The Betung Kerihun National Park offers a unique holiday experience
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| Betung Kerihun National Park is home to a rich collection of flora and fauna unique to Borneo, offering travelers a rare opportunity to embark on an adventure of ecotourism. (JG Photo/Nuelle Intan) |
Noon is yet to come; the sun seems reluctant to share its rays. A
motorboat moves slowly atop the Embaloh River, its passengers sharpen
their eyes and ears, ready with their cameras.
Salamat, a Dayak Iban, carefully maneuvers the boat while monitoring
the waters and its surrounding. Spotting movement in the foliage of the
rainforest, he calls out: “There! A wild boar!”
Salamat turns off the engine while his passengers crane their necks
to catch a glimpse of the animal. To their delight, a female boar and
her three piglets scamper across the riverside to the safety of the
forest. They move so quickly, the camera capturing only a blur of brown
fur among the leaves.
A few minutes later we catch sight of several species of monkeys,
including two that at first glimpse resemble Mullers’ Bornean gibbons
(Hylobates muelleri), clinging to a tree. Their human cousins watch with
awe and amazement as they leap off their perch, bouncing from one
branch to another in excitement as they head deeper into wild.
The call of the Muller’s Bornean gibbon, or gray gibbon, is very
distinctive, but for now its boisterous hoots are absent, the animals
having suddenly turned quiet as they’re likely searching for food, says
Salamat.
The guide adds that it is currently fruit season in Betung Kerihun
National Park (TNBK), West Kalimantan, and if one wishes to hear the
loud voices of the gray gibbon and the soothing melodies of various
exotic birds, visitors should stay overnight at Tekelan Camp. In the wee
hours of the morning, you will be awakened by a melodious orchestra of
these animals.
Tekelan is a two- to three-hour boat ride — depending on the weather
and season — from the village of Manua Sadap. Its campsite provides
relatively clean toilet facilities. Visitors can safely swim or raft in
the clear waters of the Tekelan River, whose steady current presents no
danger to even beginners.
Derian Camp is located downstream of the river and boasts a
“biological library” that is the tropical rainforest of West Kalimantan.
The river is also bursting with what is locally known as semah fish,
or mahseer (Tor tambroides), living up to the Embaloh’s reputation as a
heaven for anglers.
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| (JG Photo/Nuelle Intan) |
Betung Kerihun National Park
Betung Kerihun National Park is the biggest conservation area in West
Kalimantan province, covering 800,000 hectares of Kapuas Hulu district.
The park is directly adjacent to Sarawak, Malaysia, and is part of a
joint cross-border conservation area with Lanjak Entimau Wild Life
Sanctuary (LEWS) and Batang Ai National Park in Sarawak.
Embaloh and Tekelan are merely two of the hundreds of rivers flowing
through the TNBK, while its vast expanse of tropical rainforests provide
a safe haven for countless species of flora and fauna, including many
that are endangered, such as the orangutan and black orchid.
The national park is also part of a conservation initiative called
the Heart of Borneo (HoB), a program established in 2007 by non-profit
organizations and NGOs from Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Visitors can reach TNBK through the town of Putussibau in West
Kalimantan or Kuching on the Malaysian side. The latter route involves a
five-hour drive along a smooth highway to the Nanga Badau border
crossing. Putussibau is closer, but the journey takes just as long
because the roads are an obstacle course of potholes and loose gravel.
The Indonesian side of Nanga Badau is littered with empty, decaying
buildings that were meant to house immigration officers. However, lack
of access to water has driven many of them out of the area, according to
the border office.
In striking contrast, the Malaysian side of the border pass is fed by
a modern highway that automatically records the number of vehicles
passing through. Here, the immigration checkpoint is equipped with
state-of-the-art fingerprint scanners and computers. Its Indonesian
counterpart, meanwhile, still uses traditional record-keeping methods
with a manual form.
Another notable difference between the individual parks that make up
the multinational conservation area lies in the number of visitors.
Muhammad Wahyudi, the manager of the TNBK, says the park hosts 20 to 30
visitors each month. The three national parks of Sarawak, meanwhile, are
visited by five millions tourists every year.
The majestic beauty of Betung Kerihun National Park has sadly
remained unknown to both domestic and foreign tourists. There is more to
the park than its rich collection of unique wildlife and flora; the
area is also home to the indigenous Dayak tribe.
Menua Sadap, one of the entrances to TNBK through the river, is the
main village for the Dayak Iban people, a small community known for its
carvings and music. Ruman betang longhouses, which are unique to the
Dayak culture, are a common sight in Menua Sadap, providing a home to
some 100 families in the village. Some have opened their doors to
tourists, allowing them to stay the night for a small fee.
In addition to tourists, the park is also visited by researchers from
Europe and the United States who make these traditional longhouses
their temporary homes, according to Salamat.
From Menua Sadap, tourists have the option of visiting a plethora of
sites, from the Laboh Besar and Laboh Kecil waterfalls, to the majestic
Betung Mountain, Laboh Atoll and Panjau Cave.
The surrounding tropical rainforest creates an ecosystem for 695
species of trees; 48 mammals, including clouded leopards (Neofelis
nebulosa); eight primate species, including the orangutan (Pongo
pygmaeus); and also 301 types of birds, including the helmeted hornbill
(Buceros vigil).
ITTO and ecotourism
Betung Kerihun National Park has since 1995 worked with the
International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an intergovernmental
group consisting of more than countries, on a transboundary conservation
area (TBCA).
ITTO and the Indonesian government are currently completing the third
phase of the conservation initiative, which will also work to further
develop ecotourism in Entimau Natural Reserve and Batang Ai National
Park.
Project coordinator Yani Septiani says the Embaloh River is now the
focus of ecoutorism projects because of its location, which borders
Indonesia and Malaysia, and because they are aimed at raising the
welfare of people living in the border zone as well.
“Indonesia should learn more from the Sarawak state of Malaysia,
which gets regional foreign exchange from ecotourism in Batang Aiu
National Park and Lanjak Entimau nature reserve,” she says.
That is why, she adds, a joint effort and partnerships are needed to
boost infrastructure and develop the potential tourism site.
Kuching, for example, boasts a Sarawak cultural village where tourists can experience the art and culture of Dayak tribes.
“TNBK is now in the process of site planning and working together
with the ITTO, which will become a reference for investors who wish to
put their money into ecotourism here. With their help we can also
improve the way we manage the area,” Wahyudi says.
“The local tourism body has also been of great help, creating
regulations and policies which support TNBK’s effort to become a tourist
destination.”
By Nutelle Intan on 12:49 pm Nov 06, 2014
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