(Nomad: Day 1868),
Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia.
After a long and not so easy transfer, I finally arrived to aketajawe-lolobata National Park from Sidangoli. It’s surprising that many local people never heard there is a National treasure with a rich biodiverse forest in this island. They are more aware of mining activities or any other economic activities that are going on.
I stayed 2 days on the fringe of the forest. Thankfully to a wonderful guide that knows the forest like its own pocket, I was able to record some of the best natural soundscape I ever could hope here. I got very close to the Standardwing bird of paradise. They delivered such a magnificent show just in front of me and my microphones. I also recorded many ambiences at various time of the day, and also from the canopy. There was some wonderful silence and natural sounding atmospheres without any human noise around. However, to be able access to such a paradise, we had to walk almost 2 hours in the deep forest each way morning and evening. I am very happy and grateful on how things turned out eventually on this Island. It was great to visit and explore even if I just saw/heard a portion of this area. I am leaving today towards Sulawesi. I hope I could come back to Maluku as there are so much to explore, I have heard many things about the volcano here too (and their sounds), but also other villages that I hope to visit one day.
