SULAWESI, TANGKOKO - HORNBILLS, TARSIER AND JUNGLE - 8 JULY 2017

We were woken at 4:45 am, dressed, had breakfast and were driven to the start of the Tangkoko National Park jungle trek. Our guide was a local lady named Rina.

We walked along the dirt service road surrounded by rainforest until we reached a house for researchers. There were a lot of black monkeys there - walking around, sitting in the trees and playing.

Next, we turned off the service road and onto tracks into the rainforest.

The tracks were easy, narrow and fun. Along the way at the beginning, we heard lots of birds and saw glimpses  of them high in canopy - a kingfisher on a low branch, hornbills high in their nest and flying.

We stopped at a tree which was really strangler vines left behind after the tree had inside had died. It was hollow in the centre and the vines were like a ladder. I climbed up to about 6 metres. I couldn't go to the top as there was a hive of bees.

Rina spied a juvenile eagle on low branch. We watched and listened as it made a long screeching call.

Towards the end of the hike, we saw a tarsier inside a tree hollow. They are so small with large eyes like a possum.

Just at the end, we stopped at tree with a small  hole. Around the hole was a mass of baby tarantulas. They swamped quickly inside when they sensed our presence.

It was a fun five and a half hour trek -hot, sticky, long with things unexpected.

Back at the hotel we cleaned up, had lunch and rested.

Late in the afternoon, we wandered down to the village and the black sand  beach and watched the locals at play and the lap of the waves on the shore.