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NTB opens first conservation park
Bath time: Elephant handlers guide Lampung elephants at the newly opened Lombok Elephant Park in North Lombok
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Bath time: Elephant handlers guide Lampung elephants at the newly opened Lombok Elephant Park in North Lombok.(JP/Panca Nugraha)
The Lombok Elephant Park, the first animal conservation park in West Nusa Tenggara province, is now open in North Lombok, with more than 20 protected and endangered species.
Located in Sigar Penjalin village, Tanjung district, the park was established to support conservation efforts and serve as an education and tourist facility.
“We started the soft opening in the beginning of March and we see that people are very interested in visiting the park, thanks to our promotion through social media,” the park president director Ketut Suadika said on Wednesday.
The 3.5 hectare park is home to four Lampung elephants, as well as other species of mammals, birds, primates and reptiles categorized as endangered and protected.
In addition to the four elephants, other mammal species living in the park are a pair of honey bears, hedgehogs, mountain goats, pygmy hippos and a sitatunga.
“We have a very rare species of pygmy hippo. We aim to breed this species,” Ketut said.
The park keeps some primates as well, including a pair of orangutans, three siamang, a pair of bekantan (proboscis monkey) and a pair of ungko (gibbon).
Some bird species are also being taken care of in the park, including six yellow-crested cockatoos, one cockatoo, six Bali Starlings, three barn owls, one wreathed hornbill, parrots, a Javanese-hawk eagle, a pair of brahminy kites and a pair of changeable-hawk eagles.
According to Ketut, the construction of the park and the collection of animals started three years ago.
The animals were taken from several places, including the Waykambas National Park in Lampung, the Gili Meno Animal Park, Mirah Safari Banyuwangi and the West Nusa Tenggara Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA).
“We are focusing on conservation. We hope to be able to breed the animals. We also want to make this park as natural as possible to make the animals feel comfortable, as if they are in their own habitats,” he said.
Located some 50 kilometers from Mataram, the province’s capital, and 23 kilometers from Senggigi, Lombok Elephant Park is built on a hilly area so that visitors can enjoy the cool air.
A local visitor is charged Rp 100,000 per person to enter, while foreigners must pay Rp 200,000 per person. “We are still offering a 50 percent discount until the end of April,” Ketut said, adding that since early March, the park had welcomed an average of 200,000 visitors per day.
Widada, the head of the province’s BKSDA, said the park had secured a license as a conservation body. The license enabled it to conduct conservation efforts outside the original conservation area.
He said the park would be a good facility to educate the public about biodiversity and conservation.
“Many people here are not familiar with rare animal species. We hope that Lombok Elephant Park will be able to serve as an educational facility.”
Conservation bodies, he went on to say, were very much needed to prevent the extinction of various rare animals, whose population might be threatened in their natural habitats.
“Ideally, every province should have at least one conservation body and we appreciate that Lombok Elephant Park will become the first one in West Nusa Tenggara,” he added.
