# General > Events, field trips and gatherings >  Trip to D. Matana, D. Towuti and D. Poso

## joydiv

I was invited to a field trip to the lakes of South Sulawesi by the owner of Aristocramata. Aristocramata is a major exporter of Sulawesi flora and fauna. On this trip, we documented the beautiful telmatherina and took pictures of the biotope there.

After a 2 hr flight from Jakarta, the plane touched down at Makassar Bandara Hasanudin. Our party of 4 collected a rental car from the airport. From Makassar, we drove close to 800 Km to the town Wowondula near Danau Matana.

For most of the journey, we were greeted by vast expanse of padi field.



At 2 am, we arrived at Wowondula. After a welcomed rest, we explored Danau Matana and Danau Towuti.



Danau Matana



Danau Towuti

As the rainy season had not fully abated, we scrapped our plan to visit Pulau Luha, an island on Danau Towuti. Also the rough water meant that all our explorations are confined to the shore line of the lakes.


After the visit to Danau Towuti, it was time for another long drive (7 hours) through mountainous road to a town along the shore of Danau Poso.



Danau Poso from the mountain



Danau Poso



What's in D. Poso


More Pictures to come.

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## shrimppaste

OH MY!!!!! Is that an Empire Gidgeon under the trunk?

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## zoothefreak

nice wow you actually went there  :Smile:  update and pics please more more more

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## joydiv

OH MY!!!!! Is that an Empire Gidgeon under the trunk? 
There are no empire Gudgeons in Sulawesi, it is a goby.

More Pictures

This is what D Matana looks like:

The water at D Matana is clear. Temperature wise, felt cooler than the 29 degrees reported. maybe it was still in the midst of the raining season.

As we go deeper to around 2 metres, the surface, heated by the sun is warm but beneath, it was cooling. Did not have a thermometer with me. Estimated the temperature to be closer to 26 degrees at 2 metres.

The ottelia are found growing in deeper waters. The first was encountered in water 1.6 metres deep. We also saw many eriocaulons. The eriocaulons are all growing in the water, unlike those we get from Thailand and China, which are found in muddy areas.

We saw many fishes but the shrimps are hard to see. They hide underneath rocks.



The pH of the water is close to 9 (using SERA test Kit). The TDS is surprising low for such high pH, only 80 plus.

More Pictures:







More Pictures to follow. It is excruciatingly slow to upload photos over here so do bear with me.

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## marle

Thanks for the pictures. very interesting!

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## fishoman

Wonderful field report! 
And I am also surprise by the low TDS of less than 100. 
More more more pls!

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## silane

Very nice, any pic on freshwater sponge?

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## joydiv

Unfortunately, the sponges are found in the deeper part of the lake. So... no pictures of the sponge.

We also had time to explore some of the waterfalls, looking for moss. 





The water is fast flowing and cold.

We found clumps of algae.


Moss




We also came across lots of nepenthes growing on the slopes of the mountain.





More pictures to follow...

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## joydiv

Managed to upload more pictures

These pictures show the typical biotope of the Malili lake System.







Most parts of the lakes are filled with stones, sand and mud. Vegetation is sparse with clumps of ottelia, eriocaulon and Lymnocharus sp.











The cherry Plant



We also collected some fauna:






The Tematherinas species stressed out easily. After a minute out of the lake and in the picture tank, the colours were all washed out. 







The colour is more striking than the photos in the lake.

Some of the rocks:




Schools of raindow



Anyone looking to recreate the biotope of the Malili system, you will need lots of rocks.

Stay tuned, more Pictures to follow...

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## fishoman

Great job, hope to see more joydiv!

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## Spid

Yeah with such good photography skills, I cant wait to see more pictures. Superb job there. 

By the way, a ph of 9 and a low tds is a "WOA".

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## joydiv

More underwater pictures of the lakes.

Snails are found in great numbers among rocky outcrops and rocks.






Among the snails, there are also many fully aquatic crabs. They should be panther crabs.





The shrimps are always found amongst rocks and drift wood in the lakes. In lake Poso, the shrimps are found very near to the shore. In lake Matano, the shrimps are found further away.

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## Linuxman

Awesome-o! Some inspiration for me for how to design my tank. 
Nice pictures also  :Smile:

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## Gray

Fantastic! Thanks! Gives more idea's!

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## genes

Hail joydiv! Great shots and commentary. Now you got many of us jealous...  :Laughing:

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## blackBRUSHalgae

nice trip... Are these collection areas sustainable? Never been there or never witness anything, only read a lot of articles and heard from locals about Indonesia deforestation, illegal drying up of swamp, forest arson...all in the name of commercial and corporation expansion... can't tell the difference in few decades, but will definitely made an impact on the ecosystem in the long run. 

It will be sad that one day beautiful places such as these will no longer be around...

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## joydiv

As far as I know, the whole of lake Poso area is a protected reserve where logging and exploitation of wild life is banned. However with rampant corruption, it is always possible to get flora and fauna out of that area.
The malili system is under the protection of INCO, a mining company, prospecting Nickel in that area.
From what I observed, the place is still relatively pristine. Just hope that it will stay that way.
As for sustainability of collection, I believe with interest dying out due to the difficulty of keeping these shrimps, it should not have a great impact on wild population. There is also a rainy season of 2 to 3 months when collection is difficult and risky.
These are just my observation. 
For those who wants to go there, best is to do it between June and October before the rainy season.

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