EXPEDITION SUCCESS

Yesterday this letter arrived from Richard, and I think you will agree with me that it is astounding news:

Hi Jon,

We are just back from the jungle and have amazing news but don't release it till tomorrow when we will be out of Indonesia.

Dave Archer and Sahar the guide saw orang-pendek!

It was squatting in a tree around 100 feet from them. It was the size of an adult chimp and dark brown in colour. They could not see the face, hands or feet. Its head was shaped more like a gorilla's than a chimp's and it lacked the long mane of hair some witnesses describe. A darker strip was visible on the back. It had broad shoulders and the upper half of the body, including the head, was 40 inches (we measured afterwards). The coat was thick like a mountain gorilla's. We have hair samples and rattan that the orang-pendek was chewing on. Sahar saw it jump down and walk away on two legs. Dave missed a photo opportunity when he tried to get a better vantage point.

We found and photographed very clear footprints in a different area but could not cast them as we couldn't get hold of any plaster of Paris. We collected many hairs from this area.

Dampness screwed the moving camera's battery. It was virtually dead within 48 hours of us reaching Gunung Tuju. We took lots of photos. Dave's moving camera was drained by humidity too. We have some film but not a vast amount. We filmed a big cat sequence.

Loads of adventures happened including almost sinking in flooded canoes, thinking we had OP cornered up a tree and clothes being soaked in raw sewage!

The rattan will probably have OP DNA on it like a mouth swab. These are the best results from any expedition ever.

Cheers,

Rich

I followed Richard's instructions to the letter and didn't release it until today now the team are - hopefully - out of Indonesia. There could be a number of reasons for Richard's request, not the least being due to the instability of the region the possibility of the four brave CFZ boys finding themselves getting into trouble as a result of the news having been leaked. So we stayed schtum.

However, the news was leaked out last night. I don't know who did it or why, and I don't particularly care: this is about the advancement of science, not scoring cheap points over other people by getting the news out first. A considerable number of our readers and members emailed, telephoned and IM'd me last night to tell me that the news had been proliferated across the Internet, and to ask why there was no mention of the CFZ in any of the reports. Are there some people, they asked, who prefer not to give the CFZ any publicity at all if they can possibly help it? And would these people be happier if we just gave up and went away?

All I can say, my dears, is that you might well think that, but I could not possibly comment

Slainte

RICHARD WRITES

This arrived several days ago (while I was in Ireland) and turned up in my spam filter. Hi Jon et al, I'm in an internet cafe en route to Banko. We have been on the road for 8 hours and have another 2 to go. Should arrive in Banko at 2 am. Will be meeting with the Kubu tribe tomorrow. Apparently there have been a lot of orang-pendek sightings in this area recently. We will be putting up baited camera traps. All the best, Rich

INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD FREEMAN ON THE EVE OF THE EXPEDITION

MEET THE TEAM

We thought that it was about time that we had a quick look at the four members of the Sumatra 2009 team. The pictures, by the way, are from last year's expedition to Russia.

Richard Freeman
Richard is a full-time cryptozoologist and the Zoological Director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology. He has taken expeditions all across the globe in search of monsters and mysterious beasts. He has hunted giant snakes in Indo-China and South America, relic hominids in Russia, mystery apes in Indonesia, dragons in West Africa, giant eels in Scotland and death worms in the Gobi Desert.

Dr Chris Clark
Chris has taken part in and partially funded many of the CFZ’s expeditions. An avid explorer, he has also travelled widely in some of the most inhospitable places on earth such as Afghanistan. He is a trained astrophysicist and currently works as an engineer for Halliburton. He is fascinated with Islamic architecture.

Adam Davis
Adam works as an interviewer for the Home Office. He has explored the planet on the track of unknown animals for a number of years. His adventures have included ape-men in Mongolia, lake monsters in Scandinavia, possible living dinosaurs in the Congo and wildmen in China. He has appeared on the History Channel in the U.S.

Dave Archer
Dave keeps exotic pets in a number that could constitute a small zoo. He is a member of the CFZ and took part in his first cryptozoological expedition last year when he hunted the almasty, a relic hominid in Russia. He has taken his own expeditions to Turkey to study the native reptiles.

RICHARD FREEMAN: Notes from the front

Our expedition looms closer: next Sunday we will fly out to Sumatra once again. It will be good to see our guide Sahar once again. I believe Debbie Martyr will be out of the country so unfortunately we will miss her.

A couple of weeks ago I had a dream of seeing a pair of orang-pendek on the outskirts of a village. Adam Davies has had a recurring dream of seeing an orang-pendek, also on the outskirts of a village. My girlfriend Lisa, however, has had a reccuring dream of me being constricted by a huge snake near some water. Make of that what you will! No Comment. Ed.

I'm looking forward to finding out more about the giant horned snakes that are said to live in the jungle, and the cigau - the savage big cat whose description sounds very like a scimitar cat.
I'm also wondering how much deforestation has occured in the five years since I was last there.