Being there ....

Gunung Leuser National Park - Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra, Indonesia - january 2012

This metal-plated wooden canoo is the only acces-point to the now far too popular Orangutan rehabilitation center of the National parc. Black termites have their nests standing proud on the ground. The brown termites of this area form nests at the size of a coconut in the trees. The web of this spider is more than a meter wide - and full of small flies. The specimen itself has approx. 4 cm of body length. Cuts for climbing this coconut palm are colonized by several species of orchids - Dendrobium and Bulbophyllum species. This is an epiphytic orchid species - but I don't have a clue, which one. This mantis has a healthy appetite - it ate the big green grasshopper shown below during the night! This small gecko was quite happy with the easy meals during the short spell of ephemers hatching from the nerby river. It ate 4-5 of these large mouthfulls! "Good to eat" was the comment of this big frog species. I didn't get the real name for it. This Dendrobium species is one of very few orchids growing in the rubber plantation. Almost no wildlife present either ... . Dendrobium plant on the rubber tree - planted illegally in the edge of the rainforrest - nobody looks - nobody cares! One of the very few Bulbophyllum species, that I located in the jungle.. This asian toad is also enjoying the benefit ofthe ephemere hatching. They call them "flying Termites" because they live inside trees - but they are in fact minute bees. Impressive roots from the strangler-fig trees above these rocks outside the small "Batcave". A few fruit-bats in the "Batcave" - a rather insignificant visit to the small care, that can hardly be called an attraction. A jumbo ant - nobody could tell me the right name for it - 3 cm long!