Gede Pangrango park reopened to climbers

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

Mount Gede Pangrango National Park was reopened to the public on Saturday after being closed for three months due to vandalism and environmental damage by trekkers.

The head of the park's management team, Nopianto Bambang, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday about 600 volunteers from local outdoor clubs and forest rangers would now check trekkers at the park's entrance and exit points at Gunung Putri Puncak, Selabintana and Cibodas.

"Forest rangers and volunteers will also check four climbing routes for signs of vandalism. Those who are found vandalizing or damaging trees or buildings within the park will be banned from entering the park in the future.

"The volunteers and the rangers will also repeatedly remind climbers of the national park's regulations, which stipulate, among other things, that they are not allowed to bring in any sharp weapons or do any damage to the park," Nopianto said.

"A mountain climber should never vandalize or damage the environment. He is supposed to take care of nature. This is what we are doing; we must take care of the environment around Mount Gede Pangrango," he said.

He said the second biggest problem for the park management was litter. To deal with this problem, volunteers and rangers will check people entering the park and count how many bottles of water and bags of snacks they are carrying with them.

"If we do not find the (food packages) in their bags when they leave, they will have to return and clean their climbing routes. That is why we now require climbers to bring plastic bags with them to carry away all of their trash," he said.

Nopianto acknowledged that these regulations had been in place for a long time, but were simply ignored by visitors to the park.

The management shut the national park in January to repair all of the damage that had been done by visitors.

Over the course of three months, park employees and volunteers cleaned the four climbing routes of Cibodas, Cibeureum Falls, Kandang Badak and Puncak Gede Pangrango of trash and graffiti.

Nopianto said that since the park was reopened, 24 outdoor clubs had registered to trek up the mountain. A maximum of 600 people a day are allowed to enter the park in order to minimize and environmental damage and to ease the monitoring of visitors.