July 21, 2004

In Search of Orang-pendek. "Sumatra’s orang-pendek has been described as one of the most likely cryptids to actually exist. Richard Freeman dons his jungle survival kit and ventures into the rain forest to see for himself."
posted by homunculus 20 years ago
  • The rainforest here smells very like an English wood. The towering trees are wreathed with vines, the vines are covered in moss, the moss is festooned with fungi. The buzz of cicadas and other insects fills the air, mingling with the metallic screeches of exotic birds. Gaudy bracket fungi sprout from rotting tree trunks that fall across gorges and streams that run down from the surrounding mountains like ribbons of quicksilver. The great paradox of the rainforest, though, is that despite being the greatest concentration of life on earth, the animals are hard to see. Vegetation and shadows hide most of them, and the larger ones can hear you coming from far away. That was a nice read. I wonder what will happen with that last hair analysis they were doing? It's amazing to think that, despite all the species we've destroyed, there's still some we haven't really discovered yet.
  • Talking of mystery apes, what happened about these ?
  • That article was too long to read; did they find it?
  • [banana]
  • It never ceases to amaze me that there are parts of this world that remain completely unexplored: She photocopied several maps for us and also spoke of a lost valley a couple of days hike from the lake. Despite the fact that it was shown on the map (so it couldn
  • I'm hoping like crazy that they DON'T find the Orang-Pendek. Not that I wouldn't like to know it something exists--hair and other markers proving that it is out there would be real cool, but it's managed to stay hidden (and alive) so far without our "help," and the mystery is almost better. The world needs more mystery.