Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine September 2016 | Page 114

112 Travel | Padang A young boy herds his buffalo back along the river at the end of a long day in the meadows. Rice is winnowed in West Sumatra by the simplest system – whacking the sheaves into a box known locally as a tongkang. Sungai Pinang (Betelnut River) is a delightfully pretty jungle river that is both the workplace and playground of the local villagers. The team at Rimba has also made successful rescue attempts. Once a baby macaque was re-introduced to the jungle where it was, bizarrely, adopted into the local troop of silver langurs. from which orphaned and sick animals can be introduced back into the wild. The team at Rimba has also made successful rescue attempts. Once a baby macaque was re-introduced to the jungle where it was, bizarrely, adopted into the local troop of silver langurs. They also recently rescued and released a large buffy fish owl, a weasel, a rare pangolin and a slow loris. “Most people don’t realise but the cuddly teddy-bear like slow loris is the world’s only venomous primate,” Nad tells me. “They rub their canines on venom glands inside their elbows. So, when we rescued one, the first thing I did was check to see that the villagers had not pulled his teeth out…” The slow loris seemed to be in good health and had a good appetite, so Nad released him into the jungle. Nad and Reno seem to have an endless list of social and environmental projects that they want to establish to secure the future of this beautiful region: “If we can get the funds together, we’d like to establish patrols to protect the forest and prevent poaching. We also want to set up a recycling project that would turn waste plastic into paving blocks.” One might imagine that with all these projects there would be little time left to actually run an ecolodge, but perhaps karma does indeed play a big part in the eco-business: Rimba is so popular that it runs almost to 100% occupancy right through West Sumatra’s high season. It might appear on arrival at Rimba that there is little going on at this wild beach, but it is refreshing to find an ecolodge that is so truly committed to improving life for the local community and the region’s threatened wildlife.