Mt. Palung, haven for ecotourists in peril

By Edi Petebang

KETAPANG, West Kalimantan (JP): If you are fond of ecotourism, National Park Gunung (Mount) Palung is a haven. There you can go white water rafting or fishing in the unpolluted river and you can enjoy the whistle of hornbills (enggang) and the riotous sounds of proboscis monkeys (bekantan).

But hornbills and proboscis monkeys are not the only big attraction at Gunung Palung. Hundreds of other birds, monkeys and reptile species can be found without too much trouble in the park.

You can also enjoy Mt. Panti waterfall, where the fragrance of orchids and flowers mingle with the sound of falling water. You can play around with tame monkeys in their natural habitat or you can bathe in the clear waters of the South China Sea at one of Datok Island's beaches.

To reach the park from the provincial city of Pontianak, you first go to Ketapang. You can reach Ketapang by plane, ferry, speedboat, car or even motorcycle. From Ketapang, you can make the last stretch to the park by speedboat, bus or motorcycle.

Alternatively, the park can be directly accessed by land from Pontianak by taking the slightly more complicated Rasau Jaya- Teluk Batang-Teluk Melano-Gunung Palung route.

Gunung Palung has been a protected area since 1937 when the Dutch colonial administration declared 30,000 hectares a reserve forest. The Indonesian government expanded it to 90,000 hectares in 1990 and named it Gunung Palung National Park.

Located in the Matan Hilir Utara subdistrict, the population of the park consists of Malay, Dayak, Chinese, Buginese, Javanese and Madurese who live in 12 villages.

Gunung Palung has eight types of forest. One of the endemic plants is the Gramatophyllum orchid, which is thought to be the world's largest. It also boasts mangroves, peatland and highland forests found on both Mt. Palung (1,116m) and Mt. Panti (1,071m).

Mt. Palung has 400 tree species, 71 mammal and 250 known bird species. The most notable animals are orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), bekantan (Nasalis larvatus), red-fur monkeys (Presbitys koloch), bat (Pterocarpus vampyrus), long-tailed parakeet (Psittacula longicouda) and enggang (Repohax vigil). Experts say that orangutans in the Mt. Palung area are the largest in the world.

The park has the most complete low-lying Dipterocarp forest ecosystem in West Kalimantan. In other provinces of the island, similar ecosystems have been disappearing due to logging.

For a great many years, the Gunung Palung forest has been a favorite site for researchers, environmental training programs and tourists.

Official figures show that since 1987, 98 scholars (51 local and 47 foreign) have conducted research in the area, mainly in the fields of biology, due to the area's abundant flora and fauna.

Between April 1999 and March 2000, 175 tourists visited the park. Unfortunately, the park is yet to be professionally managed as a tourist destination. The absence of accommodation has forced visitors to stay at researchers' huts, of which there are currently 11 throughout the forest. Some tourists have complained about unprofessional services on behalf of the Gunung Palung management, especially concerning tour guidance.

Under threat

Despite its status as a reserve forest, the unique Gunung Palung National Park ecosystem is under threat from illegal logging, forest fires, stone and sand quarrying, land clearing for agriculture and poaching. The illegal hunting of wild animals has caused particular concern among environmentalists.

Illegal logging is widespread. The theft of wood usually occurs early in the morning, involving local people and opportunists from other areas, such as Pontianak. Police and forest rangers can do little to stop these illegal activities because the crooks are better armed and better equipped than they are. Although occasional raids involving soldiers and military police do take place.

Data from the park management shows that the police have handled 29 cases of illegal logging on Gunung Palung but none of them have reached the courts.

"I have no idea why that is. Maybe it's because the theft involves so many parties that supremacy of law can't be upheld," says C. Lestari, a staff member at the park.

Strangely, Lestari says, some powerful people have accused the park management of "hampering development" by banning stone and sand quarrying.

The biggest threat is the rampant logging on the buffer zone. To contain the activity, some activists in cooperation with the Laboratory for Tropical Forestry and Ecology of Harvard University have initiated a "social forestry zone", in which the local community is allowed to exploit the wood resources under certain conditions.

The initiative, however, has been taken without coordination with the local government. Bachtiar, an official of the Ketapang Regency Development Planning Board claims his office is not aware of the scheme.

Obviously, there has been no concerted efforts among the local people, activists, police or the local government to save Gunung Palung park, which is an important part of the "world's lung".