Mountains, plains, and beaches -- Sulawesi

SULAWESI, Indonesia -- After my first visit to the rain forest in Borneo, I realized it was time for the research group to split up. I needed more time to sample at the ITCI timber concession upriver from Balikpapan, and we had many other places we were scheduled to visit. The other members of the group, Paul and Rachel Krusic, and I could not do it all if we stayed together. So I made a quick run across the Makassar Strait to Sulawesi to divide up money and equipment with them. I would not see them again while in Indonesia.

Sulawesi is the home of the Makassar kingdom, a powerful trading center destroyed by the Dutch in the Seventeenth century. This spidery shaped island has tremendous cultural, biological, and geological diversity. I made the most of my short time there, managing to do some sightseeing in addition to doing what I came for -- taking care of research business with Paul and Rachel. They stayed behind to sample some teak plantations in the southern parts of the island while I returned to Borneo to finish my sampling work there.