Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine September 2016 | Page 113

Travel | Padang

Sungai Pinang’s Reno Putra
has worked hard to set up
Rimba Ecolodge with his French
wife Nadége Lanau.

We resisted the temptation to clear trails,”
Nad tells me, “because we don’t want to allow
easy access for poachers.”

Nad tells me, “because we don’t want to
allow easy access for poachers.”
There is just one moderately cleared
animal track that allows access for visitors to
a viewpo int overlooking the bay. It is used
more by animals than by humans and as
I climb the root-strewn track late one
afternoon I’m particularly alert.
“A tiger came down that trail about six
months ago and ate my dog,” Nad told me
before I left. “I think it was a young tiger
because I heard it call and it almost
sounded like a clouded leopard.”
I don’t doubt her judgement for a moment:
I’m aware that Nad’s years of experience as
an environmental researcher in the jungles of
Borneo, Java and Sumatra have left her amply
qualified to distinguish between a tiger and a
leopard. In fact, Nad and Reno met when they
were both working for the Kalaweit project, a
famous protection and rehabilitation initiative for
the gibbons of Indonesia, but their joint destiny
was to establish their ecolodge in the jungle near
Reno’s home village of Sungai Pinang.

A 1.5-hour trek from
the coast takes you to
the spectacular Sungai
Pinang cascade.
Rice paddies near the
village of Sungai Pinang
(Betelnut River) on the coast
of West Sumatra.

As we walk through the village, Reno tells me how,
like many kids in the village, he was forced by lack
of funds to leave school and to help his father with
fishing: “The relatively small cost of an exercise
book can be make-or-break for the future of kids
here,” he tells me. “Perhaps the father comes back
after an unsuccessful day fishing and the dollar or
so he has to spend on a schoolbook convinces him
that it’s better to stop ‘wasting’ money at school.”
Rimba Association has already raised funds
for materials for the school here and in Sungai
Pisang. My visit to Rimba coincides with the
happy day when a whole pickup truck full of
books and writing materials is delivered to
250 delightedly smiling schoolkids at Sungai
Pinang middle school. To see the excitement on
the faces of the children it would seem that all
their birthdays had come at once. This delivery
could ensure that some of these students will
be able to complete their education rather than
spend the last years of their childhood on the
fishing boats or in the village paddy fields.
Along with their community projects, Rimba
Association is hoping to raise funds to establish
a fully equipped animal rehabilitation centre

111

5 Senses – Sight
REEF DIVING
While Rimba Ecolodge is not
a dive centre, there’s wonderful
snorkelling to be had on the reef right
in front of the bungalows. In the first
half hour alone, I counted 37 different
species of fish and, at the same time,
another guest was snorkelling just
along the beach among seven large
black-tipped reef sharks. Turtles, rays,
dolphins and (from November to
January) even whales are also
frequently spotted here.
Meski Rimba Ecolodge bukan
pusat menyelam, ada tempat
snorkelling yang bagus di karang tepat
di depan bungalo. Dalam setengah
jam pertama saja saya menghitung ada
37 spesies ikan berbeda dan, pada saat
yang sama, saya melihat seorang tamu
sedang snorkelling di sepanjang pantai
bersama 7 hiu karang sirip hitam
berukuran besar. Kura-kura, ikan pari,
lumba-lumba dan bahkan paus (dari
bulan November sampai Januari)
juga sering terlihat di sini.