Heaven and Earth

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

Initially I wanted to take a picture of our Park Guide, but then I noticed the view from the fishermen village on that afternoon was spectacular. The dark Sebangau peatland river was a perfect mirror for the skies above it.

I'm Just Hanging Around

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

This adorable little girl was peeking through her little hammock to see the incoming guests.

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

And I find her necklace very interesting. Is it Arabic numbers?

Salted Fish

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

There's no better way for you to eat a good, fresh, ikan asin (salted fish) than buying it straight from the local fishermen. I forgot how much this huge fish cost, but it was less than IDR 75,000, maybe around IDR 60,000 if I can recall. If I buy it from the market it will cost more, trust me. They said that this was a local fish in the river and the dark color of the fish imitates the dark color of the river for camouflage. I don't know exactly what kind of species this is, but I do know that it was the perfect souvenir for my mother, as we had ikan asin with sambal with hot rice for 4 days in a row. Yum.

A Fishermen's Village

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

Abandoned Orangutan's Nest

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

Sebangau River Cruise

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Sebangau National Park on November 2009

Peat Land Canal Blocking

*Picture copyright by FF, taken on November 2009

In the past, peat land forests have been degraded as a result of forest exploitation, and canals were built to extract the timber (legal and/or sadly illegal) out of the forest and into the river for easier transport. If the peat lands are dry, they can get burned easily thus emitting many carbon emissions into the air. That is why WWF, the Sebangau National Park Management and the local communities have jointly built dams or canal blocking systems to leverage the ground water level and preserve the water in the dry season. This method will moisten the soil, prevent forest and land fire and in turn encourage natural revegetation around the dam.

*Picture copyright by FF, taken on November 2009

In the long run, I think making these canal blocking for eco-tourism might be an option. Care for a swim?

Sebangau National Park Guide

*Picture copyright by FF, taken on November 2009

Park guides, which are the staff of the Sebangau National Park Management, are compulsory to accompany you when you enter the area and they costs IDR 150,000 per day.

Sebangau National Park - SSI Camp

*Picture copyright by FF, taken on November 2009

The management of Sebangau National Park is divided into three areas: Pulang Pisau, Palangkaraya, and Kasongan. If you go from Palangkaraya or Pulang Pisau, you will most probably stay in SSI camp, which is a very simple place for accommodation with shared mandi. SSI is short for Sebangau Sinatra Indah, which was then a logging company which oversees the logging concession in the area. Since 2000-something, the logging activities has stopped and the government decided in 2004 that it should be made a national park because of the biodiversity there, such as Orangutans, Proboscis Monkeys, etc. Thus, the peat swamp forests in Sebangau National Park are actually secondary forests and the SSI camp have been a place for researchers to stay and examine the reforestation efforts. Currently SSI camp has been managed by WWF, in cooperation with the national park management office. If you want to know more, please contact them right away.

Oh, FYI, if you notice the top of the SSI camp building, it has decorations depicting the beaks of the hornbill birds which are native in Kalimantan. That is why most traditional houses in Kalimantan, or in Palangkaraya at least, have these hornbill decor.

Off to Sebangau National Park

*Picture copyright by FF, taken from Kereng Bangkirai harbor on November 2009

From Palangkaraya, if you want to go to Sebangau National Park (Taman Nasional Sebangau in Bahasa Indonesia), you will need to go to Kereng Bangkirai Harbor (take a taxi or ask someone to take you there) and from the harbor it will take about an hour or so on a speedboat or three hours on a regular fishing boat like the picture above. If you want to go to Sebangau National Park, consult the Sebangau National Park management office branch in Palangkaraya beforehand and they will give you the list of prices and you will stay in SSI camp. We took the speedboat which costs roughly per trip IDR 225,000 (30 liters of gasoline included) and the speedboat driver for IDR 75,000, totaling to IDR 300,000. But thanks to the nice people in WWF, the speedboat was for free because we "boat-hiked" with them on their way for their routine field visit.

Lonely Boat

*Picture copyright by FF, taken in Kereng Bangkirai Harbor on November 2009

Notice how the Sebangau river is very dark, almost black? The peat lands surrounding the are is what causes the river to be very thick. It is actually clean and it provides a certain mystery to it, unlike any kind of river I've encountered before. It was my first time to see a peat swamp forest before, so it was really quite a treat for adventure. It also makes a perfect mirror to the sky.