Indonesia and World Tourism News

Kerinci Seblat National Park Offers a Treasure Trove of Experiences for Tourists and Travelers

June 19th, 2006

Kerinci Seblat National Park offers a treasure trove of experiences for tourists and travelers. The Park’s varied geography supports a vast array of ecosystems, as well as a staggering diversity of plants and animals. Many rare and endangered species can be observed here, including the Sumatran Tiger. The Park’s 370 bird species (17 of which are endemic) have made Kerinci Seblat a destination for birders from around the world.
Activities available in the Park range from trekking and mountain climbing (at 3,805 meters, Gunung Kerinci is the second highest peak in Indonesia), to caving, to bird and animal watching, to lounging in natural hot springs.

Geography
The same tectonic movement that caused the Indian plate to go crashing into the mainland Asian plate, causing the Himalayas to be formed some 60 million years ago, was also responsible for the stress on the earth’s crust that created the Barisan range. This spine of mountains runs down the west of Sumatra and forms the major geographical feature of the landscape of the Kerinci Seblat.  Nearly 86% of the park area is classified as ‘mountain systems’.  These comprise ranges formed from sedimentary rock, and both active and dormant volcanoes, including Indonesia’s highest, Gunung Kerinci.  In the east of the park and area of limestone hills has some cave systems including the archaeologically interesting Tianko Panjang cave.

The Kerinci valley runs between the park’s two main mountain areas and is a graben valley - an elongated depression caused when the earth’s surface subsides between two fault lines.  Faults beneath the valley still cause earthquakes and slight tremors happen most years.  The last major earthquake occurred in 1995 and measured 7.1 on the Ricther scale.  It caused structural damage that can still be seen on the mosque at Kampung Imam.  and claimed over 100 victims.  The Vulcanology station in Kersik Tuo still keeps the seismographic printout of this incident and the staff there are happy to show it to tourists.

Kerinci is also characterized by some interesting wetlands.  South of the principle town Sungai Penuh is Lake Kerinci, a relatively recent creation formed when volcanic material from Gunung Raya blocked the valley.  Higher up the valley is the upland swamp at Rawa Bento and the peat swamp forests of Ladeh Panjang.  At the foot of Gunung Kerinci lies the small crater lake Danau Belibis.  Most spectacular of all is the caldera lake of Gunung Tujuh, formed when the exhausted volcanic cone filled with water.

Kerinci Seblat National Park links the lowlands to the east and west to the mountains in a continuous forested reserve, giving the park great ecological value.  The upper catchments of Sumatra’s longest river Sungai Batanghari, and largest, Sungai Musi are protected here, and many smaller river flow from the park area.  More than three million people and some four million hectares of agricultural land are dependent on a sustainable water supply from these rivers.

In a steep watershed prone to erosion, forests fill a vital role in regulating water flow.  Local people are well aware of the relationship between tree clearing and the drastic landslides and soil loss that often follow, also realizing that as more forest is lost both the cycle of droughts and floods is becoming increasingly problematic
Source : www.kerinci.org/geo.html

Entry Filed under: Indonesia & Bali Tourism News