As I stepped outside my room, my watch read 5:30AM. It was still dark out, grey clouds filled the
sky, and a light mist settled over the bay.
I walked to the kitchen and dining area where Pak George, Ali, and a
couple others from Banda were waiting.
We were about to embark on our hike to the summit of Gunung Api. For Pak George, this was just a nice morning
exercise. George Tahija is the chair of
CTC’s board and a prominent Indonesian business man. He has reached the summit of some of the
tallest mountains in the world and is preparing to summit Aconcagua in
Argentina, the tallest mountain in the southern and western hemispheres, to
raise funds for CTC. I, on the other
hand, have no experience climbing volcanoes or mountains, so this was to be a
good physical test.
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| Contemplating my climb up Gunung Api |
We took Pak George’s small boat to the base of Gunung
Api. The 5 of us then began our journey
up the volcano. There is only one trail
to the summit and it is basically a straight vertical ascent. The trail begins as a dirt path through thick
forest, but is overall manageable.
Besides the burning of my quads and calves, I thought this was going to
be a pretty easy climb. I was mistaken. About a fourth of the way up, the ground
became rolling, unstable gravel and lava rock.
For every one step forward, we took two steps back as rocks rolled down
behind us. This combined with the
vertical path made the climb up rather arduous.
The only way not to fall was to grab on to the vines for stability, and
every once in a while, a tree trunk provided some much needed relief. If the trail had been made to zig-zag up the
mountain, this climb would have been much easier. As we got higher, the ground got steeper, and
I found myself often on all fours scrambling up the slipping rocks. By this time it had started to drizzle, and I
did not care about the dirt or scrapes all over my body, but just the thought
of reaching the top. Climbing with the
chair of the board and an avid mountain climber also provided some much needed
intimidation and motivation to keep going.
After an hour and a half we broke through the forest and
reached the barren, rocky summit of the volcano, 666 meters high. The view was breathtaking! With clouds to all directions, I couldn’t see
a single thing! While I thought I should
be disappointed by the fact that there was no view, I was just happy that I had
reached the summit and completed my goal.
While it is not a long climb, the conditions make it a challenging experience.
For the next 30 minutes we relaxed, re-hydrated, and took a few photos with the
worn-down, damaged sign. I could smell
the sulfur and there were still some warm spots from the spewing gas that
served as a shelter from the cool, damp conditions. It was exciting and a little nerve-racking to
think I was standing on the top of a still active volcano. We waited for a bit longer hoping the wind
would blow the clouds past us so we could see the entire archipelago. Unfortunately, the clouds remained, so we
decided to begin our journey back down.
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| Finally reach the summit! |
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| Not much of a view |
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| Group photo at the summit |
We all dreaded the thought of going back down. Not only were we already sore, but we all
knew what was ahead, and it didn’t seem any fun. Going down was definitely harder than going
up and took much longer. It had started
drizzling a bit more, so not only was the ground already loose rocks, but now
it was slippery, loose rocks. With every
step, I slipped a few steps down, and had to figure out a method to almost ski
down the path as the rocks slipped out underneath my shoes. Grabbing onto trees and vines was a necessity
to maintain balance and it was rather common to fall as the ground unexpectedly
let go underneath.
Not too long after leaving the summit and slipping down the
trail, the clouds opened up a little, offering an amazing view of the islands
and life below. From the top of Gunung
Api I could still hear the prayers at a mosque in Banda Besar. After five minutes of enjoying the view below
and realizing how small the islands of Banda actually are, the clouds returned,
and we continued on our way down.
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| View from the top of the volcano (just a bit too cloudy) |
After two more hours of slipping, falling, scraping my hands
and arms, and sweating like crazy, we finally made it back to the boat at the
bottom of the volcano. It felt great to
have accomplished that climb. What made
it even better was realizing that this year marks 10 years since I had my brain
surgery to remove a brain tumor, and 10 years since I started therapy to regain
movement on my right side and build up my strength. While Gunung Api isn’t the most challenging
of mountain climbs, it felt great to know that I can physically accomplish a
challenge like climbing a volcano. Also, now that I have made it to the summit, I am now considered a citizen of Banda!
After washing up and eating some much needed lunch at the
hotel, I met one of the village leaders for Banda Neira for an interview. Him, Bu Lilhy (from the conservation organization),
and I sat down and talked for an hour. I
asked him questions about the relationship between the Bandanese people and the
sea as well as ceremonies, stories, and legends unique to Banda. While I knew how to ask these questions in
Bahasa, understanding his answers was a whole different story. I think he knew that I was having trouble understanding
most of what he was saying (despite my smiling and nodding), but nevertheless,
he continued on and we talked for a good hour.
My next task is to listen through and work with my co-worker Bimo on
translating what he was actually talking about so we can create some new
communication materials about Banda. Hopefully stories of people in Banda, like this village leader, will encourage other's to support CTC's valuable conservation and capacity building work. Of course, marine conservation is about protecting the coral reefs and marine environment, but a healthy marine environment means healthy people. The majority of people in Banda, and millions throughout Indonesia and the Coral Triangle, rely on the marine environment for their livelihoods. CTC's work to conserve the Coral Triangle and build capacity for marine conservation is thus an effort to safeguard the livelihoods of current and future generations who are directly connected with the ocean.
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| Interviewing one of the village leaders from Banda Neira |
Before dinner, I had one thing left to do in Banda before I
left on the plane the next day. Another
of the countless reasons Banda is special is that it is home to the beautiful
mandarin fish. Mandarin fish are small,
multi-colored fish that live in the pacific.
Since my days working in the New England Aquarium, they have been my
favorite fish. Before learning the
actual name, I used to call them mardigras fish, a testament to their
psychedelic coloring. Fortunately, the
best place to see mandarin fish in Banda is right at the front step of the
hotel in between the rocks that line the wall.
I walked over to the nearby dive shop and asked to borrow some
equipment. After setting up my gear, I
dove down to only about 2 meters and sat and waited for the fish to
appear. The fish come out around sunset,
so there was only a good 30 minute window to see the fish with adequate
lighting. After waiting for about 10
minutes and cautiously avoiding the spiny urchins and venomous lion fish, a
small, colorful fish appeared. It was
the first mandarin fish that I have ever seen in the wild! I was so excited and started taking tons of
pictures. While watching the small
mandarin fish come out, I noticed something moving under a rock near my right
hand. I lifted the rock, and there was a
gray frogfish. These are very ugly and
strange fish that actually walk on their fins.
I have seen them on National Geographic, but never 2 feet away from me
in real life! The sun started setting
and the visibility was getting worse under water. However, more mandarin fish started to
appear, and a group of five fish started swimming just a couple feet from me. They then started their daily mating dance,
which they perform every evening. The
male and female swim up vertical with their bellies touching each other, and
then suddenly split apart and dart back down to the rocks to avoid any
predators. This dance was repeated
countless times as I watched, mesmerized by what I was witnessing.
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| Lionfish |
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| Don't know what this fish is called, but its creepy |
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| Blurry photo of a mandarin fish |
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| More mandarin fish (again blurry) |
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| Two mandarin fish performing their mating dance (blurry...again) |
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| At least you can see the colors (but again...still blurry) |
It started to get too dark to stay down, so after what felt
like only 15 minutes, but what was really an hour, I got out of the water and
cleaned my gear. We then headed up to
one of CTC’s friend’s house in the center of the island for some fish soup,
cassava, and a fish paste that took three days to cook in the sun. We then took a short walk around the village
to collect some souvenirs (mostly nutmeg jam), and then went to sleep for our
early morning flight on the 18 seat old Cessna plane that was making its last
trip from Banda back to Ambon until next Christmas.
This was my Thanksgiving Day, and probably one of the most
memorable Thanksgivings I will ever have.
While I missed my family and everyone back home and wished I could be
sitting at the table eating some turkey and apple pie, I loved my experience in
Banda. Banda may be one of my favorite
places I have ever visited in the world.
Banda’s amazing and living history, beautiful reefs, and friendly people
make this archipelago a true gem in the middle of a vast stretch of ocean. CTC is leading efforts to conserve Banda’s
marine environment. They plan to
establish a MPA network in Banda that will protect biodiversity but also
safeguard local communities by ensuring adequate resources for local industries
like fisheries and tourism. I am
incredibly fortunate to have joined CTC on an amazing expedition to Banda and
see firsthand what makes this place so special amongst Indonesia’s 17,000
islands. Hopefully someday I can return
to this small archipelago that had such a large influence on world history,
will play an important part in global marine conservation, and what I believe
is one of the most unique places on earth.
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| Advanced baggage system at the airport |
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| Our very safe looking plane |
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Even the pilots had an ocean theme in the cockpit.
Very suitable for Banda |
