We’ve all heard horror stories about the deadly Australian funnel-web spiders. A new report in the Lancet shows that deaths from spider bites are extremely rare. Only 26 deaths from spiders have been recorded in Australia in the past century. In comparison, there were 1,183 motor vehicle deaths in 2001 in Australia.
Funnel webs are only found in eastern Australia and there are at least 40 species. They are medium to large spiders, varying from 1-5 cm body length. They like to burrow in moist, cool, sheltered habitats – under rocks, in and under rotting logs, crevices, rot and borer holes in rough-barked trees. In gardens, they prefer rockeries and dense shrubberies, and are rarely found in more open situations like lawns.
Mistake, mistake, mistake – How could I have made such a stupid
mistake. At our late lunch stop I had changed from boots to
sandals, strong sandals, the problem was not with the footwear but
with my brain which seemed to have gone into non thinking mode as
the day started to turn to twilight. We had been walking fast,
through thick rain forest and crossing and re-crossing rivers or
maybe even the same river. The last few Kilometres of the twenty
seven from our jump into the jungle to the 'Yawanawa'
village, our guides had decided to make what was a two day trek
into one. Why? I have no idea, unless it was too see how we would
make out. My legs felt like lead pillars as I walked in the river
my sandals acting like buckets holding my down feet, like walking
in treacle, my heart pounded loudly with each stride as I tried to
keep up with 'Yawanawa' Indian ahead, who was starting to
disappear in the dusk. The tribe had warned us that the rain forest
was very dangerous at night and they would always be back in the
village by nightfall! Just as I thought I could go no further and
dusk started to turn to darkness, I saw a figure on the shore about
a hundred metres away waving me on. I staggered up to Adam Baines,
for that's who it was, as he said “Well done Tony we have
made it” and we shook hands. Months of politicking in the
urban jungle, then many adventures on the way to our final
destination, the 'Yawanawa' village of Novo Esperanca – At
last we had arrived or nearly, the last hurdle or just about the
last straw, was about seventy steps cut in to the steep river bank
leading up to the village.
The 'Yawanawa' were early risers, the queue for the
bathroom or in this case the river started at 0415 hours for the
women and then the men from about 0445 hours. Breakfast consisted
of something from the day before, usually highly salted and
difficult to keep down as the sun started to kiss the village roofs
of the 'Yawanawa'.
We had a
special treat one night, when the chief switched the fridge on for
a couple of hours and we had a mug of cold water that tasted as
good as any cold beer I have ever tasted.
These Indigenous people had five different ways of sustaining
themselves,' in the depth of this green paradise.
The two ways they made some money was with 'Aveda', a
Canadian firm that bought Uruku off the 'Yawanawa' for the
making of their expensive and famous make up, sold in top shops
like 'Harvey Nichols' both here, France and in North
America. The second way was with tapping the rubber and making it
into a sort of vegetable leather used in bags of all types and also
sold in quality shops in the worlds fashionable capitols.
The children had half a day of school and half a day of learning
how to work like their parents, in whatever was their speciality.
The best hunters or fisherman got the best and most desirable woman
as wives. I asked why no one seemed to wear glasses or have bad
hearing? – The answer was simple nobody would marry anyone with
those problems and therefore they were bred out – Survival of the
fittest! Adam's words echoed round my brain, “Lucky you
were born in London Tony”.
Antonio looked after the canoes and water transport; the tribe
would have its own specialists just as we do in our world. The
Chief himself would deal with the outside world business. The
Marriage with outsiders was not encouraged, The 'Yawanawa'
did not want Aids to in filter the village and also when a non
Indian married one of their girls, they tended to take the bride
out of the tribal area to live.
Early morning is the best time to visit Javanese temples, Borobudur
included. The gate opens at 6 am, around sunrise. The view of the
surrounding volcanoes and the Bukit Menoreh range to the south is
clearest at dawn, although morning mists sometimes obscure the view
until 8 am. Visitors must walk 500 meters to the base of the hill
then climb a series of steps to reach the temple foot. To see all
the reliefs one must walk more than 2 km (1.25 mile) around the four
galleries and climb several flights of steps. The minimum amount of
time needed at the Site is 1.5 hours.
The killing is over on Ambon, the hub of the Moluccas, or Spice
Islands, in Indonesia. There is an invisible line drawn between the
Christian and Muslim sectors in the City – it is still dangerous to
stop on the wrong side. The burnt out churches, houses and even
university buildings are reminders of the carnage that occurred a
short while ago, when Ambon was likened to Beirut at its worst.
“So it was a religious war?” I enquire. “Not really,
more the result of political manoeuvrings. Now we have peace and
democracy, but no jobs, clean streets or reliable infrastructure,
the opposite of neighbouring Singapore.” Almost incredibly,
fair and trouble-free elections had just been completed, much to
the surprise of the incumbent president, who refused to accept
defeat. “I would rather be in the hands of the Chinese army
than the Indonesian”, a French photo-journalist told us later,
after describing how he had to injure himself to persuade the
Chinese soldiers to release him. “You won't be killed or
“disappear” in their custody.”
With two friends I drove across the spine of Ambon to Hila, an old
village overlooking the much larger island of Ceram, passing
countless cloves and nutmegs drying in the sun on the roadside. It
was hard to believe that centuries ago such spices were valued more
highly than gold, with the result that the islands were a
battle-ground for the colonial powers, ending when we swapped our
land there for New York, after smuggling out seedlings to establish
plantations in India! We hiked up a steep trail, through spice
plantations, to a ridge with a spectacular view over the partially
forested hillsides. Here we strove to observe two species of
parrots endemic to these islands, which we could hear but not see.
We returned early the following morning and were rewarded by the
sight of the electric Moluccan Red Lory and the “poorly
known”, to quote the bird book, but well-named Drab
Honeyeater. On the drive back to the airport, we stopped to chat
and photo the friendly locals, many of whom were Muslims.
The main reason for going to Ambon was to take a flight to the
rarely visited Tanimbar Islands, some two hours east of Ambon. The
only flights were with Merpati, whose slogan “Get the
feeling” aptly described schedules in these parts as feelings
were all you could rely on, with nobody outside their office in
Ambon knowing when such flights would occur. Fortunately, we were
able to fly to Saumlaki on Yamdena, the main island of the
Tanimbars, on the desired day, a most uncomfortable experience in
an ancient 22-seater. We then discovered that we could not fly to
the relatively close Kai Islands as we wanted, flights having been
suspended, and the flight we had “booked” back to Ambon
did not run that day. As the previous day was full, we got a
booking for the day after, but no tickets as the agent had gone to
the airport to investigate why the plane had returned. The answer
was that the pilot had felt ill and so decided to come back to
Saumlaki, apparently not trusting his co-pilot to take-over.
The Tanimbars are at almost the south-eastern extremity of the 5000
km long Indonesian Archipelago, only 150 km from the coast of
Australia. Unlike most of the country, the population is
predominantly Christian. At the Harapan Indah, the only hotel in
town, we arranged to stay at the owners' farm 21 km along the
island's only road, so that we had ready access to the native
forest. By the time we reached the farm, after supplies had been
purchased, including a crate of beer, it was raining – the first
time for 4 months so it was said. We had come here to try to see
the 20 or more special birds endemic to these parts, a surprisingly
high number for such a relatively small area. When the rain
stopped, we set forth, amongst much bird activity, but were
disappointed to find the extensive forest reported to be present by
the last person we knew to have visited, some 10 years ago, had
gone and only patches of logged forest remained. 
However, over the
next 4 days we saw all the specialities, including 2 parrots, 2
thrushes and 5 flycatchers, apart from the Tanimbar Scrubfowl,
sadly scarce or elusive due to hunting, and the Pied Bronze Cuckoo.
Strangely, I had recorded the song of the cuckoo on the first
afternoon, but never heard it again. According to the book, it
parasitizes the endemic Rufous sided Gerygone, but the only bird to
react to the playback of its song, on several occasions, was the
Wallacean Whistler – indicating that this species is the main host
for the cuckoo's eggs.
On the last afternoon, we visited the old village of Turgham. We
started at the mayor's house, where a meeting of the village
elders was in progress. After mutual greetings, we signed the
visitors book, noting that all previous visitors of the last 2-3
years looked to be either Indonesians or Australians, the latter
associated with the annual Darwin to Saumlaki boat race apparently.
At a wood-carver's house we bought a number of carvings from
the selection on offer by several local artists – good quality and
value. We were invited to drink a glass of Soli, local spirit
distilled from palm wine- highly alcoholic and surprisingly smooth.
Returning to the Harapan Indah in Saumlaki, we enjoyed the
air-conditioning, until ended by a power cut, and were amused to
observe the staff ironing banknotes flat, perhaps to facilitate
storage as even the smallest item can require a large number of
notes, the exchange rate being 16, 000 Rupiah to the pound. The
trappings of civilisation are a bit thin on the ground here: no
mobile phone cover, internet access or shopping malls. Predictably,
our flight was delayed by late arrival of the plane but this gave
us chance to study the profusion of Oriental Plovers and Little
Curlews on the runway – two species rarely encountered away from
their wintering grounds in northern Australia. It was a shame we
could not fly to Kai but we all agreed this last minute extension
to our eastern Indonesia trip had been a highly rewarding and
pleasant experience.
