AURO-The-Natural-Choice-for-daily-Life-04.2019

A VISIT TO THE SUMATRA RAIN FOREST One of our long-term deliverers of raw materials and AURO’s Head of Production, Helmut Nieder, decided to travel to Indonesia in order to find the light yellow pieces of resin called dammar that are won from the Meranti tree. The dammar pieces are used as bind- ing agent in the production of ecological paints and lacquers. After arrival in their jungle camp, they visited several areas in the thick rain forest where Meranti trees were to be found. Here is the account of Mr. Nieder’s journey. What did you like best on the journey? It was very beautiful to see the differently shaded pieces of dammar resin. The colouration went from dark brown to light brown to light yellow and even white. Both varie- ties reminded me of rock sugar. We also saw a huge Mer- anti tree that delivered resin until a year ago. From the trunk, the tree „exudes“ the fresh dammar resin. The pieces can be seen on the stock of the tree. It was very moving to see the young trees and also the very old ones in their immense size. What impressed you most deeply? The air humidity and the temperature in the rain forest. The weather conditions are so extreme that the sweat just runs and runs. Sometimes it rained so hard that the streets, mostly built of sand, were completely sodden. In order to move forward with the pickup truck, there always had to Meranti tree, notched for resin extraction. 46