Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas' Blog

Mr. Freddy, a local businessperson from the province of Kalimantan Tengah, flew to Jakarta so that he could immediately receive the funds for 20 ha. of forest that he agreed to sell OFI.  Otherwise, the forest would have been cleared for palm oil and lost forever to a relic population of about 50 – 100 wild [...]

I flew back to Indonesia on Singapore Airlines, middle seat, economy.  The journey took over 30 hours as I had to briefly overnight in Singapore (in by 2 am; out by 6 am).  Singapore Airlines must have the most comfortable seats on an international flight since I was able to fall asleep despite being shoehorned by a 6 foot [...]

Coming back from the Canary Islands took three planes, two airlines, and twenty hours.
It is great to be back in L.A.  If you live in an established neighborhood and have a car, then Los Angeles is probably the most convenient city in the world.  In fact, where my family lives, you don’t even need a car [...]

It is always doubly delicious when you meet a delightful stranger somewhere distant and then discover that he or she is actually from your home town.  It happened to me in the Canary Islands.  At lunch the day of my lecture I had started talking to Luis Salazar, a distinguished film maker, who was in [...]

I could not insert this photo into my original post on the Canary Islands.  My computer and the internet fought me.  After two hours I gave up.   But I wanted people to see what Roger and Deborah Fouts and I saw our first full day on this beautiful island. Whether it is animals or people being brutalized, it [...]

The  jet lag was so brutal my second day in the Canary Islands that I woke up at 12:30 pm.  I had drunk a cup of coffee the night before.  Big mistake!  I couldn’t  fall sleep until 7:30 am and when I forced myself to wake up, I felt like a zombie.  But I went straight [...]

I arrived in the Canary Islands at one a.m. and went straight to sleep.  I couldn’t get up until twelve hours later at one p.m.  I was so groggy that I could barely make my way out of the hotel room.  I was so jet-lagged and nauseous that I would have willingly confessed to any past [...]