Jungle Trek in Tiger Territory

----About the Video----

I had the wonderful opportunity while interning with WWF-Indonesia's Riau program to trek through central Sumatra's jungles with WWF staff. I was a little nervous given that it was known that tigers inhabited such jungles and during that time there was an elevated rate of tigers attacking humans (likely due to habitat loss and prey depletion).

When I was walking through the jungle, I couldn't help but get chills when I thought about the very real possibility of a tiger out there. Man-eating is rare, but when you enter the jungle you are entering their domain and you know that you are not welcome and you are certainly not equipped to do anything should a tiger decide to attack. We saw the fresh pugmarks of a tigress so perhaps those piercing eyes of the forest had been watching us.

----Sumatra in Crisis----

There are less than 250 Sumatran tigers remaining in the wild and that population is shrinking and fragmenting. The forests the tiger calls home, once spanning the entirety of the island have been reduced to isolated fragments by oil palm, pulp & paper concessions and other forms of human development. These fragments have become the last bastions for other species as well including the Sumatran elephant and orang-utan and may be completely destroyed if current trends continue.

One of the most heart breaking things I experienced while in Sumatra was seeing vast landscapes, once covered in the most diverse ecosystem in the world, irreversibly converted to palm oil, a single species for profit. I walked through these palm oil forests and the silence was deafening. It was a haunting emptiness I will never forget.

----How You Can Help----

Destruction of these sanctuaries of life affects us all. Help put a stop to it by making conscious buying decisions. Buy FSC certified paper products and visit this website to find out more (http://www.fscus.org/). Buy coffee and chocolate? Ensure the products you buy are fair-trade (http://transfairusa.org/) or organic certified (http://tinyurl.com/4bjtzw7). Palm oil is used in many products we buy everyday so keep an eye out in the food you buy. It isn't necessary for our survival and there are plenty of alternatives. Please visit this website (http://ran.org/category/issue/palm-oil) for more information about how you can make informed purchasing decisions that don't involve this product. Otherwise, you may actually be contributing the the extinction of the tiger, elephant, orang-utan and other species in Sumatra!

Educate yourself and call upon your government to restrict the importation of products which negatively affect endangered species (http://tinyurl.com/6kxpuv8); just follow the link and add your country or location to find your government representatives. This is especially important...governments will not do a thing about this problem if they don't feel accountable. Make you voice known, no matter where you are.

Please support WWF in your country and abroad (http://www.wwf.org), sign up for newsletters and stay informed (http://www.mongabay.com/) about more opportunities for you to get involved!

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• tiger
• tigers
• tigress
• panthera
• tigris
• sumatrae
• sumatra
• sumatran
• indonesia
• indonesian
• jungle
• jungles
• forest
• forests
• trek
• trekking
• adventure
• endangered
• deforestation
• pulp
• paper
• palm
• oil
• wwf
• world
• wildlife
• fund

[Stryder467]

I already do two of these, but I don't see any links, sir.

Also, is this why you call yourself HeWhoWalksWithTigers?

[HeWhoWalksWithTigers]

@Stryder467 Thanks for watching. Unfortunately, YouTube didn't save my video description when I uploaded the video, but it is up now. You can read all about the video and follow the links that can help you.

I didn't get the name from this particular episode. It happened well before my trek in Sumatra, but it did seem fitting.

[cellochick56]

What an amazing experience walking through rainforest and seeing the beautiful waterfalls. Leeches though....yuck...i recall falling backwards against a tree with a trunk covered in thorns and cutting my hands! Do you sometimes spot tigers on these treks? Thanks for sharing that!

[IWUSkittles]

That was such a beautiful video Eric. Now I have to go to work soon where we sell bottle water, throw away items that can be recycled and my voice is next to nothing. I will think of this video and how amazing the sounds and scenery was and hopefully be cheerful until I get off work around 11pm. Hope to talk to you soon.