Teminabuan, - The sound of frogs and crickets began to sound crowded with each other. As if to take the sun to the compound. That afternoon, Tuesday (11/13), nearing the end of the night, we felt the true nature of nature.
Like a dream in the jungle of Kelihi to see Lao-Lao animals or in Latin it is called Dorcopsis veterum or Papuan Kangaroo. West Papua Province is a natural habitat for one of the 15 species of kangaroos in Papua, including in the Sira and Manggroholo Village Forests.
Kangaroo (Lao-Lao) has large eyes that can be active at night, brownish gray with large and strong hind limbs. This limb serves to jump as a way of walking.
The front legs are relatively small to hold the food. These marsupials have a long, hairy tail except at the tip of the tail, which can be used to maintain balance when running and function as the third leg when standing.
Well, we go back to the hamlet of Kelihi hamlet. Before starting the night trip, the flashlight and battery equipment are checked one by one, making sure everything is filled and functioning properly. Then Maikel Kladit divided the personnel into two teams.
"Later with Mr. Markus, namely Elna and Kaka Abe, while the second team, Alink and Yance, came with me," explained Maikel Kladit. While the Imam, Jordan and Nickson got a turn to look after the cottage and prepare dinner.
Maikel suggested that each team return to the hut between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. "We will walk at 7 (night), then at 10 or 11 (night) we have returned to the hut," he said.
Right at 7:00 p.m., the night trip on the first day began. At first the two teams walked on the same track, but after passing a small river not far from the hut, the team led by Maikel walked to the right, and our team led by Mr. Mark turned to the left.
Mr. Markus walked in front holding a flashlight with a sharp beam, then behind him Elna followed with a flashlight on his head and I walked behind Elna with a flashlight in hand.
Like looking for a burglar in the middle of the night, so Mr. Markus's flashlight pierced through the trees and jungle leaves to see the Lao-Lao movement. Alternately Mr. Markus directs the flashlight on the road lane and as fast as lightning diverts the flashlight behind the tree stands.
The footsteps without shoes are also very careful not to cause the sound of dry twigs or other wood sounds. But behind him, Elna and I walked a little noisy, because it caused noise. Whether because of the sound factor or because of the many factors of the flashlight, we had walked for the hour in the darkness of the jungle of Kelihi, not seeing the Lao-Lao movement.
Mr. Markus then suggested that Elna and I stay for a moment in the place, then Mr Markus walked alone towards the hill. Moments later, Mr. Markus's flashlight also vanished behind the hill in front of us.
"It seems that I am walking very loudly," Elna asked when we were left by Mr. Markus. "It might also be due to the fact that there is a bright moon," I replied.
A few moments later Elna's flashlight was directed towards the foot to make sure the leeches' shoes and pants were not crawled. After that the flashlight is turned off together, while looking around, it turns out it's really dark, no tree stands or anything in front of us. Only tree canopies appear up there, because they are illuminated by the moon which is not yet bright.
Suddenly Elna pointed her flashlight towards the sound of a cricket that was very close to her seat. "This is the sound of crickets too? Asked Elna. I agreed, while helping the flashlight to find where the cricket was hiding.
A few moments later, a light appeared on the hill in front of us, a distance of about 40-50 meters. The highlight of the flashlight is not the usual spotlight. That seems like the code for us to walk in that direction. Mr. Markus seems to see us walking in the wrong direction, he then codes again with the flashlight, we follow the direction of the flashlight, and arrive before Mr. Markus.
"There is one tail there," whispered Mr. Markus. But we haven't seen it yet. Meanwhile, Mr. Mark's flashlight continued to be directed to where alleged Lao-Lao movements were occurring. It seems that Lao-Lao was hiding or had run away long before we approached his position, Mr. Markus, so we went around the area, nor did we see Lao-Lao in question.
Mr. Markus then asked about time. I replied, it was 11 o'clock at night. Then Mr. Mark said for us to go back to the hut. "Maybe because of the bright moon, so Lao-Laonya was smart. So he hid or ran away," said Mr. Mark, as we walked back to the hut.
On the way back to the hut, Elna picked up a plastic bottle that was accidentally dumped by someone in the forest. Then I asked for the bottle from Elna. When I arrived at the hut, I burned the bottle at the campfire. A lesson shown by Elna is that forests are not plastic bottles, so it is unfortunate if there are still people who throw plastic waste in the forest. That is what I remind other friends after arriving at the lodge.
Apparently, Maikel's team had already returned to the hut. Alink said his team saw the Lao-Lao movement, but failed to document it well. "The picture is not clear, blurred," Alink said.
After discussion for a while and cleaning the body in a small river near the hut, we went to each other's quarters, taking a break to continue activities tomorrow. How was the next day's trip in Kelihi hamlet? follow the report ... (continued)