Gede Pangrango park spoiled by trash dumping
Gede Pangrango park spoiled by trash dumping
Bambang M., Contributor, Yogyakarta
Botanists call Gede Pangrango National Park in West Java "the
pearl in Java's crown" for its incomparable richness and beauty.
Just like a pearl, though small, it is exquisite. The park is
one of the world's best examples of a tropical forest with its
overwhelming biodiversity and stunning natural splendor although
the 15,196-hectare park is the second smallest in the country.
Sadly, the "pearl" is now tarnished by trash left behind by
climbers, leaving several places commonly used to rest and enjoy
scenery covered with filthy rubbish.
"We unfortunately can't deal with the waste problems just
yet," said the park's officer at Cibodas station, L. Surjadi.
Despite warnings, visitors continue to throw their garbage
everywhere, unaware of the park's status as one of the world's
centers of biodiversity.
The park which produces oxygen for over 1.5 billion people has
attracted internationally renowned biologists like Alfred Russe
Wallacea -- a biologist who divided Indonesian fauna into two
categories: western and eastern territories; Reinwardt -- founder
of Bogor Botanical Garden in Bogor, West Java, and many more.
The park, located on the slopes of Mount Gede and Mount
Pangrango was named a nature reserve by the Dutch East Indies
government in 1889 who declared the area between the Cibodas
Botanical Park and the hot water spring at the altitude of 2,150
meters on Mount Gede as a nature reserve. In 1978, the Indonesian
government named this area Gede Pangrango Reserve before
declaring it a national park two years later. The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) then
made this park a World Biosphere Reserve, and since 1995 it has
become a global conservation zone.
On the way into the park's deep forest, there are numerous
varieties of soaring trees. The forest floor too is covered with
bushes and shrubs. Over one thousand flowering plants, 120
families of vegetation and more than 200 orchid varieties can be
found in the park.
Between the altitudes of 1,000 meters and 1,500 meters is the
thickest submontane forest zone, where visibility is hampered by
different kinds of huge trees. Pasang and saniten trees (family
of Fagaceae) dominate the area to a height of 30 meters to 40
meters, while rasamala is the tallest, reaching 60 meters in
height. On the ground level are diverse types of rattan, ginger
and gorgeous flowers.
In the montane area (1,500-2,400 m), the forest starts to
thin, with trees, reaching a height of only 20 meters. The forest
floor has decorative plants like Begonia isoptera and Labelia
angulata.
The subalpine height (2,400-3,019 m) is characterized by
small-leaf vegetation, dominated by cantigi (Vacciniun
varingiaefolium).
The dense forest zone is also the habitat of different bird
species, making a visit here a must for avid bird watchers.
Dark colored tiung batu/sunda (whistling thrush) are most
easily noticed. A gentle walk often enables us to spot such birds
feeding on the ground near forest paths.
Around 250 species, or half of all types of birds existing on
Java island -- including the rare Javan hawk-eagle (Spizaetus
bartelsi), live there.
Unlike birds, mammals are more difficult to discover. With
some 60,000 visitors a year, mammals stay away from forest paths
and hide themselves in the dense jungle.
Among the mammals that fortunate visitors may catch sight of
are Java's owa or gibbons (Hylobtes moloch), surili or leaf
monkeys (Presbytis comata), lutung or ebony leaf monkeys
(Trachypithecus auratus), trenggiling (Manis javanica), and
leopards (Phantera pardus). Gibbons are the most prominent of
all.
The gray gibbons with black faces and no tails are the world's
rarest species and can only be found in West Java in the wild.
However, only 100 such gibbons are left in the park. The
population of the species, which is on the critical list of the
World Conservation Union (IUCN), has shrunk due to diminishing
natural habitat.
Visitors who fail to get face to face with the park's unique
birds or other species will find the remarkable scenery a
consolation.
An hour's hike from the park's Cibodas station will take one
to a small lake called Telaga Biru, which is teeming with fish
and surrounded by singing birds on nearby bushes.
The lake's name literally means "blue lake" since its water
sometimes changes in color from blue to brownish owing to its
rich mineral content, which comes from decomposed leaves, other
organic materials and dissolved volcanic rock and soil.
Cibeureum waterfall is the next attraction at an altitude of
1,625 meters, offering an extraordinary sight with three streams
of water gushing down from a 30-meter height. The largest
waterfall on the left is called Cikundul, the middle Cidendeng
and the right Cibeureum. Official sources say the right stream
came from the lava flow of Mount Pangrango and the left from that
of Mount Gede. There is no information however, about the middle
stream.
The name Cibeureum for this waterfall means a red river
because red molds growing on the waterfall's walls, create the
illusion of reddish-colored water.
Other tourist spots in the park are the hot spring (2,150 m);
Surya Kencana plain (2,750 m); Lake Situgunung, that is
accessible from the gate of Selabintana (70 km from Bogor or near
Sukabumi); and Cimanaracun and Sawer waterfalls near the lake.
In his dairy, Wallacea described the waterfalls as beautiful
as a painting. But if he had lived to witness the present day
park, he might sadly add that Indonesians cannot appreciate
natural beauty as they had marred it with trash. The beautiful
painting has turned into a dump.