I have always wanted to write stories. Stories about my childhood, about the amazing time I spent outdoors and in the wild. It has been on my mind for some years now but I have always been pushing it for a later date. But time has a strange way of getting one to doing these things much earlier than later. Things that are meant to be.
I’m a member of the ACCCRN, Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network and members were recently invited to write about their work in a story form. I submitted an entry and guess what? My story was selected and the top 10 finalists from different parts of the world have been invited to the Urban Heat Resilience Storytelling Workshop in Jakarta, Indonesia organised by Mercy Corps Indonesia and the Thomas Reuters Foundation (TRF).
I was thrilled and on learning about the impending trip to Indonesia, my children as usual began making their list of must see places in this spectacular many island nation. Vikram wanted to see the giant lizards called Komodo dragons and the bird called Bali Starling while Varun and I had a wish to visit Wae Rebo tribal settlement and the bamboo houses in Bali Green Village. And while I have been mulling over writing this article as we travel, this is how it has panned out so far.
Island nations have fascinated me ever since I had a chance like this one to travel to Ecuador and then to Galapagos Islands. Indonesia is essentially comprised of some 18 thousand islands with only around 7 thousand occupied by humans. It is culturally rich and above all it has so much pristine natural beauty and biodiversity. It’s marine wealth is incomparable to any other.
We first landed in Bali as it is the best way to get to Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores to see the Komodos. After a few inquiries we booked a fast boat to one of the islands called Rinca that has the Komoda National Park. We registered at the Park Office and were immediately led on the trail by one of the rangers. We were lucky to be accompanied by a ranger Rawli who belonged to the indigenous komodo tribe and who understood the reptiles well. Vikram and Varun were thrilled as they sighted many Komodos in their natural habitat including a protective female komodo as well as a baby leaving the nest on the ground.
There was no time to visit Wae Rebo a world heritage cultural site. It was reachable only by a long drive to the nearest village and then a 3 hrs trek uphill and therefore needed more than a day to see it. It is basically of interest to architects as this tribe perhaps one of the oldest has houses that are a unique cone shaped and nearly 5 stories high made completely of wood and bamboo. Coincidentally we met a Doctor Sr. Natalia who runs a hospital in the region and on knowing that I have an interest in community work and to see Wae Rebo, invited us to visit another time!
While in Flores, I received a message from a friend and fellow finalist from India that there had been a tornado warning but we were lucky that the weather had been kind to us.
We next flew back to Bali and while most visitors prefer the beaches we moved to 2 locations on our agenda. One was the green village in Bali to see the houses made of bamboo! And a date with the bird that was once thought to be extinct, the Bali starling.
We drove to the green village and it suddenly began raining heavily. And it didn’t really bother us as it seemed like the perfect setting for the bamboo buildings in the green village. The 3 houses we were taken on a tour around were not only fantastic but also luxurious. Who would have thought that it was possible to build with ordinary bamboo and make them luxurious?
Well it is possible and the collaborative model set up by ibuku where local people are part of the team is an excellent one to adopt to promote sustainable buildings of the future.
Varun was so impressed with the houses that he wishes he can have one too. And if it’s a tree house, so much the better!
We moved on next to do some volunteering work with the Friends of the National Parks Foundation and learn more about their work in saving the Bali starling. We had to travel to another island called Nusa Penida where FNPF has been working with the villages in support of conserving and monitoring of the Bali starling. Our day was packed. We first had to join the other volunteers Angi from Java and Jenny from Scotland in conducting a class for the local children for learning English. This was followed with a short survey and monitoring of the Bali starling. We saw a group of 5 initially and then the same group flitting about from tree to tree as the sooty headed bulbuls chased them away. We then had a break to explore the village followed with another session at Ped village to teach English to another group of children. Varun assisted me with primary students as we experimented with phonetics while Vikram assisted Jenny with the secondary students and tried his drawing skills to illustrate. He won over the hearts of many students who were soon exchanging instagram handles and email ids.
We are off to Jakarta now by bus/ train to the nearest airport as all flights have been cancelled due to the recent eruption of Mt Agung in Bali.
Off on another eventful and exciting adventure as I brace myself for the storytelling workshop scheduled tomorrow and hopefully writing more about my travels across the world.
(Tallulah D’Silva is a practising architect in Goa and has recently taught at the Goa College of Architecture as adjunct professor)
