live curious.

The young ranger’s story

The scenery dominated with blue sea and green trees, view like in the travelling postcard. A virgin island, untouched by man. The beauty it shyly offer among the sandy and rocky beach. There almost no sound other than our buzzing chats, only the sound of wind and ripple of the sea water. Surrounded by such pristine and pure atmosphere, I found some sort of peace in mind.
Killing time to wait for our turn to enter the boat to the base camp, we throw lame jokes. Suddenly, the ranger that accompanying us is in the centre of our storytelling-like group. As scientist on the making, me and my friends learned a lot about the theories of conservation, but we never really given thought of doing it on the field.
The ranger is a young man, his skin is tanned by the scorching sun, his muscles strengthen by the terrain he need to walk, and his young but tired face somehow give away his look of his wisdom.
The ranger share his experience about his work in the Ujung Kulon National Park. The ranger is a local boy, end up dedicate his life to survey the islands in the reserve. He share his story about crocodiles in the national park. As local guy, he often goes in and out from the forest in the island. In his younger days, he walk with his friends for a fishing time. As they walk by the river, one of his friend sat on a huge tree that turn out not a tree but a crocodile. The angry crocodile snapped and dragged the unlucky fellow to the water and drown him there.
That maybe triggers him to be a ranger, to save people from harm. His story open my eyes about the real deal to be a conservationist, the tough life and also the occupational hazard. He also make me think that when we are out in the field, we are at nature’s mercy not just to play around carelessly. By the time we left the island, there are a lot of questions rise inside me, like, will I be able to dedicate my life like the ranger? but one thing for sure, I will always love and respect nature.