Hotelupwell.com – After more than two years, natural tourism in Way Kambas National Park was closed to the public due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The management of Way Kambas National Park and the buffer village community took advantage of this “rest” opportunity to clean up. It is planned that on December 20 2023, natural tourism in this national park in Lampung Province will be reopened (re-activated) with a new concept that prioritizes sustainability, animal welfare and community empowerment, as well as being more interactive with a variety of natural tourism activity choices.
The new concept of natural tourism in Way Kambas National Park integrates village tourism managed by the community, namely culinary and cultural tourism with natural tourism in the Way Kambas National Park area such as trekking, bird watching, river walking, feeding and bathing elephants, as well as enjoying the unique and natural beauty in the area. In order to see the readiness of the Way Kambas National Park Center and the buffer village community ahead of the re-activation of Way Kambas National Park natural tourism, 26 people from the Directorate of Environmental Services Utilization in Conservation Areas on Saturday 2 December 2023 carried out a simulation of natural tourism activities. The simulation begins by ordering a tour package for Pebungga Braja Harjosari Village and Labuhan Ratu IX Village which is connected to the natural tourism area of Way Kambas National Park. The group was divided into two groups and stayed overnight in homestays which were residents’ houses in Braja Harjosari Village and Labuhan Ratu IX Village.
A very strong Balinese feel can be seen from the typical appearance of the houses of the residents of Braja Harjosari Village complete with a padma sana which is a Hindu religious place of worship located in front of the house. This is the first interesting thing that catches your eye when you enter the village gate. Likewise, the Javanese houses with two pillars are also an attraction when arriving at Labuhan Ratu IX Village.
The Braja Harjosari Village tour package begins with a trip using a pickup truck across the residents’ savanna. From the top of the car the eyes were treated to the view of dozens of cows grazing. The car stopped on the side of the Penet River which is the boundary between community land and the Way Kambas National Park area. The passengers got out of the car and used getek or rafts made of wooden planks pulled with ropes, crossing the shallow river filled with water hyacinth. This 10 meter wide river leads the group to the trekking path within the area. In April – May every year the river water is deeper so it can offer another interesting tourist attraction, namely following the river using a motorized tourist boat for 1.5 km downstream.
After walking along the one kilometer long path while occasionally enjoying the beauty of the wild birds passing by, the group arrived at a place called Camp Eru. In this place there is a wooden hut leading to the savanna which is located on the other side of a long ditch that separates it from the expanse of savanna on the other side. The ditch also functions as a barrier so that wild elephants cannot cross. The group rested for a moment in a wooden hut enjoying coffee while observing the elephants grazing on the savanna accompanied by their mahot. The grazing elephants are trained elephants whose job is to keep wild elephants from entering the area bordering the area back into the forest.
Satisfied with observing the elephants, the group returned to the village to visit the Wana Tirta Forest Farmers Group. This group manages trigona honey bee farms which producecluceng honey. Here the group received an explanation about the procedures for raising trigona honey bees and had the opportunity to taste honey directly from the propolis or nest. It’s so delicious to sip pure, sweet honey which gives the sensation that your body feels refreshed after doing activities since morning.
The tourist trip continues by visiting the honey melon fruit plantation agrotourism. Melons are planted in several green houses neatly lined up. Tourists should be able to enjoy ripe melons by buying them. However, it was a shame that on this trip the group did not have the opportunity to enjoy melons.
In the afternoon after resting, the tour continues by visiting the Elephant Lecture Center (PLG) which is located in the Way Kambas National Park area. By car, the group headed to the 2 hectare rest area in Labuhan Ratu VI Village. All cars must be parked in the rest area. From the parking lot, the group used a tourist vehicle in the form of a pickup truck, the body of the car decorated with paintings of animals. The car is equipped with rows of seats facing the front and the roof.
As the tourism concept shifts from an Elephant Training Center to an Elephant Lecture Center, elephant riding is no longer allowed because it violates animal welfare and also has the potential to cause accidents for tourists. Tourists can still interact with elephants accompanied by mahot. Visitors can touch, bathe and feed the elephants while enjoying the atmosphere as the sun sets on the savanna horizon line. In this area there is also a courtyard equipped with chairs and tables. The tables were filled with drinking water, coffee and tea, as well as snacks in the form of nuts, corn, bananas and tubers provided for the group. When else will you enjoy the sunset while sipping hot coffee while watching elephants on the savanna against the backdrop of a sky that starts to turn orange as the sun sets? On this occasion, the Director of PJLKK and his entourage provided suggestions and input based on the experience of the tourism trip simulation that had just been completed to the Way Kambas National Park natural tourism managers to make improvements before the re-activation day on December 20 2023.
As night approached, the sky began to dim. The group left the PLG grounds towards a beautiful tourist vehicle with colorful lights inside. The tourist vehicle moves out of the Way Kambas National Park area and returns to the rest area, bringing with it impressions and memories from the Way Kambas National Park natural tourism trip.
