SEVEN years ago the Kerinci Seblat National Park was a living forest thick with trees whose trunks were covered with moss and shrubs. Anyone entering the forests would find dozens, if not hundreds, of leeches jumping off the trees and shrubs in search of prey. So many were the leeches that they seemed like rain falling from the trees and shrubs, says Cahyo Junaedi, a Tempo journalist who spent 30 days in the forests.

Junaedi went 130 kilometers de