'King of Apes' rebuilding his monkey kingdom in the jungle

'King of Apes' rebuilding his monkey kingdom in the jungle

MEDAN, North Sumatra (Antara): Umar Manik is the King of Apes.
He can't be separated from primates. He loves them all and they
love him.

Umar, 40, a father of six children, said he had more than
1,000 monkey friends in the Sibatuloting forest reserve,
Simalungun, North Sumatra.

Umar, who used to live in the jungle cut off from any outside
contact, opened the gate to his "monkey kingdom" in the early
1990s. It was situated in a strategic location, on the roadside
heading toward Parapat, a holiday resort in the province. This
new tourist spot soon attracted both local and foreign visitors
eager to see the monkeys and play with them.

Their coming was a blessing for both the monkeys and the
"king". Contributions from the visitors were enough to buy food
for the monkeys. Umar and his family also benefited from the new
business. By selling food and drink to the tourists, they could
make both ends meet and send the children to school. Their eldest
child is in senior high school in Parapat, and the second eldest
is in a technical high school in Medan.

"Even though I am an uneducated man, all of my children must
go to school," Umar said.

His youngest child, the only girl, is seven months old.

Umar has had a close relationship with monkeys since he was
very young. During his childhood, he often played with them
because he did not live far from their habitat. His family lived
in a kampong on the shores of Lake Toba.

After his marriage, he moved from one place to another, until
he settled at the Sibatuloting forest.

Umar then "renewed" his relationship with the monkeys. A lot
of monkeys from other forests in North Sumatra came to stay with
him in the forest. From day to day, more and more monkeys
followed him. Umar estimated that there were about 1,000 of them.

Umar was happy with his new friends, but he also worried
because there was not enough food for them. This motivated Umar
to open the "kingdom" to the public, allowing people to come to
play with the monkeys. The

"At the beginning, I never had the idea that this area would
become a tourist site. News about this place spread by word-of-
mouth, attracting not only local tourists, but also foreign
visitors," he said.

Head of the provincial electricity company (PLN), Budi
Harjanto, supported the project, providing the tourist spot with
free electricity.

But things did not run well all the time. Last year, the
Simalungun tourist agency kicked Umar out of the area and took
over the management of the site. The electricity company then
canceled its facilities.

As for the monkeys, life was never the same without Umar's
presence. As they started missing the "king", they left
Sibatuloting forest and returned to their former habitats in the
North Sumatra jungles.

The monkeys kept leaving and fewer tourists came. A year had
passed when the agency finally gave up. Recently, the agency
asked Umar to rebuild the monkey kingdom.

"The Simalungun tourist agency has asked me to manage this
location again," Umar said.

He said the government would not collect any levies from the
tourists. "Visitors are asked to contribute a little money to
help buy food for the monkeys," he said.

Umar is now trying to regather his friends in the Sibatuloting
forest. He blows a buffalo horn occasionally to call his friends
and invite them to come to the forest.

They have started to return. The number of monkeys and apes is
not as big as it used to be, but there are many, and the species
also varies, from beruk (Macaca nemestrina) and siamang
(Symphalangus syndactylus) to orangutans.

Umar said he is just an ordinary man. He said he does not have
special powers to control the monkeys and apes. He has a star
tattooed on his left cheek and he used to have long hair -- his
hair reached his knees -- which he cut after his daughter was
born. He said he had promised not to cut the hair before he had a
daughter.

The tattoo and the long hair, of course, had nothing to do
with the monkeys and apes. It is his love for the primates which
attracts them. It is the same love which has become the
foundation of his monkey kingdom.

"I have to start from the beginning, to reopen the tourist
site," he said.

One of the biggest problems, he said, is the lack of
electricity. "I do hope that the state electricity company will
provide us with this facility again."