Bukit Lawang waits for tourists' return

The Jakarta Post, Bahorok

A group of foreign tourists were seen recently traveling around the Bukit Lawang tourist resort in North Sumatra in motorized pedicabs, enjoying all the sights the area has to offer.

The sight was a rare one, especially after a flash flood in 2003 devastated the tourist resort, killing six foreign tourists and damaging 35 hotels.

The chairman of the Indonesian Tour Guides Association in Langkat, Usman Hasyimi, said about 300 foreign tourists visited Bukit Lawang each month, down from an average of 500 tourists before the tragedy. Most of the tourists come from Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.

"They are attracted by the natural beauty and the orangutans. Bukit Lawang means nothing without the two, especially the orangutans," Usman said.

The orangutans draw foreign tourists to the resorts, which stretches out over 200 hectares and is part of the Gunung Leuser National Park.

"There are now some 150 orangutans living freely in the Bukit Lawang forest," said Usman.

Back in the 1930s, Bukit Lawang was a plantation overseen by the Dutch colonial administration. After the country gained independence in 1945, the area evolved into a tourist resort.

In 1973, the World Wildlife Fund set up an orangutan rehabilitation center in Bukit Lawang, handing over the center to the Ministry of Forestry in 1982.

Since the center was established, the government has turned the area into one of the leading tourist destinations in North Sumatra.

Usman said Bukit Lawang enjoyed its glory days in 1995 and 1996, when about 40,000 foreign tourists visited the area.

But after the flash flood two years ago, these kind of numbers will be difficult to once again achieve.

"We are sad because the government has not shown the initiative to return Bukit Lawang to its heyday. It is still neglected, harming the local economy and residents who depend on tourism for their livelihood," said Usman.

A survivor of the flash flood, Ganti Sembiring, 47, said his food stall was nearly empty every day now and he only earned Rp 15,000 (US$1.50) at most on a good day.

"The money I earn is clearly not enough to meet my family's daily needs," said the father of five.

Ganti previously operated a cafe and an inn in Bukit Lawang but they were swept away by the flood, which some people have blamed on illegal logging in the national park.

However, a report released this month by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization and the Indonesian-based Center for International Forestry Research found there was no scientific evidence linking large-scale flooding to deforestation.

A German national, Willi Aschenberg, who helps his wife run an inn in Bukit Lawang, said lodge operators were also feeling the pinch from the drastic drop in tourist numbers.

Aschenberg said that as of October this year, only 2,000 tourists from Europe and the U.S. had stayed at his inn, about half the number of visitors the inn could have expected prior to the flood. On average, he said, tourists only stayed for two days in Bukit Lawang due to limited facilities.

"This can be detrimental for tourism in Bukit Lawang because there are no phone, Internet or electricity lines connected here. The road leading to Bukit Lawang is also very bad," said Aschenberg.

Extensive sections of the road leading into Langkat regency after the town of Binjai, particularly in Selesai, Kuala, Selapian and Bahorok districts, are damaged.

This has lengthened the travel time between Medan and Bukit Lawang, a distance of 85 kilometers, to four hours. The trip could be expected to be completed in two hours on a good road.

A Canadian tourist, Geraldine Spurr, 52, said she disliked the road but very much enjoyed the area's natural beauty.

"I love Bukit Lawang. I've been staying here for the past three days. The sights are beautiful and the orangutans are interesting," said Spurr, who plans to return to Bukit Lawang in the near future.