camp commando

Dear travel journal,
Today was a long day. Good but long. A few alarms went off at 5.30am for people to get up and watch the sunrise on the beach. After sitting up till midnight chatting I was pretty tired but couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up and joined jason, the boys, and Julie on the beach. Unfortunately it was super cloudy, so although it was getting sunnier we couldn't actually see the sunrise. So Jason and I just walked down the beach and looked around for a bit. Back at camp we had some tea and got sorted for the day, then I found the cat and we had big cuddles. He is such a cuddle tart, rolls over and loves his belly scratched and under his chin scratched. He doesn't have a name, so I have nicknamed him 'cricket' because he is constantly curling and vocal. Apparently there used to be a mum and bub who lived at camp but cricket chased them and everything else creppy crawly out of camp. Then everyone else slowly woke up, we had breaky and got sorted for the day. Once we had our hats and water we jumped in the speed boat and headed over to camp commando. Eventually camp commando will be known as the check in port, where people who come to the beach will have to sign in and it will be explained that they are in a national park and hunting is prohibited. The eventual plan will be that volunteers and zoology and ecology students will man the hut at the camp year round so that there is a constant volunteer presence. It was Low tied when we were heading over to the end of the beach and mangroves so we had to jump over board and we walked the last couple of kms up the beach and into the mangrove camp which you can't see at all from the Beach. Up in the mangrove and back in a clearing there is the start of a hut, the frame is up but thats about it. The plans are pretty cool. It will sleep 10, have a kitchen out the back and a toilet block a little ways away. There is also a natural well at the site which has been there for 3 generations. There is a father son team building the site. Eddie the dad is 30 and his son romi is 16 (yep do that math). They are just using a chainsaw and bolts and cutting everything they need from their environment around them. Romi went to school until he was 12 And now he is his dads apprentice. The locals here have a saying 'If you don't work you don't eat'. So from a young age they go to work. After morning tea we headed down to the mangrove river entrance and helped put in the stumps of the new jetty. Which were seriously just tree trunks with a point, chain sawed into one end that were lifted and swung backwards and forward which makes the hole bigger and the pole sink further. At one point to add extra weight We tied two poles together and callam stood on the pole tied at angle to the post and we rocked it to help sink it. Once the poles where in the tied had come right in and the chief got the boat and brought it down the start of the 'jetty' and we headed back to camp. Back at camp the tied was right in and we jumped out and unpacked the boats. We put all our stuff down and had lunch and then went down to the beach and swam for like 4 hours. We swam around and played catch with a small coconut for ages, all 10 of us playing around which was awesome. We even saw white belly sea eagles fighting over and little fishes and crabs swiming/skittering around. After we got out of the water we headed back into camp and ate some Bubor kachang (sweet pea and lentil soup) which was like a sweet pea and ham soup. And then we had some down time. I did some washing and had a shower and got my bag organised and fixed the hole in my mossie net. In a lot of down time Sam and callam have been playing with fahmi one of the locals children. He is 6 years old and very energetic, its quite cute and entertaining to watch. We all sat around chatting for a bit, drinking tea and Milo while chatting. There is a cement path that runs parallel to the beach the length of the village, down past our camp and to the other Houses. People have been going up and down all day both walking and on mopeds and bikes. A few people in the morning and afternoon where coming and going to work, mostly surveyors. And some people have gone past with rifles to go hunting. Sam and callam went walking this arvo and ran into some hunters who invited them to sit and they drank vodka and ate deer meat. They asked the boys why we were here and they said conservation and turtle awareness to which they responded that they eat turtle eggs but usually leave 60% of the eggs. Both turtle eggs and deer are not meant to be hunted in the national park. Changing the views and habits of the locals is going to be the hardest bit of everything. Alvin had received a text from the jungle chief after we left, which he got us all together and read out, it said - "I was right to organise the washing of the feet ceremony for these people and I can't remember in my life time anyone doing this ceremony. I hope they will come again, I miss them very very much." Its very humbling and a big thing for these people to show emotion like that. It really is amazing. Then we had dinner, cleaned up and headed out for a night walk in the shallows at 9pm cause that's when low tied was. Alvin wasn't feeling great so he went to bed early. Before he went to bed we filmed Alvin talking in malay telling our guide to walk slowly, point out things, name them in English if he can and come back in an hour. Our tour guides name was pak (uncle) zuki (he was always on the boat and around helping the cheif as our guide). We saw lots of crabs, a little jelly fish squishy thing, little fishes and Stingray holes. Apparently a few weeks ago the chief got a stingray barb in his foot but thankfully his wet shoes took the brunt of it so its healing up well. The moon was full which was pretty. It did however mean it was super bright. When its dark apparently you can see helps of bioluminescent Dino flagella in the water when your playing in it. The movement you make in the water moves the dino flagella making them glow. And when its dark but the sky is super clear you can see the milky way really well. Both would have been amazing. We also saw some guys way out in the shallows with torches, who were apparently searching for sand crabs. The tide levels here are amazing. The high tide comes right up the vegetation about 100 meters from our long houses and when its low tide its right down about an extra 500meters + out. The water is soon warm its like being in a warm bath tub. After the beach we all headed back to camp, washed our feet and headed to bed.Leggi altro