Looking for Rhino Footprints in Peninsula Malaysia

My name is Maman Suherman or my friends call me Maman.  I have been a member of the Rhino Protection Unit (RPU) in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBS) since 1997.  I never in all my life thought that I could go abroad, but I had the opportunity to go to Royal Belum State Park in Peninsula Malaysia to help with a survey for Sumatran Rhino.  The survey was collaboration with several stakeholders; the RPUs from Indonesia, operated by Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI) were one of them.   The RPUs were invited to participate in the Malaysia survey because of our expertise in tracking rhinos.  There were four RPU members (including myself), and our coordinator (Arief Rubianto) and a representative of YABI participating the survey, which was conducted and managed by WWF Malaysia and the Malaysian Department of Wildlife.  The survey was to take place in Peninsular Malaysia’s Royal Belum State Park, which supposedly has a Sumatran Rhino population.  The last confirmed sightings were in 2004.   

We left Lampung on July 4th, and onto the Jakarta Airport on July 5th early in the morning. We stayed overnight at Inov’s (the IRF Indonesia Liaison) house in Bogor one night to be sure we had all our gear in order.  Before departing, we had a briefing in the YABI office and did one last check of all our equipment for the survey.  It was my first time to go to abroad.   

We arrived in Malaysia at almost midnight and went right to the big base camp.  Instead of getting to rest, we had a big meeting to talk about preparing and coordinating all the different groups working on the survey.   We were late, because some of misunderstanding with the committee in Malaysia and also because of some really bad  traffic. 

When I entered the meeting room, my name was called.  I thought it was for the attendance list, but apparently I was chosen to be the leader in group 2.  My team would be five others from different organizations such as WWF-Malaysia, Perhilitan (in Indonesia similar to the Ministry of Forestry), the official of the kingdom of Taman Negara, Sabah foundation and a local official.  At that time we were given the list of participants, the rope sheet, map, GPS equipment, implements for measurement, and liquid for keeping the rhino or tiger feces and one bag of black plastic for team survey supplies such as cooking tools.  When I open the plastic bag, the team and I all laughed because there was a huge cabbage vegetable as big as the pot.

We were scheduled to depart for the survey area at 09:00, so we did not have time to say goodbye to the majesty of  Paduka Seri Sultan Perak Darul Ridzuan, Sultan Azlan Shah, who gave us the permit for the activity.  This was a special activity – most of the participants said it was the first time for them to join a survey like this, and the first time they ever had flown in a helicopter.  Using a helicopter to move the survey teams was really expensive – almost 10 million Rupiah or around USD $1000 to rent for one hour.

The helicopter dropped us at the first point for about 6 or 7 minutes after leaving the base  camp and would return to pick us up at 11:00.  One group was already in place at the site.  At almost 12:00 we arrived at the entry point and we saw one team standing by already. Based on the schedule, our team went to north and the other team went south. 

Royal Belum State Park seemed very similar to BBS and I almost felt like I was walking in my own country in Indonesia.   Plantation, topography, river and the environment was  similar to BBS.  I could not have imagined it – and I very much enjoyed the survey.

My team survey from left to right: Saad, Edward, Maman (it’s me), Cik Wan, Boys, and Yakup

During the survey we found a sign – a plant that had been eaten by a mammal.  It sort of looked like a rhino but I was not too sure that it was rhino sign, because quite different from what my experience in Indonesia.  We also found footprints (17 cm and 10 cm) and feces.  I thought it was tapir (Tapirus indicus) sign and not rhino sign, although several people in my team believed that it was rhino sign.   I tried to explain to them the difference between a rhino footprint and a tapir footprint.  Finally, we all agreed that it was not a rhino footprint.  During the survey we also found bear sign, several deer sign, and an orangutan nest.  

We surveyed Royal Belum State Park for almost 2 weeks.  It was a good experience and we had a lot of opportunity to share information and to get to know each other.  After the survey we returned to the base camp and I saw almost all of teams (11 teams) were standing by to have a meeting to discuss the data from each team.  We got a chance to take a bath and dinner and then we joined the others for the meeting.  According to all of the information and data from all of the teams, no rhino sign was found.  Although several people still believed that the sign they found was rhino sign, after thorough discussion and a little bit debate, finally all of participants agreed that no one had seen rhino sign.  Unfortunately, this means that there probably are no rhino anymore in Royal Belum State Park. 

We did see other species, like tapir, elephant, tiger, bear, bulls (like banteng in Ujung Kulon), wild pig, several species of snake and group of deer.  We also found evidence of  some of the threats in Royal Belum State Park like illegal poaching (we found a trap), and other illegal activities.  There is a traditional people who stay around Royal Belum State Park and almost all their activity depends on the forest.  They hunt deer and wild pig.  We hope later on there will be discussions about resolving their status and saving the Park.  There is a big need for collaboration among the management authority, NGOs, and the military (I think the military is key stakeholder for protecting Royal Belum), as well as other stakeholders.  This has to be if Royal Belum State Park will be preserved and protected.

Photograph with Malaysian Army on Survey Royal Belum State Park

RPU Community Outreach Activity to Protect Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park

by  Marsum, YM
BBS RPU – YABI

My name is Marsum; I am an RPU member.  I work in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBS) in Sumatra.  One of my duties is helping with community outreach activities in BBS.  This activity is not the main job of RPUs but is becoming an important component to help us to engage local villages and communities, and especially farmers.

Marsum, RPU BBS

Once, in Margomulyo Pekon Tugu Papak village, which borders BBS, I went to a farmers group meeting with Mr. Bambang from the BBS National Park office.  We go to show our support and to learn and share information about farmers’ activities.

We recently had received information (or perhaps a rumor) that a Jakarta businessman has promised a lot of money to farmers if they can produce “Jarak” (Jatropha curcas) in large quantities for export. Jarak is in high demand.  It is grown in plantations because a lot of space is needed for planting.

Suddenly, in our farmers’ group meeting, several people came in and said that they were from a local NGO in Lampung. They asked all farmers in the meeting to plant Jarak and said that they can use BBS for planting.  They said that they had a letter with this recommendation from the governor and the local mayor approving organization of this activity within the National park.  I thought to myself, “This is an illegal activity.”

I saw that one of these men was a target of our RPU/intelligence operations in BBS – he was suspected of conducting a number of illegal activities in the park.  I knew his name.   Sukarna, yes, he is Sukarna.  Fortunately, he did not know that Mr. Bambang and I were attending the farmers’ group meeting.  We both debated their statements with them.   We said that the statement was illegal and that there is no regulation that mentions planting in BBS.  We caught them in a lie.  .

Then we had to help the farmers to understand that their statement was illegal – step-by-step.  We mention that the National Park has  regulations and is under the management  of the Ministry of Forestry,  not under the Provincial or District government.

After the meeting, we made an incident report to the police, with support from the others RPU members and the staff of the National Park office.  After considering our report and evidence, the police arrested Sukarna one week after receiving information from us.  Meanwhile the “NGO official” (who was brokering the ‘deal’ for the businessman who wanted to plant Jarak in BBS) disappeared and has not yet been located.

This is one example of how the community outreach that we are doing helps to provide effective protection for BBS.  We provide and share information with farmers whose land borders the National Park.  They trust us, and together we used this opportunity to help to protect BBS.

Translated and edited by Sectionov Inov