Seram, Indonesia.  We flew from Bali to Ujang Pandang,
southern Sulawesi. Caught a small prop-flight from U.P. to
Ambon, the provincial capital of the Molucas. Took a taxi from
the airport to Ambon Bay and ferried across to Ambon City for
an overnight in a spartan hotel. After a 90 minute local bus
ride the next morning from the city over unpaved roads to
Tulehu at east end of Ambon to catch scheduled boat heading
east past Haruku and Saparua Islands; 4 hours later we arrived
along the southern coast of Serman in the port town of Amahai.
After being swamped by locals on the dock to carry our bags
and gear, we found someone who spoke English who took us to a
small hostel/inn in Masohi. Overnight in Masohi. We searched
out a driver with a 4-wheel drive vehicle to take us east
along the only paved road on the island (30 km. on a 300 km.
long island) and then up a narrow, steep river bed for two
hours into the high elevation Manusela rain forest.  Three
days and hundreds of bone-jarring miles brought us to an
absolute remote spot on Seram where the children have
literally never seen outsiders.  The reward for this trip was
to see the habitat of a few rare exotic land shells,
dinner-plate size lacey butterflies, fist-size bees and other
prehistorically-sized insects in a rainbow of colors,
brilliant red parrots, all in their natural habitat; and an
exuberance on the faces of the local children like I've never
seen before.  This was truly a trip of a lifetime.
Rich Goldberg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.worldwideconchology.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 08:57:52 -0600
>From: Andy Rindsberg <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Remote places
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Guido Poppe wrote, "Seems this list is about the problems of
collecting, no
>longer the shells, the discoveries, the excitement..."
>
>Good point. We used to have more "What I did on Barbados"
shelling reports,
>for example. Okay, I have a question for you far-venturing
folks. What was
>the remotest locality you have ever collected at (in terms of
the difficulty
>of reaching it, not necessarily distance), and what made it
special?
>
>Happy New Year!
>Andrew K. Rindsberg
>Geological Survey of Alabama
>

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