T

he long weekend for the New Year holiday created heavy traffic jams in Puncak, Bogor, as holidaymakers left Jakarta and headed to the cooler mountain air, tea plantations and Safari Park in Cisarua.

The city's recreational sites also saw a surge in visitors who flocked to the zoo, beaches, and parks on New Year's Day.

The Puncak route in the hilly area of Bogor, 60 kilometers south of Jakarta, was crowded with holiday travelers - from the Ciawi turnpike gate to the Cianjur border, Bogor Traffic Management Center officer First Brig. Budi said Saturday.

"A lot of vehicles are going in and out of recreational sites, restaurants and fruit markets," Budi said on the causes of the traffic jams in Puncak, as quoted by detik.com. Motorcycles added to the congestion, he said.

New Year's Day, which fell on Friday, gave Jakartans an opportunity to unwind with a long weekend. Families flocked to popular recreational spots such as the National Monument (Monas) Park, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Indonesia Miniature Park), as well as Ragunan Zoo, Ancol beach and the Dunia Fantasi Amusement Park.

Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta saw around 200,000 visitors on New Year's Day.

In Monas, Central Jakarta, families held picnics under shady trees, next to a smattering of snack wrappers, plastics bottles and other debris from the New Year's Eve celebrations hours earlier.

Jakarta Parks and Cemetery Agency deployed 185 personnel to clean up Monas. On regular days only around 80 staff are needed to keep the park clean.

Agency chief Ery Baskoro said for this year's New Year's celebrations his office had deployed 1,000 personnel to safeguard parks around the city.

Most of the parks were in good condition after the celebrations, he said.

Last year, crowds welcoming the New Year left a footprint on city landmarks with many planted areas around Monas Park trampled by visitors and three steel fences knocked over.

Roads around Taman Mini were congested with traffic over the weekend, with queues of vehicles waiting to enter the theme park. Tourist buses and rented cars carrying visitors flooded the Taman Mini parking area.

Meanwhile, Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta, which normally receives between 1,000 and 3,000 visitors a day, had hundreds of thousands of visitors on New Year's Eve and the following day.

The number of visitors exceeded their expectations, Ragunan Zoo spokesperson Wahyudi Bambang said as quoted by okezone.com. The zoo had close to 250,000 visitors over those two days.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo were among those visiting the zoo on New Year's Day.

The President wished zoo visitors a Happy New Year.