By: Annisa Ruzuar

After the two forest friends winners Rima Putri Agustina (Indonesia) and Lena Gottschalk (Germany) planted trees and went on an adventure in Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau, at the end of July they had the opportunity to visit Uckermarck Nature Reserve, Germany. Forest Friend is a forest and environment conservation campaign initiative targeted at young people aged 18 to 25 through online applications or friendship networks. The program initiated by WWF-Indonesia and WWF Germany seeks to encourage creative ideas among youth to promote, mobilize, and inspire others around them to take real action for forests and the environment.

After a one-hour train ride from Berlin, the two arrived at the conservation area, which features 200 lakes and a stretch of natural forest. Unlike the Tesso Nilo landscape, which is dominated by brackish lowlands, Uckermark's topography was influenced by the ice melt phenomenon around 15,000-20,000 years ago. After the ice melted, the remaining rocks formed small hills surrounded by lakes, and glacier flow formed small valleys on flatter surfaces.

The four days in Uckermark were filled with a variety of outdoor activities, from hiking to Findlingsgarten Carwitz (Carwitz Rock Garden) and its hundred-year-old oak-dominated forests, to 16km of river and lake walks, to wading through swampland and mudflats. .

One of Rima's most memorable experiences was canoeing through the rivers and lakes of Lychen, Uckermark. In the middle of the trip, the two jungle friends and the rest of the trip group had to land several times and carry the canoe to the next paddling location. The paddle started from the river that empties into Lake Platkowsee, then headed to Lake Zensee, and ended at Oberpfhul.

"One word for this first impression of canoeing in Lychen, Uckermark: amazing! The rivers are so clear, the forests so beautiful, and the air so fresh. Occasionally some birds surprised us with their presence in the forest bushes. Every corner we looked at was so beautiful, even when we looked up at the sky, the lush canopy of the trees protected us from the sun," said Rima.

Both of them also saw firsthand the work area of WWF-Germany in Mahlendorf which focuses on the conservation of freshwater areas and biodiversity. In this area, WWF tries to dam the river to irrigate the swamp area that is dry because it does not get river water supply to restore the condition of the swamp ecosystem. Interestingly, it turns out that WWF's efforts received help from the wild otters that live there. They helped to strengthen the dam wall by arranging the logs.

For Rima, the opportunity she got from the Forest Friends competition was a valuable one, "The German forest is different from what I saw in Tesso Nilo, but from both forests I learned a lot and I'm happy to share it with Lena."