Way Kambas National Park

Way Kambas covers around thirteen hundred square kilometres of lowland forest and swamp on the east coast of Lampung and is one of the oldest reserves in Indonesia, gazetted in the Dutch period. Two programmes define it. The Elephant Conservation Centre, running since 1985, holds elephants captured after conflict with farmers, trains some as patrol animals used to drive wild herds away from crops, and breeds them. The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, a fenced area of natural forest inside the park, holds the small number of rhinos in one of the very few successful captive breeding programmes for the species - calves have been born there, which matters given that the wild population may be under fifty animals. Neither is a zoo; access to the rhino area is tightly restricted and generally not open to casual visitors.

History

The Dutch administration made Way Kambas a game reserve in 1937, and it was declared a national park in 1989; much of its forest is secondary growth after heavy logging in the 1960s and 1970s. The Elephant Conservation Centre was set up in the 1980s, the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary's breeding programme produced the calf Andatu, and in 2016 Way Kambas was declared an ASEAN Heritage Park (Wikipedia, Way Kambas National Park).

Highlights

• The elephant centre - conflict elephants held, trained and bred since 1985.
• The rhino sanctuary - one of the very few successful Sumatran rhino breeding programmes, restricted.
• Lowland forest and swamp - river trips at dawn for birds and monkeys.
• A Dutch-era reserve - among the oldest protected areas in Indonesia.

When to go

May to September; dawn for river trips. Two days.

Practical notes

The rhino sanctuary is not generally open to visitors - do not travel expecting to see one. The elephant centre's practices divide opinion. Malaria is present. Facilities are basic.

Nearby

Bandar Lampung is south-west; the Sunda Strait and Krakatoa are south.

Key facts