Prana: Illustrated Wonder of Ujung Kulon National Park

Page 1

Angelica Naomi T.

Prana Illustrated Wonder of

Ujung Kulon National Park



Angelica Naomi T.

Prana Illustrated Wonder of

Ujung Kulon National Park


Prana: Illustrated Wonder of Ujung Kulon National Park illustrated by Angelica Naomi June 2020 Writer: Angelica Naomi Editor and Designer: Angelica Naomi Cover Designer: Angelica Naomi Illustrator: Angelica Naomi

Copyright Š 2020 by Angelica Naomi Tjoantara All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author at the address below. Angelica Naomi Tjoantara Jl. Imam Bonjol No. 20, Lebak Gede, Coblong 40132, Bandung angelicanaomi96@gmail.com Printed in Bandung, Indonesia


"Once in a while, I hope you can

feel the breeze flows within, through nature, through the living things around us,"

angelica from Prana


Everything was a first for me. Buckling up my mind to do a trip alone, meeting new people,

doing a trip to a place I’ve never imagined before. But grasped

All of this, for the sake of these questions on my mind,

“What’s on the other side?,”, “How’s Indonesian natural habitat being conserved?,”

Early notice for everyone reading this book, and then decided to visit this dreamy place for an

Sho In

exciting adventure, bring your friends! The more the merrier is a true definition of excitement. Or if you want to calm yourself down and travels alone, its totally fitting too!

Before starting my small trip to Ujung Kulon, I tried to learn about how conservation works in

Ujung Kulon? Why is it important? Why people encourage others to explore the nature and what benefit does it gave us in return or towards the nature itself?

These questions answered through the generosity of Mr. Deden, one of the local guides for the

short trip and Mr. Ihsan, Product Design lecturer who had great interest on exploring nature, especially about the relations between ecotourism and conservation. They stated that exploring Ujung Kulon delivers an educational experience aside from the fun, relaxation from the noisy and busy daily lifes and awe surrounded by nature.

This is the key point since as time goes by, less people care about the potential it has

causing lack of belonging to Indonesia’s biodiversity, irresponsible nature exploitation and plus,

lack of support on nature conservation financially causing them on the brink of extinction.


ort ! ntroduction

Green Peafowl's

feathers, scattering. Algaes and corals from Suminoh, Cihamdarusa Sea

Some of my most favorite fragments

of my journey to Ujung Kulon.




What to Remember?

Remember! Trees felt hurt too! Don’t pick or hurt them! Especially there pretty Nipah trees which greets you through lazing around at Cigenter. Please, don’t make them cry :”


Uhum! So let me summary a bit about practical things that I got from the journey, so if you plan on making a trip, you’ll have a slight or even whole idea

about things you CAN or CAN’T do on the Ujung Kulon National Park ^^

Plan your trip throughly! If you travel alone, remember that the park is located on

a rural area. It’s important for you to check on travel utilities and details

so you won’t get lost on the road if you’re travelling alone.

There are many options to choose if you want to travel to the park. I used the local

tour services which provides Open Trip service, allowing me to meet new people!

If you plan on doing research, private trip, or other type of activities, you need to

contact the head of Balai Nasional Ujung Kulon to get a personal permit called

“Simaksi”! Kindly contact them through e-mail: info@ujungkulon.org

Do not bring firearm, spare gun, sharp objects, pets. seeds, alcoholic drink, and illegal drugs.

Bring your personal medicine and healthy body! The temperature is quite extreme so

its easy to get sick if your condition is not that good!

Do not take, pick, ruin, carry, or disrupt either living or dead (dead leaves, etc) from the park.

This act, even the slightest can increase the demand of people wanting to take

memento of the objects from the park. Take photo! Do visual journal like me (hehe)

to keep a memory from your journey!

Lastly, bring your own trash can/bag! We carry our own necessities into and out from the park.

We try to maintain the park as nature as possible.


It was a brief occasion one day Let me bring you back, my nostalgia

Where I feel free and alive . . .

A


A Brief about Ujung Kulon

Ujung Kulon always felt familiar

from the first time the name lingers around my mind..

I wonder, how the air feels?

How did the atmosphere speak? and how the nature welcome us strangers?


The Land & Se of Ujung Kulon

Through reading articles and book, I knew that Ujung Kulon national park is

one of the oldest national park in Indonesia. If you're not familiar with the term of national park, its a park which natural ecosystem is being conserved naturally and organized with zoning system for research, education, cultivation and tourism.

It’s located in Pandeglang Regency, Banten Province. The term ‘Kulon’ means west

and indeed the park is located on the edge west part of Java. A perfect place for a hidden paradise and I have to agree!!

The area covers up into Ujung Kulon Penisula, Honje Mountain, Panaitan, Peucang, and

Handeleum Island, covering 122.956 ha land and 44.300 ha ocean. The keystone species of this national park is One Horned Rhinoceros, currently only exist in the area. This is also one of the most crucial thing why this National Park is one of the world’s treasure, since its currently the only natural habitat for Javan Rhino-or One Horned Rhino-to survive.


ea

The National Park can be acccesed through land and sea.

The starting point from land can only be accesed through Balai Taman Nasional Ujung Kulon with permit (Simaksi),

while Open Trip or Private Trip tour by local people and guides usually cross the sea from Sumur Village directly to Peucang Island.

How to Access ? the National Park


History and Stories from Past

As everyone noticed already, Mt. Krakatau is very close to Ujung Kulon

National Park. This is one of the biggest challenge the ecosystem faces, as back in 1883 the eruption of the mountain destroyed most of the ecosystem

but they grow back gradually.

When I visited the park around November 2019, we passed the mountain from a far, and there

were bits of smokes cumulating above. It seems to stay active for years. Do check the condition of your surrounding before planning the trip! Mr. Deden said its better to visit the area at Dry Season (around April to October) because the waves are steady with bright clear sky.


While this illustration below was an imagery of the effect that Sunda strait Tsunami caused back

on 22nd December 2018. Not only affecting the ecosystem of the national park, but many lives were lost and facilities nearby the street was ruined.


The land and sea

and everything that exist on this world, made us realize how small we are as humans.

How nature always finds a way to heal.

The tsunami that came upon the land around Sunda Strait was devastating.

The wave ruins not only the land, the facilities, but also the vegetation ashore.

Lives were lost, countless of memories remain as memories.

One of the picture that I took around the beach near Handeulum showing a dry land with only a few old and dry trees, roots trying to survive, and rocks around the beach. Through stories told by Mas Deden, Pulau Badul was one of the small island in Ujung Kulon which has Coral Conservations

and magnificent Underwater Rhino Statues.

December 2018, Sunda Straits Tsunami

broke down this interest, damaging the

area and souls were lost.

“But we will restore the beauty,” he said eagerly, “If we work together, there’s always an option,”


An aerial imagery of Badul Island. It was a

small island with beautiful underwater view and bushes of vegetation. I'd love to visit and help the local to bring back this island to its original state.


It's Crafts and Artistry Time!

Along the way, I asked to Mr. Deden about arts and

crafts which many people do around the tourism site. He said that aside from becoming Tour Guides, a lot of people work on making merchandises, culinary and clothes.

The resources were from the nature and

they support the well-being of the nature and people in harmony. Here are some of the example of merchandises being sold along the area! Very cool!

Badak Statue Bright colors with exuisite pattern! Artistic Bowls!

Mostly made using

Fancy eating our meals wrapped in

wood and glazed

nature and with aesthetic touch?

with paint!

The bowl was made using coconut shell, and glazed with natural paints!

Mr. Deden said its a tourist’s favorite!


Pandan Bags

The dried pandan leaves

Shopping & fancy bags

to make the bags, pouches and

are a must have daily

fans! They are all over the park!

needs to have less waste /plastic bag! The bags are sewn from local pandan trees and painted with pretty colors! I bought one on the way home ^^ Batik Local people’s creativity on making patterned batik. Started from making the mold and the printed them

saw some young girl sewing the pandan leaves to make the base cloth!

manually into the fabric!


Its always amazing to encounter new things

And we'll continue asking why, and how


Interesting Flora and Fauna

Animals and Plants on the wild

are free, breathing in serene..

On this Heavenly Place on Earth

I encounter some of them-directly.

and it felt truly-aspiringly-amazing!


Fauna of Ujung Kulon

For a long time I’ve known the

fact that Javan Rhinoceros are extremely endangered. Which is also one of my main reason to visit Ujung Kulon.

Bunga Putat

I really want to see by myself

how the ecosystem and condition of their natural habitat and turns out the land is still nourished and in a good condition.

Putat

Diet The deforestation and climate affects the growth of natural food for Rhinos. Therefore, the people around the park collaborated with other organization such as WWF, organized seed-planting routine to keep the richness and availability of the food. The plants are mostly putat, bayur, cijahe, lampeni, cisegel, burungdahu, cililin and salam. (Durohman, dkk. 2017)

Lampeni


Mommy Rhino lf and her adorable ca


Javan Rhino Badak Jawa

Compared to Sumatran Rhino covered in hair

two horns

smaller body

Small rounded head

skin textured

dusky grey colored skin

4.6 - 5.8 feet height single horned

loose folds skin People still believed that the horn can be used as medicine though its not true! The market demand leads to poachery and thus population decreasing drasticallyyear by year.

The IUCN Red List have marked the species as Critically Endangered in 2008 with current population 46-66 individuals.


Behaviour

From what I read, Javan Rhino tends

to live in solitary, males or females. Except females who still raising their calf, but sometimes they group together during mating seasons, or other things related to survival.

While males mark their territories,

scraping the ground, foliage, from urine or feces but they rarely spotted brawling with each other. They can smell unknown scent from miles which makes them so hard to track nor find. These are the main reason why there are little literatures about their behaviour.


These shy primates are true definition of true love. Through literature that I read, the main reason behind the extinction of Javan Owa and Surily is that they only mate with one individual which is why the population decrease drastically after their companion passed away. This is so sad.

Surili

Javan Owa

They have distinguished facial characteristic and rarely sighted.

They also competes with other animals in order to search for food. Their main diets consist of variations of fruits and insects.


Javan Bull Banteng

Deer

Deers are spotted easily around Peucang Island while

Javan Bull or Banteng usually spotted on Padang Penggembalaan Cidaon. The male has dark brown or black color with white color near the bottom and legs while the female usually have lighter brown color. Both has horns and sized bigger than normal domesticated bull.


Remember about Abah Gede? Yes it was the legend around

Ujung Kulon about Javan Tiger which was confirmed extinct around the year of 1980s. It was a sad truth but some local still believe that some are actually still exist in the depth of the jungle, alongside with the other carnivores such as Wild Dog, and Leopards.

Wild Dog

Leopard


Abah Gede and Notice!! Around 2019 there were news about a sighting of Javan Tiger which was caught on camera around Cidaon. But was it really? I asked Mr. Arjo, one of caretaker of the national park. He believed that the Javan Tiger might still exist but upon the news, he believed that it was done by leopards.

The bones of the bull were collected by

the supervisor and caretaker of the park to be examiined later. The bones were put on small shelter near the Cidaon watchtower to make sure its completely dry and ready to be transported.


Merak Hijau in Indonesian


Green Peafowl

If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to spot

some peafowls hanging out or simply lazing around the Cidaon Savanna around mating season. Its around the changing tide from rainy to dry season. During these season, peacocks weather will fall out scattered.

When we visited the savanna

we spotted lots of scattered feather but

sadly they already left the area.


Aside from mammals, there are a few

birds known to live inside Ujung Kulon. These

Javan Hawk

birds are famous around the birdwatching

Notice!!

community and Mr. Deden said there are a few

The Javan Hawk is the symbol

personal trip activities from the community,

of Indonesia or familiarly

specifically searching and sighting of these birds.

known as Garuda.

White Breasted Babbler

Javan Coucal

Javan Sunbird


One of the biggest

bird species in Indonesia, “Rangkong Badak� has

Rhinoceros Hornbill

magnificent characteristic, especially their horn and beak.

Blue Throated Bee Eater

All diets of Ujung Kulon birds mainly are fruits and insects of the local trees like Kiara.


Hala Tree Pandan Duri

Hala Tree Spotted! Found this beauty on Peucang Forest’s beach after trekking for an hour across the perimeter!


Flora of Ujung Kulon

Greens, greens, greens! There are so many shades of greeneries

surrounding the heavenly place and its very pleasing for the eye! Bushes and shrubs as far as you can see in the perimeter of the beach, while far in the middle of the forest roaring gigantic trees blends in and supports the livings

around them. The ecosystem is truly welcoming but sometimes its also menacing so please do keep an eye out of everything while enjoying nature ^^

As far as I read through Ujung Kulon’s website and saw from the trip,

there are groups and types of trees that build up certain forest types such as Coastal Forest, Tropical Rainforest (lowland and highlands), Freshwater Swamp Forest, Mangrove Forest and Grassland. Each forest types has distinct vegetations which is crucial as the supporting plasma of the whole ecosystem. So I tried drawing (since we absolutely can’t pick the plants!) each representatives of the forestry :)


Katang Katang

Hala Tree Pandan D

Spinifex

Hala Bud

Kanyere Laut Horse Bush


Waru

Duri

Coast Cottonwood

These plants are some that structure and build the

Coastal Forest Ecosystem. I saw most of them through trekking on Peucang and Handeuleum Beach!

Hala Fruits!

Tahi Ayam/Saliara Notice!! The origin of this flower’s unusual name was from its smell. The stinky smell it has reminds us

Notice!! Despite the unusual shape and color, Hala fruit is actually edible and some said it can be used as natural dental floss

to the chicken poo.


Enau or Aren

Nibung Palm

These plants from the Tropical Rainforest are larger than the plants spotted from the previous forest type! The most common plants spotted from the grasslands are these grass!

Types of Gulma or Torpedo Grass


Sayar

Together with Nypa, they are often spotted around the Freshwater Swamp Forest!

Grasslands warriors! Beware of itch on your legs if it happens to touch some of

Rumput Teki

these!

Gebang or Corypha utan.


Mangrove Trees

Mangroves hold a great deal from protecting the coastal from the heavy shore’s damage they also provides habitats for small fishes and shrimpt to live.

and many birds use their heavy bushes

of leaves as nesting area!


Padi-padi Bushes

Usually founded around the riverside too! These bushes are strong

and the leaves are heavy! It can grow

either tall or horizontally low.

Pakis Rawa or Acrostichum aureum


Other Types of Plants

B

Some of these trees are endemic only available in Ujung Kulon!

Ketapang Tree

Cleidion spiciflorum

Butun or Putat Laut

Usually founded around the beach and thus the seeds easily travels across the sea, spreading the species around! The wood is used as the main material by the local to make canoes and boats!


Branch

Blooms Seashore Nutmeg

Fruit

Botryophora geniculata or

Putat Miang


Sunrise from the Sumur Village's Dock

as if they're welcoming us to start our journey!

My camera couldn’t capture the beauty. But this small illustration, truly capture the moment at that time. I feel so blessed.


Mark my words It was a great time

My mind was ready and eager to go

To begin the adventure, to do the journey

It was a 3 days trip from

the 28th to 30th of November 2019.

From Bandung, to Ujung Kulon~


Towel

Spare Clothes

What to Bring? Snorkeling and Diving Gear

If you have personal gear, its a huge OK to bring them! But no worries. For those who doesn’t have them you can rent them for IDR 80.000 for the whole 2 days trip!

Trash Bag/Pouch

Sandals!


Personal Medicine

Tumbler Bag

Sunscreen! Very Important! Camera

Not a must but If you have Go Pro its better! The underwater view is worth it!


How to Get There?


Checkpoint 1 Plaza Kuningan!

I went from Bandung to the tour meeting point

at Plaza Kuningan, South Jakarta, using a mini bus at 3 p.m. The travel took roughly around 3 hours-Friday afternoon like how it always been-pretty smooth and easy run. Arriving at Tendean around 6 p.m. and then took a motorcycle ride to Plaza Kuningan. The ride took around 30 minutes.

The meeting and departure is placed at 9 p.m, so I

got plenty of time to charge my phone and had dinner around the area. Around 8.30 p.m, Mr. Deden gathers the participants and there are 47 people in total joining the trip!

I met Kak Rifki (26), who’s joining the tour with his

friends from Tangerang. It was also their first time going to a tour into a national park.

One Note!! The trip from Plaza Kuningan to Desa Sumur Pandeglang roughly took 5 hours! Pay attention to how you sleep, sit, and sometimes the bus would stop for restroom needs or refiling gasoline. Use these opportunity to rest properly since your journey is starting soon!


Checkpoint 2

Sumur Village

We arrived at a small village near

at the coast of Pandeglang and Sunda Strait. It was roughly around 4 a.m in the morning, the tour participants took a rest at Sumur Mosque, went to restrooms and had light snacks from local small store.

The front light gate of

It was very cold. I ordered a big

Sumur Mosque

glass of hot tea and have some fried banana. One of the prayer rug from the mosque

Truly Delicious!

We departed soonly, around 5 a.m., riding longboats into Peucang Island.


Notes!! e from dawn and th You’ ll ride a boat UST SEE! SUNRISE IS A M enly! Its sublimely heav

Sketched the Sunrise!!

Bought some apples too from the stores around the beach! Keep Snacks On!


Long Boat

The boat can fit around 18 adults. It gets very shaky and jumpy.

Make sure you’re sitting and have something to grab on otherwise, you might fall into the unknown--I mean the sea ^^ Notes!! This is why its better to use waterproof bags For efficiency~

They used 2 types

of boats so far. The longboat for narrow parts of the sea to At first I thought, they are ships,

Bagan Apung

turns out they are Bagan Apung! Fishermen built them in the middle of the sea using bamboos, plastic tires and galoons to make them float! This structure function as a termporary resting place for fishermen also for them to keep their catch (usually inside galoons or nets)

avoid heavy crash with rocks. The bigger ship or they call it “Perahu Jelajah” and its very fancy!


This “Perahu Jelajah” or Explorer’s Boat can fit up to 60 adults,

very sturdy, fast, and locals made them from trees and materials found from their surrounding nature. There are build up chairs, inner room, and a toilet. But, better use the toilet back then at the Sumur Mosque :)

Ships!! Boats!

Perahu Jelajah


Quick Notes!! If you have motion sickness, drink more water and don’t stay succumbed inside the boat. Drink more water and lay down for a few minutes! Stay safe!

I sat on the

Waves, Wind Across Hori

front row yay!

Fisherman boats along the way, sea birds, songs of the waves.

For 4 hours towards Peucang Island, all I can sense is this calming mother nature-welcoming us strangers.


Ahooyy Peucang!

izons Feels like entering a gate to heaven, right? The breeze felt so free and serene!


Aesthetic Bakau Trees Many tourist took catchy selfies around these beautiful trees! Remember to pay attention to your surrounding while posing!


Peucang Island

We arrived! After all those motion sickness and menacing heat,

we arrived at Peucang Island! Can’t wait to splash some water right? The time ticked at 11 a.m. and yeah it was sooo hot! Glad I used sunscreen!

Hurriedly I unpacked my things and

put them inside the inn provided (the condition

is very simple but its okay).

I was about to burst into the blazing

turquoise sea and have a light swim but the

schedule showed that we’re out

trekking into the Peucang forest.

Welp! The sea can wait!


Pulau Peucang Sign There’s this big sign which was renovated a year ago, just around 5 meters from the Peucang Dock.


I t was super duper hot !!

Inn and Amenities Room I saw 4 types of Inns in the Island. Basic, Flora A,B, and Fauna. The difference is that you’ll have to pay more for a better type of inn (with AC, bathroom). The additional price ranged from IDR 450.000 - 750.000 for each room.


Kitchen and Meals Hmm.. I wonder..

Remember cautions not

to feed animals on the wild? Apparently, deers, boars, and monkeys around Peucang Island already used to feed from humans-for decades. Which is why, the tour guides allowed us to feed them our meals. What do you think about this?


Water or Tea Vegetable soup

Boiled egg

Fried chicken

Salt ed.. fish?

Chilli sauce

Mihun!

Fried banana as snack


F

Various Trees building the Rainforest Such as Fig Tree, Aren, Gebang and many other.

There are also many old trees that had fallen down,

strucked by lightning, filled with moss, dried

and many more. Some tree hindered our way.

But I remembered that we shouldn’t change

or disrupt things happening from natural

causes, that’s why the surroundings were

kept in their natural way.


Forest E xplore Check!

Peucang forest is totally blossoming with

big fig, and ara trees! Everywhere you see is greeneries floating and breathing. I spotted some monkeys hiding behind the branches and deers lurking around the place.

As time goes by, people visitted the island and

gave these animals food. Made them familiar with humans and eagerly approach us.

The trekking site which leads to Kiara Tree.

The biggest fig tree in Ujung Kulon National Park which also is the oldest tree-aged more than 100 years.

Dried fallen leaves all over the road


The Century Fig Tree

Withered fell down

It took approximately 1 hour for 2km trekking into

the main Century Fig Tree deep in the forest.

The tree was very very tall. I couldn’t see the top

of it at all since it’s covered by thick bundles of leaves and branches. There are fruits on the ground and some monkeys picked them, hurriedly ran away afterwards.

From my point of view, the Kiara Tree was as if a few small tree wrapped together, with lots of roots

Fig Tree’s Joined Roots

appear below them. The roots were very very strong

and strong enough for people to climb on

them to take a selfie. But I guess its better

to keep them off from our legs to make sure they’ll have longer life :)


gracefullly

"Beringin Pencekik" "Ki Ara" Ficus benjamina l.


Ciapus and Suminoh

Let's go for a splash swim!

Hi There! Clownfish!

I’ve never go for an actual snorkeling before so its a

huge excitement to finally able to do one!! Our first snorkelling spot is Ciapus!

I carried a small dry bag

to put my phone, notebook, and pencil! To keep them safe!

When we leave, some deers followed our boat! They were

so adorable!!


Snorkel Mask

Fins!

Tube

Yay Another Note! As I mentioned earlier, they rented out the snorkelling gear for IDR 80.000 for the whole trip! Do bring yours if you have your own to use!

Life Vest


I 've always Loved how the sea

and everything under the blue

felt so alive, real, serene, and illuminating!

Sparkling with greenish cyan, and some are pale pink

some are orange with fishes dancing around

and some are purple, like how it was on tv!

We spent around 3 hours snorkeling at Ciapus

and Suminoh. The weather is a bit windy so the wave

was quite big so we decided to finish early,

onward to Cidaon next!

Bustling Corals & Reef



T here are so many places with

beautiful painted sunset sky..

And if I have to say about sunset,

T his place definitely hits the spot!

Doodled real quick!!

Onwards to Cidaon

But it would better to see them by yourself! :)

We quickly changed

our clothes into a dry one. Some choose to keep snorkeling around Peucang, some decided to take rest.

But not me!

I’m going to Cidaon to see some bulls! Yeah!


I prepared my tiny sketchbook and camera

since Mas Deden said its hard to paint while walking on the trip!

Small sketch for the rescue!


Cidaon Savanna

Cidaon Watchtower as one of

surveillance facility available for tourist to use. There were binoculars available to see the wildlife from a far!


s u o m r o n e n a s ' e r e Th s n o i t a t n a l p f o s e i t e i r va

Bulls, peacocks, and deers come

and go to eat.During dry season, we collect water for them to drink re-using old tires as rain container.

Re-using car tires as big water bowl


And yes, we can borrow the surfboard

from the tourist’s amenities! Thankfully!

Waves of Legon Bajo

We were unable to visit Legon Bajo

but Mr. Deden said it’s a feast for those who loves to surf! Huge waves hurling and striking!


Nout long, not far from the wave

T here was this beautiful place and paradise

Dearest island, I wish to visit you someday

I wish to dive around your coral farms and swim through the magnificent statues deep under

Badul Island

Research Note! I browsed through articles about Badul Island and the coral conservation and farm around it was very charming. The coral seeds were planted on structures resembling pots and tables then grows bit by bit before forming

a big colony of corals.


Sang Hyang Sirah

I didn’t had a chance to ask more about

this religious and sacred place inside Ujung Kulon, which can only be found through days of trekking inside the park. Its located at the corner of Ujung Jaya, a bit south. Most people who came here were doing religious journey called “Tirakat” and it was believed as one of the place Prabu Siliwangi, King of Pajajaran kingdom visited long ago.

Trivia! I actually met some elderly people who went there in a private spiritual journey to visit Sang Hyang Sirah. They said the trip might take three or even a week days time by walking.


T here were said to be one of the place with holy atmosphere

T hw water on the pond was crystal clear

with cool surrounding, with grace


So many sea shells on the rocky road

After we finished exploring Cidaon, we

travelled back to Peucang to watch the sunset from Karang Copong.

The name Karang Copong literally

means chopped rocks, as you can see from many angle there’s a hole and chopped structure on it.

Karang C at Dus


Copong sk

The view was amazing! The turquiose sea and mesmerizing structure


Goodbye by Sunset

The Blue hours last only for a few minutes! Ready your camera!!


y

Today was a wonderful day and hopefully tomorrow will be

another excitingly wonderful day

T he purple dyed sunset left us in awe

which always will make us wonder about

our own journey our beloved ones

and how the world serenely.


Exploring Cigenter River

Day two started with us preparing ourself to go back to Sumur Village.

But beforehand, we had dinner and will visit our last destination,

The Amazon of Ujung Kulon, Cigenter River at Handeuleum Island.


River E xplore Check!


Huge trees with fancy root shapes Important Notice! The depth of the river is highly influenced with the waves from the sea. If its very high, usually the tour will be cancelled to avoid unwanted scenarios.

It’s also important to stay on guard

because Mr. Usep, one of the volunteer for YABI (Yayasan Badak Indonesia) there are crocodiles on the river :| UM...


The surface of the water shaped the roots and bottom stems of the strees around the edge of the river. Making them forming an unusual shape and from this, tour guides able to determine whether its safe or not to ride the boat.


Notes notes! Since the water is brackish but very clear, we could see some kind of sea anemone like things. They

look very squishy and that’s why

its important to look out and keep our guard so we won’t step on this cute thing ^^

Another day Another place Another Canoe


Cigenter River and Forest

All 47 people fits on 2 canoes as we rowed our canoe for about an hour back and forth. The river

is around 12km long with 6m depth, but we only managed to explore around 3km since there was a big tree crossing our way. We had to turn back.


"Tapak Badak" at Cigenter The traces were made when they went down to have a swim into the river

Javan Rhino's Traces Spotted!!

Notes Notes!!

I was thrilled! I’d never imagine to be able to see Javan Rhinoceros using bare eyes in the wild.

But being able to witness the traces they left at Cigenter River surely brought me chills! There were two sigthings of

traces with difference size. One was around 24.5 cm width while another one (the newest) was bigger (they didn’t do the calculations yet).


The difference in width of the trace determines the size of the Rhino passing by. This also can help the researcher to map their movements and cycle, since Rhinos

move from one place to another.

Especially since their territory on Ujung Kulon

National Park is quite big.

Usually they’d choose to pass through old and smoother part of the Nipa because it’s a lot easier

When crossing the river, you’ll realize there were so

many Nipa palm on the inner side of the river, aside from

other trees such as Waru, Padi-padi, Bakau.

The water was bright green like how they portrayed

them in the photos and videos, the wave was serene, flowing

slowly and the atmosphere was very very calm.

We rowed and rowed out boat and after a while hour end, we went back to our boat to

return to Desa Sumur.


Remember, not to take anything back

aside from memories

Not to leave anything behind

aside from feelings of lomging to come back

Some shells that I found on the beach :)


Goodbye for now But not for long

It was a wonderful experience

a wonderful trip

and I hope you can visit too one day

and share your stories


Dear Ujung Ku

I had a really great time, meeting new friends,

able to relax my mind after long tight and busy days at campus.

It was amazing and I wished I've gotten there longer

maybe later using private trip or doing backpacker with my friends!

I love how the local people still living in balance with nature

I love how humble people approach myself who was awkward at first. Truly and amazing experience and I hope you'll be able to visit too!


ulon

Beautifully captured through lenses and sketches


g

Snaps Sna Thank

Peucang Group Photo!

Snaps some Photos! It was a great trip and would love to explore another National Park, another conservation site, another jewel in the rough, another Indonesia’s Treasure.

Thank you, Ujung Kulon.


aps! k you!

wow its me! :)))


References

Book Sources Indrawan, Mochamad, dkk., (2007). Biologi Konservasi. Jakarta: Penerbit Obor. Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia No. 28 tahun 2001 tentang Pengelolaan Kawasan Suaka Alam dan

Kawasan Pelestarian Alam.

Siswanto, Wandojo. (2017). Pengelolaan Kawasan Konservasi di Indonesia. Indonesia: Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂźr

Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Internet Sources McDaniel, Mellisa, dkk., (2011): Conserving the Earth, http://nationalgeographic.org/article/conserving-earth,

download (diunduh) pada 24 September 2019

Taman Nasional Ujung Kulon. (2009). http://ujungkulon.org, diakses pada 29 November 2019. van Strien, N.J., Steinmetz, R., Manullang, B., Sectionov, Han, K.H., Isnan, W., Rookmaaker, K., Sumardja,

E., Khan, M.K.M. & Ellis, S. 2008. Rhinoceros sondaicus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened

Species 2008: e.T19495A8925965.https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T19495A8925965.

en. Downloaded on 12 April 2020.


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