Recreation places see increase in numbers of visitors

Evi Mariani and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bogor

Unlike previous years when Greater Jakarta was unusually quiet during Idul Fitri holidays, an increase in the number of visitors to popular recreation sites all over the capital has highlighted a trend of celebrating the day away from home.

The management of Ancol Dreamland Park, North Jakarta, estimated an increase in the number of visitors by 15 percent compared to last year. On Tuesday alone, the first day of the holidays, the amusement park recorded more than 95,000 visitors.

"We expect the number of visitors in the ten days after Idul Fitri holidays to reach one million," park spokesman Mukrijul said on Wednesday.

The holiday, which marks the end of the Ramadhan holy month, fell on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

This year, the two biggest Muslim organizations in the country, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which usually differ on the exact date of the holiday as it is determined by lunar sightings, set the same date.

At Ragunan Zoo, South Jakarta, the number of visitors increased 27.5 percent from 24,130 people on the first day of Idul Fitri last year to 30,766 people this year.

However, the zoo's operator still have to deal with visitors who litter and those who hurt the animals.

Spokeswoman Titisari Puntorini said that the management had hired 20 additional sweepers to handle the garbage during the holiday.

Besides littering, zoo visitors are often seen trespassing in animal enclosures, stepping on flower plants and wading through ponds.

Suryana, one of the sweepers told The Jakarta Post that during peak season visitors usually threw "disgusting" garbage.

"I'm only sweeping dried leaves or used plastic bags for now ... But tomorrow (Wednesday), you'll see people throwing their food and that is disgusting."

With tickets at just Rp 3,000 (35 U.S. cents) for adults and Rp 2,000 for children, the zoo has been a favorite recreation place since its opening in 1966. The zoo now has 3,421 animals from 273 species.

The zoo received two Sloth bears and two leopards from Sri Lanka last September, and are expecting kangaroos, kookabura birds and parrots from Australia in December, according to Titisari.

She said that besides the animals, the main attractions at the zoo were the Schmutzer Primate Center and the lake.

The 6.2-hectare primate center houses several kinds of primates including gorillas, gibbons, long-tailed macaques, siamang, orangutan and Griffith silver-leaf monkeys.

However, there is no camel back-riding this year as one of the camels is pregnant.

The Safari Park in Cisarua, Bogor, also experienced an increase in the number of visitors although the Jakarta to Puncak route was severely congested during the holiday.

Park spokesman Yulius H. Suprihardo said that most of the visitors were Jakartans but many were from other cities or areas such as Semarang, Lampung and even from Kalimantan island.

"The main attraction here is the Bird Park, whose collection is of endemic birds .... We expect a peak of thousands of visitors next Sunday," he told the Post, adding that the number of visitors on Tuesday had reached 3,625 people.