Way Kambas elephant training center falling apart

The Jakarta Post, Way Kambas, Lampung

There was neither a fiesta nor a spectacular ceremony. Nor was there a special attraction, only a modest observance to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Way Kambas elephant training center.

No special emotion was shown either by staff members at the training center on that day, Tuesday, Aug.27, 2002.

Only two elephants were seen nearby the parking lot of the once famous elephant training center when we arrived here last week. Our bad impression of the swampy tourist resort grew upon discovering that the center does not have the appearance of a normal tourist attraction.

The grass in the parking lot is knee-high, indicating that there are no gardeners or cleaners working here. A small mosque and a public toilet near the parking lot are in a disgraceful state. Only seven of the many warung, or food stalls, built to cater to visitors are open because few people visit the center.

"The number of visitors has continued to decrease over the past three years. You guys are my first customers today," said stall owner Yunarsih, 38.

She added that visitors, mostly students from Jakarta, Palembang, and Lampung, usually came on weekends and school holidays.

Yunarsih said that the number of visitors could reach 100 during school holidays.

The government opened the Way Kambas elephant training center as a tourist attraction in 1985. It is one of three elephant training centers in Sumatra. The other two are in Jambi and Riau provinces. The Way Kambas training center, which covers an area of 1,000 hectares (ha), is part of the 130,000-ha Way Kambas National Park.

Lampung is one of the most densely populated regions in Sumatra, having the highest rate of population growth in Indonesia, and a population which increased from 1,667,511 in 1961 to 6.5 million this year.

As a result Lampung, more than any other province in Indonesia, has been subject to large-scale deforestation, with a resulting decline in forest cover from 44 percent in the 1960s to 17 percent in 1985, to make way for agricultural and transmigration developments.

In Sumatra, many settlers subsist on rice, maize, sweet potatoes, fruit and coffee cultivation and work in oil palm, sugar cane and rubber plantations. This cultivation and the plantations often occupy the traditional home ranges of local elephant populations. As a result these areas often suffer from frequent and persistent crop raiding by the beasts.

The surge in recent decades of the number of plantations, agricultural projects, logging operations and transmigration settlements has removed wild elephants from their favored lowland habitats, causing huge habitat loss and degradation of much of the remaining habitat, with an inevitable increase in human- elephant conflict.

The elephant training centers were established to help solve the problems caused by such conflict.

Studies from around Way Kambas reveal that crop raiding here follows a typical pattern, with elephants usually entering cultivated land either singly or in groups at dusk and foraging on crops until they are driven back or leave before dawn.

The Way Kambas elephant center is located in Central Lampung regency, some 105 kilometers north of Bandar Lampung. There is no public transportation available to take visitors directly from Bandar Lampung to the tourism site. Instead, people have to rent a car or change buses several times to get here. At Rp 1,500 per person, the entrance ticket is relatively cheap.

All the pawang, (elephant tamers), in the training center were taught by pawang from Thailand. Unlike Indonesian pawang, the Thai tamers train elephants for use in the logging industry. In Indonesia, skilled elephants serve no purpose other than to entertain tourists. Thanks to the pawang from Thailand, who have shared their expertise with their Indonesian counterparts, the center has built a reputation for its famous elephant soccer game. Besides their ability to train elephants as football players, the center's pawang have also succeeded in training elephants to become obedient animals that "follow" the orders of their pawang.

Dozens of elephants that have graduated from the Way Kambas school have been sent to the Taman Safari park in Cisarua, West Java, Bali, and South Kalimantan.

The decreasing number of visitors has badly affected the workers and tamers.

Palgunadi, one of the pawang, said that his bonus had decreased significantly due to the declining number of visitors.

Like other pawang, Palgunadi receives a monthly salary of Rp 300,000, plus Rp 60,000 in transport allowance. He gets extra income from visitors who ride the elephant. An elephant ride costs visitors Rp 50,000.

Darmaji, 47, who heads the Way Kambas elephant training center, said due to the limited budget from the government he could not maintain the site properly. He refused to mention the amount.

At the beginning, he recalled, the center was allowed to catch and train wild elephants from the Way Kambas National Park. Two years ago, however, they were told not to catch elephants anymore.

Approximately 600 elephants remain in Lampung, and between 300 and 500 wild elephants are found in the Way Kambas National Park.

There are now 79 elephants in the center. All are relatively healthy although sometimes they get sick due to worms.

It takes a lot of money to maintain the training center, including the purchase of food and vitamins and to finance the medical checkups of the elephants. Each day, the center has to provide three truckloads of special grass and coconut leaves. More elephants means more money, and the center simply cannot afford it.

Today, the swampy area has lost its appeal due to a lack of funds and attention from the government. Will the center's sorry state make a strong enough case to move the government to take steps and revive its past attractiveness?

Brief history of Way Kambas

- 1924: Way Kambas and nearby area is declared a forest reserve.

- 1936: President of Lampung area Mr. Rookmaker proposes the area be made a sanctuary for animals. The proposal becomes effective in 1937.

- 1982: Way Kambas is declared a National Park.