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Way Kambas National Park
Way Kambas
National is situated on the coast of Lampung province on
the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Bounded
by
the Java Sea to the east, and to the southeast and west
by rivers the park is almost entirely flat (elevation
between 0-60 metres a.s.l.). As such the park is
characteristic of the coastal lowland plains of eastern
Sumatra. Approximately 1,300 km2 in extent, the park was
originally established as a wildlife reserve in 1937,
but between 1954 and 1974 was intensively logged. In
1978 it was proposed as a national park, with
provisional declaration in 1989 and final declaration in
1997.
Way Kambas National Park is a large national park
covering 1,300 square kilometres in Lampung province,
southern Sumatra, Indonesia.
Way Kambas consists of swamp forest and lowland rain
forest, but was extensively logged before becoming a
reserve in 1972 so there is little primary forest. The
reserve still has a few Sumatran Tigers and reasonable
numbers of elephants. It is also provides excellent
birdwatching, with the rare White-winged Duck among the
species present. Accommodation is available at the
village of Way Kanan, where there is a small guest
house.
Habitat
Much of the park is dominated by a mosaic of
Imperata cylindrica grassland and secondary forest
habitat types, primarily a result of intensive logging
operations in the past, but maintained by frequent fires
and seasonal flooding. A central core area of the park
is characterised by relatively intact primary tropical
rainforest.
Access
There are four possibilities to enter the park.
Rajabasa station in Bandar Lampung (Tanjung Karang) to
Way Kambas, also named Plang Hijau. The trip will take
2-3 hours (100 km). Panjang station in Bandar Lampung to
Sribawono (1 hour). In Sribawono get on a bus to Way
Jepara (1 hour) and from there with a minibus to Plang
Hijau. Rajabasa station to Metro (1 hour) and from Metro
to Way Jepara. Merak ferry terminal in Bakaheni, where
the ferry from Java arrives, to Plang Hijau.
Permits for the park are available at the entrance in
Plang Hijau.
Accomodation
In Way Kanan, in the park, are some simple
bungalows. You should bring food.
Trekking
Plang Hijau-Way Kanan (13 km) 3 hours From Way Kanan,
by boat along the rivier Way Kanan to the river mouth in
Kuala Kambas
Flora
A large part of the park is overgrown with Serdang
Palms (Livistona hasselti). The lowland forest consists
mainly of trees from the Dipterocarpacea family.
Fauna
Because of the vast areas of grass-land, Way Kambas
is a reserve where you can easily spot the animals.
Animals
Sumatran Elephant (a lot of them are very dangerous
due to ill-treatment in the adjacent elephant training
school!), Siamang, White-handed Gibbon, Long-tailed
Macaque, Pig-tailed Macaque, Silvered Leaf Monkey,
Malayan Tapir, Lesser Mousedeer, Large Mousedeer,
Barking Deer, Malayan Sunbear, Wild Boar, Wild Dog,
Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Clouded Leopard,
Pangolin, Temminck's Golden Cat, Leopard Cat, Agile
Gibbon, Common Otter.
Reptiles
False Ghavial, Estuarine Crocodile.
Birds
White-winged Wood-duck, Masked Finfoot, Milky Stork,
Lesser Adjutant, Asian Dowitcher, Storm's Stork,
White-bellied Sea-eagle, Brahminy Kite, Grey-headed
Fish-eagle, Lesser Fish-eagle, Osprey.
The Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) is a
subspecies of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). It
is the biggest land animal in Indonesia and is found
only on the island of Sumatra. They are found in the
island's forests at altitudes of 1 750 m, but they
prefer to live in lowland forests. They also have a
large home range; they move from the mountain area to
the coastal lowland forest during the dry season and
then retreat to the hills when the rainy season comes.
A number of factors, such as forest fires, human
resettlement, logging, timber estates, plantations,
agriculture expansion, shifting cultivation, and road
building commonly cause the fragmentation and
degradation of the island's elephant habitat. These
activities, which are increasing year by year, have
resulted in a rapidly shrinking elephant habitat and are
responsible for the increase in the number of conflicts
between elephants and humans each year.
Since the 1980s, the Indonesian Government has tried to
solve this conflict by three main activities:
1. First, population management (Tata Liman). This
involves moving or translocating elephants from the
fragmented or degraded habitat to a more suitable
habitat. Every year, until the current fiscal year, the
government has allocated a budget for translocating
solitary, isolated or troublesome elephants.
2. Second, elephant empowerment (Bina Liman). This
involves habitat rehabilitation, fencing, community
education/extension, and training troublesome elephants
to participate in human activities.
3. Third, utilization of trained elephants from the
Elephant Training Centres (Guna Liman). This involves
using domesticated elephants for forestry, agriculture
and recreation activities.
The Sumatran elephant, the smallest of the Asian
elephants, is facing serious pressures arising from
illegal logging and associated habitat loss and
fragmentation in Indonesia. The island's elephant
population has come under increasing threat from rapid
forest conversion to plantations. As forests shrink,
elephants are increasingly closer to fields and
cultivated land, generating conflict with humans that
often result in the death of the elephants by poisoning
or capture, as well as economic losses to humans.
However, this effort is not successful because the
demand for domesticated elephants or trained elephants
is very low. This creates a serious problem for the
government because the greater the number of elephants
staying at the Elephant Training Centres the more the
government must spend on maintaining them. Since fiscal
year 1997/1998, between 50 and 55 percent of the annual
national budget (APBN) for elephant conservation was
allocated for operating Elephant Training Centres. Thus,
it appears that domesticating the elephant population is
not the best method of solving the elephant problem in
Indonesia.
Wild elephants
The wild Sumatran elephant was formerly found in
eight provinces on Sumatra. However, the dense and
tangled vegetation of the tropical rain forest there
makes it difficult to estimate the number of wild
elephants. In 1929, Van Heurn made the first attempt at
an estimate, based on the amount of ivory exported from
Sumatra, and came up with a figure of 3 600 wild
elephants.
Domesticated elephants
When kings or sultans ruled Sumatra, there must have
been a substantial number of elephants in captivity.
They were used in warfare and for ceremonial purposes.
With the decline of the sultans and the ascendancy of
the Dutch colonial power, the capture and domestication
of elephants died out.
In the 1980s when the country was developing very fast,
large areas of forests and woodlands were opened up by
various economic sectors. As a result, some elephant
habitats became fragmented and some home ranges were
reduced by human activities. Since that time, conflicts
between elephants and communities around the forests
have increased.
The Sumatran elephant is an endangered species and
protected both by Indonesian and international
regulations. Therefore, since 1985, to solve elephant
conflicts and to conserve the elephant, the government
has set up six Elephant Training Centres on Sumatra.
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