Exploring the wild? Don't take the tent wrong

Tents are important equipment in the wild. Some tents are now increasingly innovative, not even needing to stand on the ground, but hang on trees. Tents are widely used by soldiers in history and over time are used for recreational purposes by civilians.

Tents are home to outdoor explorers, a place to rest after traveling up a mountain, exploring the forest and along the river. Tents are also a place to protect yourself in extreme weather.

Tents generally have two coating principles for protection. The inner wall is made of breathable material or non-waterproof material and an outer wall or flysheet made of waterproof material. Both have different goals and functions.

A breathable material aimed at overcoming condensation generated by the user and some activities in the tent. Condensation occurs by the heat generated by the body or cooking activities in the tent. The inner wall made of non-waterproof material will allow the heat to come out.

Waterproof material for the outer wall is made to prevent rainwater and wind from entering the tent. This layer has a very tight structure and will not have pores or air holes. Some types of tents have both layers, but other types only have one layer and flysheet as an additional support.

Bivouac tent

Bivouacs are temporary or emergency shelter tents that are useful for shelter in bad weather. Bivouacs are usually made using a poncho raincoat.

Platoon tent

These tents have a long history and are most widely used for military missions and temporary shelters in a natural disaster. To set up this tent requires several people and this type of tent is made of materials that are very strong and accommodate many people.

Dome tent

Dome is the most popular tent. Although low capacity and not as strong as platoon tents, this type of dome tent has many advantages including compact and accommodated into backpacks. The simplest dome only weighs 2 kg and 4 kg for larger sizes.

Tree tent

This tent is a special type that is hung on a tree. A special sensation where sleeping users hang from trees. This type is very good for explorers to carry in watery environments.

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...

Bitter vine (Mikania micrantha)

Sembung rambat or bitter vine ( Mikania micrantha ) is a plant species in Asteraceae, crawling or wrapped around trees, perennial that grows up to 27 mm per day in tropical climates, branched stems where heart-shaped or triangular leaves are arranged in pairs and a plant can cover more than 25 square meters in a few months. M. micrantha has square-shaped stems or longitudinal bones, light green, many branches and has fine hairs. The stems have segments for lengths of 75-215 mm, each segment has a pair of leaves, new shoots and flowers. New roots grow when the segments come in contact with the soil. The leaves are in pairs and facing each other. Strands do not have hair, heart-shaped or triangular with jagged edges, length 30-125 mm, width 15-60 mm. Petiole is 1-6 cm long and has fine hairs. The flower panicle grows from the armpit of the leaf and the tip of the stem, having 3-15 mm long stems. Each flower head has 4 minor flowers. The crown is greenish-white, tubular and measures ...

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Alang-alang or cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grass, sharp leaf, long buds and scaly, creeping under the ground, very adaptive and grows in all climates which often become weeds on agricultural land. I. cylindrica has a sharp pointed tip of the bud and emerges from the ground, height of 0.2-1.5 m but in other places it may be more, short stems, rising up to the ground and flowering white or purplish, often with wreath of hair under the segment. Leaf strands in the form of long ribbons, lancet-tipped with a narrow base and gutter-shaped, 12-80 cm long, very coarse edge and jagged sharply, long hair at the base with broad, pale leaf bones in the middle. The flowers are panicles, 6-28 cm long with long-haired and white-colored ears for 1 cm which are used as a tool to blow off the fruit when ripe. Cogon grass breeds quickly with seeds that spread quickly with the wind or through rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. Alang-alang does...

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