must go to the harbor master's office and the tourist office to collect the official permits to enter the Komodo National Park. The shuttle unloads us directly in the fish market, a real spectacle! Everywhere mountains of dried fish (salt replaces the freezer for preservation). It is sometimes very ... odorous!
Port of Labuan Bajo, Island of Flores
Labuan Bajo fish market, Flores Island
The shots of the night, they have incredible colors. We take a whole series of them for Agathe who wants to draw them.
Leaving the fish market, we see an advertisement painted on a wall encouraging the population to collect their waste to preserve the mangroves.
A long way to go, it seems to us, for Indonesia, whose 17,000 islands are covered day after day with more plastic waste!
A little bit of "biskayu" (bis = bus, kayu = wood) and here we are in another market. Spices of all kinds, large roots close to ginger, fruits of all kinds (soursop, mangoes, salaks, bananas, jujubes, grapefruits, oranges or clementines, ...), vegetables ... and of course betel nut (Areca nut surrounded by a betel leaf with lime). Poultry are everywhere ...
Another three hours of navigation and we arrive at Rinca Desa a small fishing village in the Komodo National Park. In the harbor, on our arrival, we see a bamboo structure which is used to store the nets with the live fish caught: it is the common fridge.
The annex unloads us 100 meters from the shore. As we advance in fairly swampy water, we discover terrible pollution, plastic bags, waste of all kinds, excrement ... With the nearby mangroves, we remember the mural “Save the mangrove” seen at Labuan Bajo this morning, and let us once again realize how far we have to go before the ecological consciousness of Indonesians awakens.
It is obviously a very poor village that only lives on fishing, this filth is appalling, but there are still some very neat houses with pretty bright colors.
The people are smiling and the children are playful
Tonight is the last day of Ramadan and people are getting ready for the party tomorrow. Everyone is at home to share the evening meal. Tomorrow morning, all well dressed, they will go to pray, then visit the family. In a small place a large cup of coconut milk is being cooked over a wood fire: it will take three hours to obtain coconut oil.
In the mangrove with Rhizophora (red mangrove) we hear mussels snapping, the black mud is strewn with puddles which reflect the large roots. A young villager releases a small snake there which he holds firmly between his fingers, a fish eagle flies over the place of its soaring and scrutinizing flight: a slightly disturbing atmosphere, but quite poetic at sunset.
In the evening Agus prepares special rice for the feast of Ramadan: put pre-cooked rice in coconut milk, Pandanus odorata leaves and salt in small baskets of woven banana leaves; steam for 1 hour. He also made a delicious soup with Moringa leaves (a slightly different species from Madagascar).
We end the day at sunset in front of the mangrove island of Kalong by witnessing the incredible nocturnal migration of bats which fly by tens of thousands to fall in the orchards and forests of the island. de Rinca and eat fruit there. This extraordinary ballet will last all night. They will return in the morning in a more dispersed manner. Photographers and drones are having a blast.
In the evening Agus prepares special rice for the feast of Ramadan: put pre-cooked rice in coconut milk, Pandanus odorata leaves and salt in small baskets of woven banana leaves; steam for 1 hour. He also made a delicious soup with Moringa leaves (a slightly different species from Madagascar).
We end the day at sunset in front of the mangrove island of Kalong by witnessing the incredible nocturnal migration of bats which fly by tens of thousands to fall in the orchards and forests of the island. de Rinca and eat fruit there. This extraordinary ballet will last all night. They will return in the morning in a more dispersed manner. Photographers and drones are having a blast.
