JAPAKEH XX: Expedition to Mt. Buntul Gading (Day -4)

JAPAKEH Expedition Monitoring Day 4: Friday, March 8, 2024.

I was a little worried because, until 7:30 in the morning, the news about the expedition team had not been received yet. It is their 4th day of expedition. My best guess is they are still in the density of forest or even deep in the valley. They still have 6 days based on the food stock they carry for the expedition. But, I keep my confidence in the team that they reach the peak of camp 4 by this evening, otherwise, I will start to call the rest of the team to prepare themselves for the D-track mission.

Friday, March 8 2024 due to limited water and the possibility of a dry creek up front area, the team decided to have breakfast with just bread and coffee while saving water until the next camp area or until the available water area is found.

Before continuing their journey, the team carried out sweeping, as usual, to ensure that all items were safe and nothing was left behind, re-sharpened the slashing machete with a whetstone, and collected moss that was still dewy to squeeze out water and stored it in bottles. From the amount of last night's collection and this morning, the team was successful. The two large bottles of 1.5 L, approximately 3 L of water that has been collected are enough for today's journey, assumed that the team would not cook the rice until we found a sufficient water source.

On the 4th day, the team had reached an altitude of 1700 masl+. Setting the target for camp 4 at an altitude of 2100 meters above sea level+, passing through steep terrain with dense shrubs and rattan and bushes that are very difficult to clean the path. However, the team cannot just stay there the whole day.

Today's itinerary is a bit shorter due to Friday, so the team will move until 11.30 noon and will stop until 14:00. Even in a wilderness like this we are obliged to keep time and pray. At least today we have to try to squeeze some more moss during our lunch break. If it rains, it will be even better to provide water for our next trip.

At 11.30 the team found an area filled with moss at an altitude of 1850 MASL, and immediately decided to squeeze as much water from the moss as possible and immediately cook it to make it more sterile before putting it in a storage bottle. We also decided to cook rice because the team hadn't eaten rice for 2 days. Because quite a lot of moss water has been squeezed out, it can be enough to cook rice. The water turbidity level is quite high because it contains mud and other impurities when squeezed. To purify the water and slightly remove the turbidity, the water is boiled until it boils properly before leaving it to let the sediment down to the bottom.

Water, where the bacteria are still active, takes longer to settle compared to water where the bacteria have been eradicated. This generally applies, if muddy and cloudy water is cooked until it boils, when this water cools the dirt will settle to the bottom and the water will be sterile for drinking. In an emergency, if you don't have time to cook it, by adding a few drops of alcohol/betadine or anti-septic, the dirt in the water will settle more quickly and the water can be consumed. If it has water purification, it will be even better.

Unlike previously planned, the team was only able to continue their journey at 3:00 in the afternoon, but the team's physical and mental condition was much better because they had eaten rice and had enough water. At first glance, our choice may not seem right, but overall for safety, the choice made was quite wise. Even though we were 1 hour late when we continued our journey, the team managed to reach Camp 4 at 18.45 WIB.

Along the way, the team found many ferns and several endemic animals such as pangolins and orangutans. It seems that the Orangutans around here have a sufficient food and water supply, this is probably obtained from young fern leaves like the ones we collected for dinner. For dinner, this time we still had leftover rice that we cooked the afternoon, and enough water was available from the moss. Luckily, the camp 4 area is quite open, and the conditions are more convenient. There isn't enough moss to squeeze around here, even though we currently have around 5.5 L of water, but considering that tomorrow's trip will be quite tiring and at an altitude of 1850 - 2250 MASL, it will cause faster dehydration because the sweat will dry more quickly with the gusts of wind the dry one.

The water source factor was an obstacle itself because when the team arrived at camp 4, we also had time to look for water in potential areas up to a distance of 100 m from the camp, but the results were still the same and all the gutters that were thought to have water were dry.

The team tried to turn on the cell phone and there was a signal, although it was quite weak, but was able to send several short messages to the D-Track coordinator. The report we sent was the team's health condition, logistics, and water conditions as well as a brief chronology of the trip to date.

^{Rattan field on the way to camp 4}

With the existing water stock, the team had to calculate the possibilities and decided not to cook for the next morning, and leave some rice for tomorrow's breakfast. Because water must be saved, there is no coffee tonight and no bread for snacks.

The message was received from the team on Friday, March 8, 2024.at 20:15, day 4th of the expedition, and immediately summarized for me to send to the Ise-ise Police as a report on the situation of the JAPAKEH XX expedition in the field. For me it was something really important to get the news from the field, it was a feeling of relief as D-track team coordinator. I spread the news to all the team for information update

The whole story is quite difficult to describe because this story is based on their actual story in the field, it would be too different. I try my best to serve you and make you feel the story yourself.

Best Regards

El-Nailul