As a way to introduce the natural beauty of East Kalimantan, The Summer School Programs lead the 29 participants to Balikpapan on the 9th day. The trip started in Graha Indah Mangrove Centre, a 150 hectares area filled with mangrove. The participants, prepared with life jackets, travel inside the area with boats. Each boat containing 7-10 individuals sail side by side for 30 minutes until they see a group of bekantan.
One of the participants from Thailand, Patchalakrit Sukkulpipat (also known as Momo), expressed his amazement toward the long nosed monkey. “I often see them in documentaries, but this is my first time seeing it in real life.” He also remarked on their amount “I thought, since it is endangered, I would not be able to see many of them. But I saw around 10 of them on that one tree.” Though, he was a little disappointed because he could not get a closer look of the creature. “They told me the boat was too big and would be damaged by the plants.” Other than bekantan, the mangrove center is also well known for being populated by other various kinds of fauna including crocodile, Irrawaddy dolphin, and various birds.
After lunch, the group went to Sun Bear Education and Conservation Centre at Karang Joang, Balikpapan. Created in 2004, it was built to protect the icon of Balikpapan, sun bear. It is 1,3 hectares wide and contains seven sun bears. The bears were fed from the fruit that was cut up by the keeper. During the sight seeing of the sun bear, participants were not allowed to make noise since the bears fear humans and would hide away.
During this trip, the participants take part in a memorizing game where they have to remember the latin names of the species that were in the conservation center. Tannita Suila (also known as Nita) as a participant from Thailand expressed her joy when playing together and visiting the mangrove centre and sun bear conservation, “we got a lot of knowledge and fun. My friends and I were very happy to join this trip. If possible, we would like to go with all of you again”.
After visiting the places above, the participants head to the cottage to take a rest and spend the night in Balikpapan. But the fun doesn’t stop there. At the cottage, while waiting for the time to rest, the participants play a few games together and exchange stories with each other, occasionally sipping the tea or coffee provided there while enjoying the cool night. Even if there is no internet access, they can still have a great time. When it’s time to sleep, each person goes to a predetermined number of rooms, namely 3 people in each room. The night passed with them sleeping in the warm cottage until it was time for them to move on to the next day with the next trip.
Rapporteur: Maximillianus Sangga Rafael Agusta & Nadya Nur Yulia Zahra
