Meru Betiri National Park covers 580 square kilometres (58,000 hectares) of eastern Java. It receives few tourists as accessibility is very difficult and the drive is a long bumpy trip, even by 4WD. The 30 kilometre trip crosses half a dozen rivers as it winds its way through dense forest and a runner plantation. As visitors near the park the potholes just get larger and the ride more unpleasant. It is perhaps unnecessary to point out how beneficial this is for the wildlife of the area. Named after the highest mountain in the area, Gunung Betiri, the park consists of one of the last large areas of lowland rainforest on Java. Amongst this are mangroves, lowland swamp forest and beach formations.
It is from this reserve that continued reports of Javan tigers persist. These claims come from park staff and locals, but some experts suspect they are erroneous leopard sightings. In 1972 only seven Javan tigers were known to be Meru Betiri, and even as it was declared a reserve, (that very year), the area was under attack by agricultural development. A 1979 census located the tracks of only three tigers. Since that time all reports have been unable to be substantiated. It took until 1997 for the government to declare the area a National Park. These actions were far too late for the Javan tiger.
Experiments are to be carried out using infrared remote cameras as this would seem to be the only likely method of locating any tigers. Authorities are prepared to move several thousand natives from the local area if required. For these people the park provides honey, bamboo, rattan, wood, grass, food and 300 different types of medicinal plants.
Barking deer, wild boar, Banteng, sambar, Javan leaf monkeys, long-tailed macaques, pangolin, black giant squirrels, large flying foxes, reticulated pythons, Javanese eagles and water monitors all occupy the area. Felids at Meru Betiri include the leopard and the small leopard cat.
Conservation efforts are primarily concentrated on the nearby turtle nesting beaches, particularly at Sukamade, where the turtles are monitored and protected during egg laying. Green, leatherback, hawksbill, Olive Ridley and loggerhead turtles uses the same beaches.
Tagging of turtles has been taking place for some years. Together with the use of hatcheries, this has seen the populations stabilize and increase. Arriving between 9 p.m. and midnight, the turtles crawl determinedly up the beach, deposit up to 100 eggs beneath half a metre of sand and then return to the water; this takes some hours. Turtle Wardens collect the eggs and bury them where they will be secure from poachers and leopards. These big cats wait patiently in the hope of an opportunity to grab an easy meal.
Hatching takes two months, and if the hatchling survives the precarious 25 years to adulthood it may live to see 150. To increase the chance of survival the newborn turtles are collected and kept in tanks until they are stronger.
Meru Betiri National Park now faces ravaging by, not one, but by three separate mining companies. 80,000 tons of gold deposits have been found located within the area of east Java and three, possibly four, companies have joined forces for an application to mine the area. This has already been approved by local government officials who described the land as a local asset to be exploited by third parties. Before making their decision officials enquired about employment opportunities, data on the findings, and what income there would be for the region. There was no recorded mention of wildlife conservation.
Until recent times, the primary focus at Meru Betiri has been that of conservation. This has changed with the mining opportunity and increased promotion of tourism for this area. With ever increasing demands for ‘Adventure Tourism’, and thrill-seeking, efforts are being made to attract more visitors. This will inevitably be at the expense of the wildlife in the area.
Source : www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/meru.html
June 12th, 2006
Baluran National Park, on the north-east corner of Java, was designated a wildlife reserve in 1937. but it was not until 1982, probably some time after the Javan tiger had become extinct, that its status was changed to that of National Park. It covers an area of 250 square kilometres (27,868 hectares) and was the home of Javan tigers right up until the 1960s when the last specimen was eliminated from the area. For the tiger, the declaration of Baluran as a National Park was simply too little and too late. Like the other protected areas on Java, the park areas were not large enough to sustain an animal which needs such a large territory. The main felid to be seen here now is the leopard.
The park mascot is the Banteng, also known as Bali cattle, or Javanese ox, which is native to the area. These cattle look similar to the domestic animal and weigh in at 600-800 kg. Their total population is between 5,000 and 8,000 individuals, and no single population contains more than 500 Banteng. In fact, only about eight or nine groups exceed 50 cattle and the species is already extinct from some of their previous strongholds in India, Bangladesh and Malaysia. An illegal trade in horn continues to flourish and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre lists Banteng as vulnerable.
In Australia, Banteng are kept on safari parks and shot by trophy hunters. This country also contains the world’s largest huntable wild herd of Banteng. It is not uncommon for a species which is under threat in its native land to be kept for this purpose in another country. With some species the number of animals kept for sport shooting exceeds the numbers still in the wild. What is the trophy value of an animal which is extinct in much of its original territory? For Banteng these hunters willingly pay a trophy fee in excess of US$2,500.
At Baluran it is also possible to see leaf monkeys, monitor lizards, squirrels, fruit bats, civets, and wild pig. Bird species include the green jungle fowl, kingfisher, bee-eater, owl and peacock.
Today Baluran Nation Park is surrounded by heavily cultivated and industrialised land. It suffers encroachment from local villages and year round is often overrun by weekend visitors. Heavy promotion of this park as a tourist attraction continues. Couple this with the park’s very ready accessibility and it seems unlikely the area will remain unspoilt.
source : www.lairweb.org.nz/tiger/baluran.html
June 12th, 2006
After thrashing through the wild jungles of eastern Java, smart adventurers take a turn through banana plantations and rubber trees, to an aromatic oasis that serves home-grown feasts and pots of coffee that are fit for paradise
FROM THE KITCHEN COMES THE RICH AROMA OF EXOTIC SPICES like nutmeg and clove. On the table, a feast awaits: soup filled with wild mushrooms, platters of banana fritters and fried ferns, and a fresh vegetable casserole. Besides sweets of cinnamon and chocolate, there’s also sinful agar, a vanilla pudding with coffee Jell-O.
To this glorious Garden of Eating, the houseboy adds a huge pot of Javanese coffee, thick enough to stand up even the heaviest spoon.
There is something special about sipping Java, as coffee is called in many parts of the world, in the land that made it famous. Better yet, we’re drinking Javanese coffee fresh from the source, at the very plantation where it is grown, roasted and brewed.
In fact, every ingredient on the table - from the bountiful main courses right down to the tiny grains of pepper - comes from the surrounding soil. At Kaliklatak, at the eastern end of Java, a short ferry ride from Bali, images of Eden are everywhere.
More than a few visitors have likened R. Soehoed Prawiroatmodjo to Indonesia’s own Luther Burbank, the famous American botanist who eschewed laboratories in favor of lush flower gardens of his own creation.
At 1,000 hectares, and employing 600 workers, the highly-successful Kaliklatak rubber and coffee plantation is Java’s largest. The ranch claims 115 hectares of cocoa, 550 hectares of coffee, 130 hectares of rubber trees, 80 hectares of cloves, plus an assortment of nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, vanilla and all varieties of fruits and vegetables.
More than anything, though, the plantation has proven that the pursuit of profit needn’t ruin paradise. At Kaliklatak, commerce coexists with immense natural beauty. Scores of orchid species mingle with American cactus, palms from Saudi Arabia, parrots and monkeys. Statues and religious shrines add a mystical spell.
The ranch, which rents 20 cottages to curious visitors, also produces bananas so fine that Kaliklatak’s variety, Pisang Ambon Kuning, was long ago named the National Banana.
“The government asked me to plant 200 hectares more of bananas,” says I.H. Soehoed Prawiroatmodjo, who has run the ranch since her husband died in 1982. “I told them I’m too old. So I gave them some seeds and said, ‘do it yourself’.”
Age hasn’t hampered this sprightly matron, who drives her jeep around the ranch, stopping to pull unsightly weeds from around the rubber trees with her own strong hands. Nor is she timid about expressing her opinions, even when criticism of the ruling family is involved. She is particularly angry about the way the president’s son, Tommy Suharto, brought financial ruin to the nation’s once-thriving clove industry.
Few in Indonesia would be so bold, but Prawiroatmodjo has always enjoyed the ability to level with the nation’s leaders. While working as a journalist in the 1950s, she traveled with long-serving Suharto’s only predecessor, President Sukharno.
Her journalism career was cut short after meeting her husband, a military leader who retired a few years later. He wanted to move to the country, to make things grow. They looked at numerous parcels for a retirement villa, but knew Kaliklatak would be their home from the moment they first saw the sprawling ranch, tucked on a forested hillside overlooking a volcano and the sea.
“My husband was a real Javanese,” she says. “He believed the saying, ‘Put before you the ocean, behind you the mountains; in between the land will bring you happiness’.” And, it has.
Kaliklatak produces 300 tons of coffee in a good year. Rubber is harvested daily. Each worker tends 500 trees, collecting the thin trickle of white sap that runs slowly down the circular notch cut into each one. Banana plants are harvested twice a month, producing five to six tons monthly.
Assessing all this bounty, and the beauty of Kaliklatak’s spacious gardens, it’s hard to believe that this magnificent and productive plantation was left in ruins following World War II. Hard work transformed the soil, and the Prawiroatmodjos devoted themselves to restoring the land’s spiritual qualities.
In a book printed two years after her husband’s death, Mrs. Prawiroatmodjo recounts his dream to build more than a mere ranch, but also a model village. It is centered by an ornate fence, with carvings that tell the history of the people of Indonesia, from the creation of the sun and the moon, until modern times.
The spiritual gate and fence were finished in 1960, but the family continued to add shrines and statues throughout the plantation. They invested heavily in ornamental plants and established nurseries for their favorite flowers, shrubs and trees. They experimented with a variety of crops, which flourished in the rich volcanic soil.
“My husband said we should plant spices. That was his idea, so that visitors would know what Indonesia had to offer, and why the Dutch came to these islands, for the spices,” she says.
Even after all this time, the Dutch still come, along with Europeans, Americans and tourists from every part of Asia. They come from Jakarta or Bali to Banyuwangi, then make the 15-kilometer drive through towering forests of teak to the plantation on the picturesque slopes of 9,000-foot Mt. Merapi.
Bookings are made through a select group of travel agents by visitors who generally hear of the plantation from former guests. Kaliklatak does no advertising. “Tourism is my hobby,” chuckles Mrs. Prawiroatmodjo.
Indeed, guests are often more serious about the visit than she seems. Dik and Rudy Schreuel stopped by during a personal pilgrimage. Rudy, 76, had lived in Indonesia until the mid-1960s. His son Dik, 41, had been born in Indonesia, but was sent back to Holland when he was only four. Their ancestors had been in Indonesia since 1830.
“It’s funny being back,” says Rudy, sipping tea while looking over colorful cloves and coffee and vanilla beans from a plantation lookout tower. “But it’s more beautiful than ever.”
While Dutch names are common on the Kaliklatak guest log, far more visitors are couples on vacation, seeking a romance along with adventure after lounging for a week or two on the beaches of nearby Bali. At Kaliklatak, they stay in cottages with two bedrooms, bath, living room and lovely verandas. Each of the 20 cottages, or Pondoks, is of an unique design, as are the surrounding gardens.
Guests can take tours of the rubber factory, where the sap is pressed and squeezed until thick bundles of latex are produced. They can also watch workers sorting the four grades of Kaliklatak coffee, most of which winds up ground into the thick paste that makes the pungent Javanese coffee. Or they can wander freely around the plantation, which is really a community unto itself, with over 300 houses, several stores, three schools, a mosque and a church.
Bedtime comes early on the plantation, unless guests find a singing session in one of the ranch towns. The workers are friendly, and eager to welcome guests.
Supano, one cottage worker, has lived on the ranch his entire life. He was born here and attended a plantation school. Both his parents lived here even before the Prawiroatmodjos bought the plantation. Supano, 38, says he expects both his children to grow up and work on the farm. His wife feels the same way. They met in the farm school. She was born here, too.
And you could hardly find a better place to spend your life, as many visitors find. “Guests often come for one night and stay for three,” says Mrs. Prawiroatmodjo proudly.
Kaliklatak offers a rare sort of rustic luxury; primitive pampering. Understandably, some visitors roam no further than the wicker furniture on their own personal veranda, where they are served by their own personal houseboy, who produces colorful and nutritious meals that bring new meaning to the theme of home cooking. Much of the food is harvested on the plantation that very day.
And topping it all off are piping hot pots of Java - fresh from the ranch, here in the heartland of Indonesia.
source : www.gluckman.com/kalik.html
June 12th, 2006
The area of Taman Nasional Bali Barat (West Bali National Park) situated at the Edge of north Bali Island is the stretch of green ground along the 150 km road that link Gilimanuk and Denpasar or Gilimanuk and Singaraja. It is located between district of Gerokgak in Buleleng regency and district of Melaya in Jembrana regency. It is reachable from Gilimanuk as the main entrance to West Bali, and from Denpasar. This 77,000-hectare park was established in 1941. Lush forests still grow on Bali’s southern and western slopes. West Bali National Park (covers 50,000 hectare on the western tip of the island. It also includes another 7,000 hectares of coral reef and coastal water. Considering in the small size of the island as a whole, the National Park is a major commitment towards attempting to preserve the wildlife found on Bali.
The forest in this area has been determined as ” Nature Park” - later on known as Taman Perlindungan Alam Bali - based on the decision of ” Raja-Raja di Bali” (Kings in Bali) dated 13th August 1917 noE-1/4/5. This regulation is intended to preserve the flora and fauna in this area.
The region is watered by clear streams and traversed by footpaths, which offer often steep but relatively easy walking. Explore the forested hills, scrub acacia near the coast, and the unspoiled reefs and dense mangrove swamps along Teluk Terima and the bays to the East.
The diverse fauna exist here, including Jalak Putih Bali/Bali starling (Leuoeopsarrhotschildi) and Bull (Bos javanicus), Antelop (Muntiacus Muntjak), deer (Cervus timorensis), monkey (Presbytis cristata, Macaca sp.), Scaly anteater ( Manis javanica), boar (Sus scrofa), hedgehog (Hystrix javanica), Sturnus melanotenus, Sturnus contra, Acridotenis fuscus, Picoides mucet, Orialus chinensis, Haliastur sp., Galus sp.
Since Bali is such a densely populated, intensively cultivated island, very little wild forest is left. Such primary monsoon forests as remain (about 50,000 hectares) are found along the watershed at the western end of island, on the slopes of the mountains Sangiang, Merbuk, Musi, and Patas, an area not nearly as rugged as the higher mountains of eastern Bali.
More like a forest than a jungle, the park offers exceptional walking and first class panoramas. The types of the land are forest, savannah, mangrove, coast, beach, and conservation forest. The plantation that formed the pure forest are sawo kecik (Manilkara kooki) and palm (Borrassus flellifer).
source : www.balibagus.com/bali_travel_news/detail/33.htm
June 12th, 2006