Dispatch from Sumatra’s nastiest swamp (part 1 of 2)


Forget for a moment the dreadful conditions in this miserable Sumatran swamp, which include being eaten by tigers (seven in the surrounding area last year). Just getting here is an ordeal in itself. Start by taking the 1,400-kilometer flight from the capital, Jakarta, to Sumatra‘s bustling northern port, Medan. Then it’s a grueling twelve-hour ride straight across the island’s dramatic mountains-and poorly maintained roads-to the Indian Ocean, where a puttering speedboat will be waiting to make the hour-long trip upriver.

If all goes well, you arrive at camp for the daily rationing of rice and canned mackerel. This is assuming you secured the four permits required for a visit to this hidden corner of Leuser National Park, a World Heritage Site.

Yet despite the remoteness or food or the fact the Suaq Balimbing field station is in the middle of a flooded swamp, the scientists here couldn’t be happier at their return. “We were all waiting for this place to reopen,” Andrea Gibson, a PhD candidate at University of Zurich who had to delay her orangutan fieldwork by three years because of the station’s hiatus, said to me.
There’s no question why so many researchers clamber to be here. The site rocketed to fame in the mid-1990s with the discovery of tool-use among orangutans, the only primate besides chimpanzees with such abilities; it remains the only location with widespread tool-use. Later work contributed to a landmark paper in Science that demonstrated the existence of orangutan culture. This modest patch of swamp, quite frankly, boasts some of the smartest apes in the world.

But an upsurge of violence from the long-running civil war at the end of the 1990s forced the Suaq primatologists, as well as wildlife researchers across Aceh, out of business. Only now, with a peace treaty in place, are they trickling back. Nowhere has the homecoming been more dramatic or anticipated than at Suaq Balimbing.

As the boat pulls into the dock-a rickety piece of plywood-the field station looms large, looking almost palatial against the backdrop of dense jungle foliage. But once on top of the riverbank, you realize the camp, which consists of three tiny rooms in two wooden shacks, is about to burst at the seams. Fifteen people, including three graduate students from Zurich, an Indonesian student, a cook, and several field assistants jostle for space alongside generators, laptops, food supplies, and an entire department store of wet field outfits hung out to dry.


None of this, however, was around a year ago, and with that in mind, Suaq’s transformation seems nothing short of miraculous. When the field staff evacuated in September 1999, hastened by the execution of the head assistant and violent skirmishes nearby, they left behind two sturdy buildings, one of which had six rooms. By the time they returned for a brief survey in 2006, everything had gone up in flames. “The rebels had been using our camp, so the military didn’t burn it down for nothing,” the camp’s principal investigator explained to me. Equally disheartening, the boardwalks used to traverse much of the 350-hectare swamp had rotted away.

After completely rebuilding the station last February, albeit on a smaller scale, the staff spent much of the summer blazing a new, 46-kilometer trail grid, an absolute necessity when tracking orangutans day in and out. They started collecting behavioral data last September.

The civil war’s impact on the Suaq jungle, on the other hand, was quite unexpected. When President Suharto fell from power in 1999, illegal loggers almost overran the station. “Then the civil war stemmed that,” explained Ian Singleton, a Medan-based orangutan researcher who oversees logistics at Suaq. “The illegal loggers and poachers didn’t want to risk being shot. So the civil war was extremely good for conservation.”

Continue to part 2.

Happy birthday to the world’s oldest orangutan and gorilla

I’m mainly posting about this because I found the picture to the right pretty funny. The orangutan you see is of Charly, the oldest fertile ape of his species. He’s fathered at least 18 little Charlys (Charlies?), and has reached the ripe old age of 50.

Interestingly, a neighbor of his at the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany, Matze, also turns 50 today. He’s a great ape who has fathered (only) 17 kids, many of whom are spread out across the world in other zoos. I’d like to think they’ve lived a long life because there’s some sort of lively contest between the two–“I’m more fertile than you are!”

I’d like to use this chance to give a shout-out to the plight of the orangutans. Their species is predicted to die out within a decade or so because of habitat destruction on the one island they live on: Sumatra, in Southeast Asia. Help save them if you can, by perhaps adopting one?

Talking Travel with Javatrekker Dean Cycon

Dean Cycon is an activist and entrepreneur who has been working with indigenous communities in the coffeelands for over twenty years. His all-organic, all-Fair Trade, all-kosher coffee roaster company, Dean’s Beans, follows sustainable business principals and is a recognized industry leader in its’ commitment to Fair Trade.

According to Cycon, 99 percent of people involved in the coffee economy have never visited a coffee village. In his new book, Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee, Dean invites coffee drinkers to follow him on a journey to remote farming communities in Africa, Asia and the Americas. His compelling stories are a collection of varied experiences — of cultural anthropology, business philosophy and adventure travel — that reveal a unique perspective on the people who make our morning cups possible.

With Fair Trade Month upon us, it seemed the perfect time to chat with this intrepid explorer. Dean was kind enough to answer questions for Gadling about his travels through the coffeelands, his thoughts on tourism in these regions, and his personal travel aspirations. Our Talking Travel interview touches on everything from rare coins to a cameo movie appearance. Read on to learn more about this fascinating coffee pioneer:
Where did the concept of “Javatrekking” originate?

I actually created the term. I was looking for a word to describe the recent phenomenon of people going to the coffeelands for more than just buying beans, but rather to engage in the lives and issues of the people who grow coffee around the world.

Before you began Javatrekking, you worked as a lawyer with indigenous groups both in the US and abroad. Could you have imagined that this is where life after law school would lead you?

No, but I have never believed in the plotted course. My philosophy is to be true to a set of values and behaviors, and the way that manifests in world and experience will unfold. So although I never would have predicted where my life has led me, looking back it makes perfect sense!

Your first encounter with coffee farmers was in a Guatemalan village. What implications did that meeting have for your business and the community development projects you support?

During that first visit, I saw that child sponsorship and the current model of development weren’t really about change, they were more about “maintenance”. Well-intentioned individuals and companies would give money for small projects, but they wouldn’t change their buying practices or other behaviors, so the underlying dynamics of poverty in those villages would never change. At the same time, the organizations that did the projects would move on in a year or so, and the project would slowly unravel, leaving the people less trusting of us and back where they started.

The countless coffee communities you have visited each have a unique culture, language and people. But because they all deal in the same commodity, a common thread links their stories. What universal characteristics have you discovered in your travels to these diverse regions?

The most wonderful thing about Javatrekking is that at the end of the day, behind all the cultural and linguistic differences, we all want the same things. In my conversations with farmers and their families in every country, what always comes up? The desire to feed their families and educate their kids. It is also quite basic — farmers need clean water, or in some places, any water; they need safety from conflict and the tools to resolve conflicts peacefully. We all desire at heart the same things: food, housing, safe communities, respect, education and opportunity. When we can understand that we all share the same basic human needs, the differences fall away.

In your book, you mention Pana, Guatemala as one place that reflects the “commodification of indigenous culture.” Can you share some thoughts about how tourism influences areas where coffee communities are located?

Tourism is an influx of culture and values. In that way you can see it as parallel to an invasion. When people flood an area with money, demands for treatment and services that don’t exist or are at odds with local behaviors, there can be quite a disturbance. This is nothing new and has been going on since Adam and Eve moved to suburbia. It can also be a very positive force if managed well. Fortunately, coffee communities tend to be rather isolated, so the early waves of tourism — the more destructive types — never really made it up the mountains. As a result, many coffee communities are only now looking to eco-tourism to supplement their coffee incomes. There are good management structures in place at the cooperatives I deal with, so they are better prepared to manage tourism so as to minimize the more destructive aspects of the trade.

How with many languages do you speak or have been exposed to during your travels? And how do you manage communication barriers when doing business?

I speak Spanish fairly well, Japanese, Portuguese less so. I am studying Indonesian and have been exposed to about fifty different languages. Interestingly, the majority of coffee farmers around the world do not speak the national language of their countries, rather, they speak their own indigenous language. I always try and learn basic words in the most remote languages as a sign of my respect for the people and the culture I am visiting. For an American to speak even two words of Oromifa in Ethiopia or Gayo in Indonesia changes their perception of us and makes for a very friendly visit each time. A little respect goes a long way.

Members of indigenous communities around the world know you as Mr. Bean. But is it true that your adventures have also earned you the title of “The Puking Pirate of Tortuga”?

I was a special extra in Pirates of the Caribbean III, where my few seconds of fame were throwing up after Johnny Depp and his two floozies walked by me on the docks of Tortuga. It has been enough to make me a big time star in the communities I visit, and funny to be introduced that way to an indigenous community in Amazonian Peru, none of whose members will ever see the film (and finally a community that has never heard of Johnny Depp!)

You’ve revealed that you “have an insatiable desire to visit ancient trade ports and search for treasures” and in the book share tales about visits to markets in search of rare coins. How big is your collection? And do you have a favorite discovery story to share?

I have a growing collection of ancient maps, coins and travel narratives, largely focused on the early European-Asian spice (and coffee) trade. Sometimes at night I just take out an old Dutch East Indies Company chart of the Spice Islands, hold a few ancient trade coins in my hand and sail away into another era. Once I was in Malacca, the first European colony in the Far East (the Portuguese captured it in 1511). I was rummaging around the many junk shops that line Jonker’s Street (the old Dutch name for “Gentlemen”) and I found two small coins. They were Portuguese, dated 1511! They had been recovered from the harbor when the city dredged it to make way for more apartment buildings. There I was, holding in my hand some pocket change from one of the sailors who captured Malacca. Maybe it fell from the pocket of Alfonso d’Albuquerque himself!

When you are not trekking through the coffeelands, what other places do you enjoy traveling to?

Actually, I am a real ocean freak. I love to go sailing (especially if I can hitch a ride on native craft!) My next gig after coffee will be to recreate the early spice trade on fair trade terms, and then to do the equivalent of Javatrekking with indigenous fishing communities around the world. I dream of the South Pacific and the amazing islands off Indonesia, many of which have rarely had western visitors. I can’t wait to get a tattoo there!

What travel tips can you share with coffee-drinkers who spend much of their time on the go? How can they make smart bean-buying decisions when traveling?

It’s very difficult to find a good cup of coffee in the coffeelands. Most restaurants serve the ubiquitous “Nes” as instant coffee is called. Brazil and Ethiopia lead the pack, followed closely by El Salvador in offering good coffee in remote locations. You will find ancient hand-pumped espresso machines throughout the Ethiopian countryside where the baristas are ragged boys who can outpull the best Europeans. There is a real push going on to increase in-country consumption of coffee and improve quality overall, but when you stop and think about it, it is still hard to find a decent cup of coffee in many parts of the USA, including many big cities!

All royalties from your Javatrekking book will go back to the coffee farmers. What specific initiatives will the money support, or will it just be split equally among the communities you partner with?

My intention is to share it equally among the coops mentioned in the book. I make enough money off their coffee, I don’t need to make money off their lives as well. My experience is that each group will use the money in the way that best suits their need. Some will distribute it directly to members, some will add it to their women’s loan funds or health care programs, others will pay a teacher’s salary with it.

You’ve said that “Javatrekking is ultimately about personal and societal exploration.” Can you share some final thoughts on what the Javatrekking journey has meant for you?

Javatrekking has allowed me to manifest my highest values into action, and have a great time doing it. It has also allowed me to prove what I set out to when I founded Dean’s Beans – that a business could be a positive force for social change in the lives of the people it touched, and still be profitable. Business is the largest engine of activity on the planet. Until businesses change their fundamental ways of being in the world, nothing will really change.

You can learn more about Javatrekking from publisher Chelsea Green and watch videos of Dean’s global coffee adventures. He’ll be appearing at these events through the fall.

To Talk Like a Pirate, Go Where the Real Ones Are–Or Not

Catherine posted the scoop on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, even translating boardroom talk into pirate lingo–impressive, but for some honest to goodness pirate talk, head to the Straits of Malacca. Pirates still sail the waters here, wrecking havoc by capturing crews, taking over ships, and stealing their goods. The goods might be three million dollars of diesel fuel, for example. Just in case you’re a bit fuzzy about where this is exactly, (I even looked it up to be clear and I used to live in the region), here’s a map. The Sraits of Malacca is the stretch of water between Sumatra in Indonesia and the west coast of Malaysia. Singapore is at one end of it.

Marilyn Terrell, chief researcher for National Geographic Traveler, sent us a link to a National Geographic magazine article that details the history of and the current practice of honest-to-goodness pirates in this part of the world. It’s a fascinating read made more interesting by the account of the writer Peter Gwin who travels to where the pirates are. He interviews various players along the way, starting with one who is in jail. The pirate, like many other pirates, is from Batam, Indonesia. This is where Peter Gwin’s journey takes him, until he eventually learns, first-hand, the ropes of pirate living–part of it involves a karaoke bar.

I’ve been to Batam, Indonesia. At the time, it was a popular quick getaway from Singapore because of it had a decent resort hotel and a golf course. The school where I taught had a three-day retreat here. When I was at the retreat bonding with co-workers, I had no idea pirates were making their thievery plans close to where people recreate. I’ve also been to the west coast of Malaysia near to where pirates roam. Malacca is one of my most favorite towns, one I’d love to go back to and I recommend without reservations. My husband did say that Medan in Sumatra, also close to the straits, is, to paraphrase, “the armpit of hell.” He went there on a school trip with high schoolers. The night before their return flight, all 20 kids, plus the other chaparone got food poisoning. It was a real barf fest. Sorry, but it’s true.

When I read this article about the Straits of Malaysia and pirates, it reminded me about how little one can know about where one lives and travels sometimes. There are so many different realties. My version of Singapore and travel to the places near it, was mostly the clean cut version, although I could go on about some of the seamier details. Most of the time, however, I was busy with my job and with friends during the week. Holidays and weekend travel was a chance to unwind and have a bit of adventure–safe adventure. If I walked by a pirate, I wouldn’t have noticed.

If you have a notion to head through this part of the world, keep your eyes open. If you’re traveling through on the water, stay off of tankers. And if you get stopped by a pirate, refer to Catherine’s post. Maybe talking like one will help.

The photo is a montage created by Tarky7 and posted on Flikr today. The decription talks about Talk Like a Pirate Day and Modern piracy.