Linking one to another in Fort Rotterdam

Aside from my attendance in International Conference on Alfred Russel Wallace and the Wallacea last week in Makassar, I forced myself to visit Fort Rotterdam during the drizzling rain of Friday afternoon.

Raffles, a naturalist in a colonial time

“It is impossible to convey the idea of the pleasure of sailing through this beautiful and unparalleled archipelago, in which every attraction of nature is combined”, Lady Sophia Raffles (during her field trip with Raffles in Bengkulu forest). To most Indonesians, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was only a lieutenant general of Java during a short…

Being a tree detective

Measuring tree diameter is probably the easiest field work. You just need to bring the DBH meter and follow the standard operation procedure for measuring tree diameter and somebody else need to record the measurement. But it’s not as simple as that.

The colorful life of butterfly

Watching a butterfly visit a flower is always fascinating. The color of the butterfly and the flower are always in contrast. The black-and-white Common clubtail (Pachliopta coon) visiting the white flowers of Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata), or the Tailed jay (Graphium agamemnon) visiting the Lantana flower are all illustrating the importance of patterns and colors…

Celebrating Independence Day in the field

August 17 is the sacred day for Indonesians. Back in 1945, it was the day that we finally free from colonialism. We did still have some problems afterwards, but the Independence Day marked the bravery of our national heroes and all Indonesian people to speak up and to fight for the freedom. Today, in all…