PPKA Bodogol head Tangguh said the center educated people through education and ecotourism programs with various themes, such as useful plants, mammals in tropical rainforests and the origin of water. Local residents are trained to guide visitors who want to walk around PPKA Bodogol areas.

“We want our people to learn about conservation directly from nature because the animals found in Bodogol adequately represent the kinds of species living in the TNGGP,” said Tangguh.

In the areas of Bodogol, with an altitude of around 800 meters, various protected animals such as the silver gibbon, locally known as the Owa Jawa, Javan hawk-eagle and Javan surili, can be found.

“Javan leopards, the top predator in the TNGGP, still inhabit the area,” said Tangguh.

With quite high rainfall, the national park is heavily covered with various types of trees, creeping plants and epiphytes.

Learn from nature – Visitors pass a canopy trail, one of the facilities at the Bodogol Nature Conservation Education Center in the Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park (TNGGP) in West Java.(JP/Theresia Sufa)

Covering 2,300 hectares, the PPKA Bodogol was founded in 1998 as a result of the partnership among three institutions, namely the TNGGP and two conservation institutions – Conservation International Indonesia (CII) and Yayasan Alam Mitra Indonesia (ALAMI).

PPKA Bodogol guide Andri said conservation education provided by the TNGGP was very important.

“People used to catch birds and take wood from the forests. But they now understand they should no longer do it. They are aware that they should participate in conserving the forests because they will not face water shortages if the forests are conserved,” said Andri. (ebf)

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