Sugar Palms

Sugar palms,Arenga pinnata know locally as aren, are found around the park and tapped for their juice. The sweet sap can be drunk neat, fermented into an alcoholic drink (saguer), or can be boiled down to produce a rich flavoured dark sugar (gula merah). Saguer can be easily purchased in most villages and varies enormously in both flavor and strength. It nay be sweet, sour, acidic, refreshing, or totally inebriating, depending on its 'vintage' or locality. The drink should be treated with respect, not least because it's mix of wild yeasts is completely new to a foreign stomach! The sap is collected by using lengths of hollow bamboo poles propped up against a tree; the owner of the tree will climb it every morning and night to take the juice that has accumulated. A good tree may produce six to seven litres each day and has many other uses, such as providing thatch and material for brushes. Aren trees are not planted but the community acknowledges individual ownership.

Anoa

A close relative of the water buffalo, Sulawesi have a two species Anoa: the mountain Anoa (Bubalus quarlesi and lowland Anoa Bubalus depressicornis. The mountain Anoa is covered in a fine, dense coating of hair, which can be light brown to chocolate or black in colour. It has short conical horns and stands 75 cm at the shoulder. A solitary animal, it is unique in that of the five species of wild cattle in southeast Asia, this is the only one whose major habitat is undisturbed forest, where it feeds on a variety of fruit, leaves, grasses, moss and ferns. Th rugged, high altitude nature of the park suits the endangered mountain Anoa. Although it is considered to be relatively common here, it is reclusive and only observed occasionally feedeng in well-drained areas or lying ruminating along dry, relatively open, ridge tops. A recent survey discovered high densities of the species in the moutainous interior of the park, where footprints, sleeping sites and faeces were frequently seen. Often hunted by poachers, almost to the point of extinction elsewhere, Lore Lindu National Park is now one of the last refuges for this endemic species.

Barkcloth

Traditional barkcloth, kain kulit kayu is still made extensively in the Bada Valley, where it is called ranta. It is occasionally made in Kulawi, where it is called mbesa, and in Napu, where it is know as inodo. Previously, it was used throughout these valleys for blankets, as room dividers, both men's and women's clothing, and even fashioned into saddles for horses. Several tree species can be used to make barkcloth, the most common of which, is the banyan tree (Ficus spp., locally know as nunu). This produces a cloth that is brown or reddish in color. The tree in not killed in the process, as only branches are used. The inner bark is boiled to soften it and then wrapped in banana leaves to ferment for two to four days, It is then pounded with deeply ridged wooden mallets, followed by a series of progressively finer-grooved stone mallets, to produce a thin, smooth piece of material. This process takes another three days, and several pieces of bark can be joined to make a larger cloth. Finally, it may be treated with the sap from another tree to preserve it, and then dried. The whole process takes no more than 10 or 11 days. The cloth is strong, tears can be repaired and a skirt would be expected to last up to rained, people would take their clothes off, roll them up, put them under their arms and walk around naked! In the Bada Valley, the white bark cloth (from the paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera) is painted with brightly-coloured, natural dyes in traditional motifs and geometric disigns.