NATIONAL PARK
MAY 26, 2021
Things To Do In Way Kambas National Park
Way Kambas is a national park in Lampung province, southern Sumatera island, Indonesia. It covers about 1300 square kilometers of coastal lowland, swamp forest, mangrove forest and dry beach forest located to the east of Bandar Lampung.
The Dutch administration has been established Way Kambas as a reserve park in 1937. Then in 1989, the Indonesian government declared the site as a National Park. In 2016 Way Kambas was formally declared as the ASEAN Heritage Park.
Way Kambas is one of the oldest reserves in Indonesia. The park is a great habitat for thousands of different species, as well as a home to the critically endangered species like elephants, rhinos and Sumatran tiger.
Researchers suggest there are about 180 wild Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) still exist in the park, but the exact numbers are uncertain due to the constant poaching activities.
Another endemic animal in Way Kambas is the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), the only rare two-horned rhino of Asian species, one of the world’s rarest and most endangered mammal species. Since the Sumatran rhinoceros was first scientifically described 200 years ago (Fisher 1814), the range of the species has decreased significantly from a broad region across Southeast Asia to only one in Kalimantan and three areas on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.
This makes sightings of these rhinos are extremely rare, just like spotting the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica) the other special creature in the park. The IUCN listed the Sumatran Rhino as one of the 12 most endangered species in the world in 1984 declaration.
Other exotic animals you can find here are monkeys, tapirs and leopards. It also hosts over 400 species of birds that present in the park, making the location an excellent site for bird watching. For more up close and personal experience you can visit the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC) and the Sumatran Rhinoceros Sanctuary to meet and interact with the animals in a more easier way.
The ECC was established in 1980’s and have been domesticated elephants for heavy work, patrol and breeding. The facility also provides an elephant hospital, the first in Indonesia and the largest in Asia since 2014.
Like other reservation parks, Way Kambas also has its threats that dangerous for animal life. Fires set by poachers are the biggest threats to the park, causing of habitat degradation. The poachers typically set fire to the dried grass on the edges of the park during the dry season in Indonesia, usually between July – September. They set fire on their own land, but the fires can spread into the park.
The burning grass draws deer, boars and other animals targeted by the poachers. In 2019 alone, the management of the park reported more than 2.300 hotspots around Way Kambas. Illegal logging activity is another big threat for the park as it causes habitat loss.
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