Jakarta recreation spots fill up for holiday

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 10/02/2008 4:03 PM  |  Jakarta

Residents of Jakarta and its neighboring cities packed the city's recreation spots, causing traffic jams along the way, on the second day of Idul Fitri holidays.

Ancol Dreamland in North Jakarta and Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta, two main recreational places in the city, have been packed since Thursday morning.

Sofia Cakti, a communications officer at Ancol Dreamland's parent company, PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, said the facility saw 93,000 visitors up until noon.

"We have now at least 100,000 and we are predicting to have 150,000 by midnight," she said as quoted by Kompas.com in the afternoon. Ancol recorded more than 200,000 visitors during last year's Idul Fitri holidays.

Separately, more than 100,000 people from Tangerang, Bekasi, and Bogor flocked to Ragunan Zoo, the zoo management's spokesman, Marzuki, said.

"The number of visitors today is estimated to be more than 100,000 because on the second day of Lebaran last year the number reached 146,000," he said.

The flocking visitors also packed routes to the zoo, creating traffic jams near its four entrances.

"We deploy 100 police officers to handle the traffic," said Comr. Maryoto W.P., chief of Pasar Minggu police. (dre)

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