This colourful ship in the photo behind the two happy snorkelling kids is the Kalabia. She cruises around Raja Ampat in West Papau engaging the natural curiosity of children in order to teach them about conservation, which in turn helps build community knowledge and awareness, pride, love, and a sense of ownership and responsibility for local marine resources.

By changing attitudes and behaviour, Kalabia inspires conservation of globally-important ecosystems in the  heart  of the coral triangle, and ensures food security and increased well-being for local residents for generations to come. If you would like to make a small contribution to her continued success, please visit the website here.

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The 15m x 3m blue whale, which looked to be in the late stages of decomposition, captured the attention of nearby communities and beachgoers.

As groups gathered to haul off the dead whale, they noticed that its entire body was made of plastic waste found in the ocean

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A Pandansari resident tends mangroves plants. Photo by Donny Iqbal

Indonesia’s national energy strategy relies on large fossil-fuel plants, but remote villages show alternatives are possible.

An estimated 1.6 million poor households in Indonesia are not connected to the electricity grid.

Indonesia’s national energy plan, which targets 35,000 megawatts of new generating capacity, relies primarily on coal and other fossil fuels.

In rural, off-grid areas, the government has shown more support for renewable energy generation, but progress remains slow.

In the meantime, villages like Reno on Flores Island have built their own small-scale renewable energy sources.

In a country where much of the rural population lives off the grid, villages on the Indonesian island of Flores boast their own renewable energy sources — all built by local communities.

Reno village on Flores hosts only 134 homes. The local economy revolves around weaving, raising chickens and selling snacks. Now, a micro-hydroelectric generator is powering the village.

Rural electrification is a persistent and evolving challenge for Indonesia, especially for remote communities on the fringes and uplands of the vast archipelago. By the end of 2015, Indonesia’s electrification ratio stood at 88.3 percent, behind Southeast Asian neighbors like Singapore and Thailand. An estimated 1.6 million poor households are not connected to a grid.

Indonesia is currently planning to add 35,000 megawatts to the national power grid, but it is projected to continue to overwhelmingly depend on fossil fuels, with plans to build 117 new coal-fired plants as part of the expansion policy.

Catholic Pastor Marselus Hasan had a different idea for Reno village.

Full story on Mongabay

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The Bunong, an ethnic minority group whose livelihood and culture depends on the river and the forest, will be among the most affected by the dam.

Even before the dam is completed, Bunong villages like Kbal Romeas have been divided, as some residents accept compensation packages while others staunchly refuse to leave their land.

At a time when much of Cambodia is developing at a breakneck speed, where smartphones and BMWs have become almost as ubiquitous on the streets of Phnom Penh as saffron-robed monks, the village of Kbal Romeas inhabits a world apart. Tucked deep into the jungles of the country’s untamed northeast, the village has no convenience stores, streetlights, or paved roads. Instead, a visitor would be more likely to find a stretched snakeskin nailed to a piece of teak, drying in the midday sun as a testament to the animist beliefs of the people who live there.

Full story here.

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Full story on Mangobay

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One individual was arrested in Bandar Lampung, the capital of Lampung Province located 90 km from Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, critical habitat for the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae). He allegedly sold tiger parts via social media networks, advertising their mystical and healing properties. The other was detained at the port of Merak on the western tip of Java, a critical shipping link between the two islands and a popular exit point for smuggled wildlife. His online offerings reportedly included a variety of ‘home decorations,’ including tiger skins as well as stuffed tigers, bears, and lions. The stuffed tigers listed for $5,000-7,000.

Read the full story by Loren Bell, Mongabay-Indonesia correspondent, November 04, 2014

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About an hour and a half plane ride from the Philippine capital Manila is a long, narrow island home to about a quarter of all the animal species found in the country. So unique is this island called Palawan that it hosts two World Heritage sites, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River in the provincial capital, and the Tubbataha Reef in Cagayancillo.

Data from Global Forest Watch (GFW) reveal more than 6 percent of Palawan’s forest cover has been lost since 2001. But as humans raze the island’s extensive forests for development, many animals – including 27 endemic species of birds, 19 varieties of land mammals, and 24 kinds of reptiles – are facing huge population declines.

Read the Full story by Shaira Panela, mongabay.com correspondent, October 31, 2014

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The centre prides itself on their natural and ecologically aware approach to working with these animals. The elephants inhabit a 106 hectare protected forest set by the Nam Tien Lake where there is sufficient natural food and visitors can watch them in their natural habitat without causing a disturbance to their daily activities.

Facilities at the Elephant Conservation Centre are also ecologically friendly, utilising solar power and water from the lake for filtration. To reduce the use of new building materials, ECC’s infrastructure uses traditional Lao houses that have been relocated to the centre.

A trip to the Elephant Conservation Centre will compliment any visit to Laos, providing the opportunity to see up close and gain a greater understanding of these endangered animals.

Contact Symbiosis Custom Travel to start planning your visit to Laos.

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Enter the Elephant Valley Project. Mahouts who bring their elephants here are paid a competitive working wage to retire their elephants full time to ecotourism. Mahouts continue to work with their elephants, feeding and caring for them and making sure they don’t escape into the wild. The elephants, for their part, can spend their days blasting through the forest in search of food, uprooting saplings to get to their yummy roots and hanging out by the river spraying mud on one another. You are not allowed to ride the elephants here. Instead, you simply walk through the forest with them and observe them in their element. In the process you learn a lot about not only elephant behaviour but also Bunong culture and forest ecology. Other project components include health care for the Bunong communities in the project area, and health and veterinary care for the mahouts of Mondulkiri. The Wildlife Conservation Society lauds the EVP for helping to protect the eastern reaches of the Seima‐Protected Forest.

The main option for visiting the EVP is a day trip in which half the day is spent observing the elephants, and half the day is spent washing the elephants and doing other tasks around the project site. There are a few exquisite bungalows at EVP but at the moment they are not able to accept overnight stays. Access to the site is strictly‐ controlled so don’t show up unannounced and the maximum number of day trippers allowed per day is 12. The site is not open to visitors on Saturday and Sunday, however there are plans to open six days a week in the future.

Ask us at Symbiosis Custom Travel how you can include a visit to the Elephant Valley project in Mondulkiri during your Cambodia visit.

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The place to see them is at Kampi, about 15km north of Kratie, on the road to Sambor. Motorboats shuttle visitors out to the middle of the river to view the dolphins at close quarters. Encourage the boat driver to use the engine as little as possible once near the dolphins, as the noise is sure to disturb them. It is also possible to see them near the Lao border in Stung Treng province, at Preah Rumkel, which also boasts a community homestay. Another serious threat to the lifespan of the dolphins is the environmental impact of a series of hydroelectric dam projects that are in the works in both Laos and Cambodia. No‐one really knows the impact on the Mekong River and its tributaries or the knock‐on effect on the dolphins and fish stocks that inhabit the rivers, but environmentalists fear the outcome will be nothing short of catastrophic. Our message is simple, see them while you can.

How do I get to see freshwater dolphins? Contact Symbiosis Custom Travel

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