One hour away from Tasikoki is Tangkoko national park. It is a nature reserve situated along the sea on green rolling hills. It is a flora and fauna conservation area with several species of animals, birds, flowers and plants. In the park you find a lot of animals in their natural habitat that we have here at Tasikoki. It was a fantastic experience to arrive right in the middle of a group macaques. They didn´t care about us and we could walk among them taking pictures. Many animals can only be found here in Sulawesi such as the cuscus which is a marsupial [swe: pungdjur]. They live high up in the trees and eat fresh, new leafes. We have 3 cuscus living in the centre and we spotted a wild one with a baby high up in the tree today. 

It was me and a local guide that did the trek. He spotted birds and animals very high up in the tree while it took me about 10 minutes before I saw anything that even looked like an animal. If it wasn´t for him I wouldn´t have seen anything!

Other species we spotted today was a beautiful hornbill, kingfisher bird and tarsiers which is a nocturnal and comes out from their trees where they hide and sleep daytime around 5-6 pm chasing insects.

Tasikoki has a cooperation with a macaque research team from a university in Manado that has a site in Tangkoko. I was told that they contact Tasikoki when monkeys have been caught in traps but managed to escape and ended up with strings of bands around their hands or feet. Naturally the monkey will start bite the string with the result that the string just tightens up even harder around the wrist or ankle. Our veterinary at the centre will assist in removing the strings.

Walking in the jungle is extremely hot but one need to wear appropriate clothes with long sleeves in order not to end up with strange bites. Insects are everywhere and believe me, you have never seen the ones flying or crawling around here. Sometimes big as a Volkswagen car. Today we had a snake in the tree next to the house where we live..... Welcome to Sulawesi! Strangely enough I am not freaking out everytime I meet something from Jurassic Park as I accept it is their territory and I am just visiting!