An Indonesian Forest Treasure Threatened by Plantations

Mile after mile of desert we drove through, hour upon hour, nothing but desert for as far as our eyes could see. And then, far in the distance, a cluster of mountains floated above the desert wastes, shimmering like a mirage.

But this wasn’t the American West or the Sahara but the island of Sumatra, Indonesia’s second-biggest, and it wasn’t sand dunes we…