Nick Lens Photography
Guide and Porters
Oli on the right hand side, is trekking guide. Since Mount Rinjani is dangerous during wet season, he works on the gardens harvesting Cacao, Coffee, Avocados and many other things. While walking through the jungle the savvy man gave us a very interesting lecture. Now, during the dry season he leads customer through the national park. Over three days hiking over Mount Rinjani I got to know him and his culture better. Before leading trek, Oli wanted to be a porter so that he could understand the hardship of it. He told me with emotion that he cried after the first day. He did it for two years. He continues to have a great respect for his young porters. Each of them carry 25kg, walk barefoot or with flip-flops all the way. I tried myself at the beginning of the trek just to know what it is. It was quite a challenge but managed to do it the first day. But I had only 9kg on my back. Oli wears Adidas Trail shoes. He told me that he had the fix them all the time because these are bad quality. Adidas makes shoes for Indonesia but downgrade the quality to make products affordable to the locals. You can imagine how the shoes end-up with such use... He was looking at mine all the time. When I told him I'll give him after the trek he had such a big smile ear to ear, it was a pleasure to see him that happy. This photograph was shot at this very moment.
Guide and Porters
Oli on the right hand side, is trekking guide. Since Mount Rinjani is dangerous during wet season, he works on the gardens harvesting Cacao, Coffee, Avocados and many other things. While walking through the jungle the savvy man gave us a very interesting lecture. Now, during the dry season he leads customer through the national park. Over three days hiking over Mount Rinjani I got to know him and his culture better. Before leading trek, Oli wanted to be a porter so that he could understand the hardship of it. He told me with emotion that he cried after the first day. He did it for two years. He continues to have a great respect for his young porters. Each of them carry 25kg, walk barefoot or with flip-flops all the way. I tried myself at the beginning of the trek just to know what it is. It was quite a challenge but managed to do it the first day. But I had only 9kg on my back. Oli wears Adidas Trail shoes. He told me that he had the fix them all the time because these are bad quality. Adidas makes shoes for Indonesia but downgrade the quality to make products affordable to the locals. You can imagine how the shoes end-up with such use... He was looking at mine all the time. When I told him I'll give him after the trek he had such a big smile ear to ear, it was a pleasure to see him that happy. This photograph was shot at this very moment.