Another strategy employed by SUMECO is village sweeping, one that participants were actively involved in. Piled on top of and in the back of a mini truck, participants kept a lookout for protected species of songbirds kept as pets.Working with and within the local community, rapport and collaboration form essential elements of SUMECO’s conservation work. Through village sweeps, SUMECO broaches the topic of conservation, convincing poachers, loggers and land encroachers of an alternative way to make a living – some of whom have joined the team at SUMECO.

Base camp was situated at a hilltop lodge overlooking Bukit Lawang village and surrounding forests. The team had the privilege of sharing the lodge with an asian leopard kitten, the previously mentioned slow loris, several rescued snakes and a crested serpent eagle. After days of observation and basic care, participants assisted in the release of rescued animals; with the return of the slow loris into Gunung Leuser, and the release of the snakes into the forest behind the lodge. Alongside conservation activities in the day, night walks took centre-stage upon the setting of the sun. Participants had the opportunity to spotlight for nocturnal mammals and reptiles; an expedition in the dark. Despite the thrill of adventure – clambering around rocky hills, avoiding pitfalls and traversing thin plank bridges – the landscape never failed to remind us that major land excavations for road construction were in motion. Urbanisation in the heart of the forest meant that wildlife and humans crossed paths increasingly, such as encounters with two caecillians, an elusive subterranean amphibian, and a malayan blue coral snake along an excavated pathway behind the lodge.