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Beauty in the failing natural preserve of Tesso Nilo
On the range: A mahout assigned to the parkâs Special Flying Squad poses atop his tame elephant
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On the range: A mahout assigned to the park's Special Flying Squad poses atop his tame elephant.
It was morning on the fringes of Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) in Pelalawan, Riau.
Young acacia trees were seen lying in a mess with peeling bark, covering the paths for tourists, as the smell of Sumatran elephant dung filled the air.
'A herd of wild elephants wreaked this damage. They were passing through the area just now,' Edward Rahadian, who heads one the park's regional management section for Lubuk Kembang Bunga village, said.
The TNTN, 80,000 hectares (ha) of lowland forest, is a habitat of several key animal species, such as Sumatran elephants and Sumatran tigers, as well as a host of birds, reptiles and primates.
Elephants, which number between 150 and 200, are still relatively easy to find. It's more difficult to spot tigers, however. There are only nine left in the park. Even finding their tracks is an unforgettable experience.
This is a failing conservation zone that travelers should experience before it is gone. The park is losing about 12,000 ha a year, with no solution in sight. 'Tesso Nilo is just known for its damage,' Edward says.
Tourists can find accommodations in a lodge maintained by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) at the so-called Flying Squad Camp, where a squad of trained elephants and their mahouts patrol the forest, driving away the elephants, which threaten the communities that have been built in their habitat.
The lodge is about a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Pekanbaru, Riau's capital.
In the morning, tourists can hear the hooting cries of gibbons, occasionally answered by the call of elephants. In the early afternoon eagles soar in search of prey.
As no elephants were in sight that day, a trek into a well maintained section of the park's dense forest was allowed. There were immense trees endemic to Sumatra, such as the timber-producing seminai, rengas trees and the pulai (Indian devil) trees.
Secluded: This cove is quiet, making it a perfect spot to enjoy the beauty of the tropical forests.
Falling leaves covered the floor of the forest, whose name is derived from the nearby Tesso and Nilo Rivers.
Edward says that the park is home to a more diverse selection of vascular plants than the Amazon rainforest in South America. 'Those with straight and towering trunks are sialang [wild bee] trees, where the honeybees that make the best forest honey like to nest.
The honey is a prized product of the park, which was visited by actor Harrison Ford when shooting a documentary in 2013. Every sialang tree has 10 to 50 beehives. Tourists can watch beekeepers harvest honey, which is then sold for Rp 65,000 (US$5.29) a liter.
Lubuk Balai, where the Tesso River takes a bend, can be reached after a two-hour walk from the lodge.
The soil on the riverbank looked white and clean, in contrast to the clear river, which looked black due to the peat underneath. 'Pictures taken on the bank will look like the beach,' TNTN ranger and ecotourism coordinator Ilham Gobel said.
Ilham said that elephants could be seen bathing in the river now and again, consuming its white soil for the salt and minerals inside.
About 20 tourists a week vacation at the park, which was a timber production forest before the government declared it a conservation zone in 2004, Ilham said. 'Most of the tourists come from Europe or Japan. I wonder why only a few Indonesians come to this national park.'
The park offers elephant riding, tiger tracking, ecotours, bird watching, mammal tracking, river cruises deep into the forest, hiking trails and a cycling path into the jungle. Lucky tourists might even have a chance to spy wild elephants from the 25-meter-high watchtower near the lodge.
Harrison Ford visited the park, planted several meranti trees and then left. The destruction, however, continues at the hands of illegal loggers and those clearing land for agriculture continues.
Today only around 30,000 ha of the park are left unscathed.
Meanwhile, Ilham is hopeful. 'If Indonesians are frequent visitors to this zone, how happy we'll be,' he says.
' Photos by JP/Bambang Muryanto
