To check your shoes before putting your feet into them is something I do at home to get rid of any small gravel that happen to be there - not to ensure there are no tarantellas in the shoe. I realise very quickly that I have to ignore my fobia for spiders and cockroaches when arriving to Sulwesi, Indonesia yesterday. I have encountered several spiders as big as my palm already. Apparently you also meet snakes when you collect jungle sallad for the animals. I have also noted that there are ants EVERYWHERE. I even have to brush them off my toothbrush before brushing my teeth. "Welcome to the jungle…"

The centre takes care of wild animals that the Indonesian custom have confiscated in the nearby international port before shipped out to Filippines and China to become circus animals, food or organs taken out to be consumed as medical treatments and sold to the black market. The centre rehabilitates the animals and release them to their native environment which might not be Sulawesi. There are lots of animals native in Borneo at the centre. The release is the hardest part in order to ensure they survive and not get killed or have difficulties finding food.

My first day at work was today and I have learnt so much. Here at the center we are now only 3 volontaries. The Tasikoki centre has one veterinary, one animal behaviour specialist and several animal care takers that all work full time. The volontaries job is to complement the care takers job with enrichments for the animals. Enrichments can be leafe packages filled with seeds, honey, marmaite, oat etc and then wrapped in a bundle of green leaves. It will stimulate them to find the goodies inside.Today I have handed out enrichments to the orangutans, macaques and the sun bears. The macaques are very aggressive and we have to wear masks to cover our teeth as theeth mean aggression to them and will make them even more provoked. We cannot look them in the eyes and have to keep a safe distance to them as they try to grab you.

It´s been an incredibly interesting and unusual Tuesday for me! The weather is quite humid and sticky but doesn´t really bother me.