Tree Planting Trip

Tree Planting Trip

A great morning was had by 30 primary school children and staff of MOP A, B & C on a trip to plant trees in conjunction with Hutan which is a Conservation NGO dedicated to the protection of the Sukau area Kinabatanga River only 2 or 3 miles from the plantation. It works as part of the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project. Which is run by the local people of the area and provides support for sustainable local provision of tourist facilities. It was through a chance meeting with the area coordinator which led to this trip and the Hutan giving a fun and lively workshop to all the schools on the benefits of preserving the forest here as a wildlife corridor, sustainable tourism opportunities providing jobs for local people and the effect on global environmental issues.

We set off at 5.30 am in order to have the opportunity to see wild life on the boat trip down to the tree planting site, the Hutan team had prepared the site and placement of the trees and gave a briefing on the process and the benefits to the local eco system and global climate change.

Everyone planted a tree with the appropriate blessing for a successful life. The trees are grown by the local community and are indigenous varieties which will support all forms of local wildlife including birds, monkeys and orangutans. The planting area is maintained and protected from elephants for three years to allow the saplings to become established.

We then set off for ad 2-3km jungle walk where we could experience how the trees will be in 10 to 20 years time; the area is secondary forest in that it was logged up until 1982. It was the first time all of the group children, teachers and drivers had experienced this, even though they have lived here for all or most of their lives. Some of the children do not have passports and so do not leave the plantation very often. Not very different than lifetime residents of the Lake District who haven't seen the top of a mountain.

We returned to the camp site and had quite a leech count, it seems that leech socks as made and sold locally may be the answer. The students were remarkably sang froid about them, much braver than me.