Sebangau National Park Wild Orangutan Walks

A totally original orangutan ecotour is being developed in Central Kalimantan, the heart of Indonesian Borneo. A partnership of orangutan researchers, WWF-Indonesia and Kalimantan Tour Destinationst, will cooperate to create a unique experience of wild orangutans which will help to preserve endangered habitat, to ensure benefits flow directly to local communities and government authorities, and to provide an unforgettable journey by boat into the heart of Borneo’s forests.

Project description
Background The project area is within an extensive tropical peat-swamp forest in southern Central Kalimantan, rich in biodiversity and especially noted for supporting the largest world population of the endangered orangutan. The area is of high conservation importance as a major global store of carbon and WWF-Indonesia has been working in the region since 2001 to establish it as a National Park. The change in land status may not be sufficient to protect it from continued forest degradation. Illegal logging and encroachment remain problems and the roots of these are invariably economic. Mechanisms that provide income to the local communities of the Sebangau Ecosystem, linked to protection of the natural resource, are urgently required. This ecotour project is proposed to alleviate those effects.

Comparable projects All previous and current orangutan tourism ventures are centred around rehabilitation and release centres, notably at Sepilok in Sabah, Malaysia, Bukit Lawang in North Sumatra and Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan. These centres provide a home for orphaned orangutans confiscated from human captors and have released many individuals back into the forest where they receive provisioning of fruit. These release centres have provided the opportunity for tourists to see orangutans in their natural habitat, albeit performing many un-natural activities and sometimes interacting very closely with observers.

Unique tourism product Simply leading tourists into the forest, on the other hand, will yield few sightings. Our project proposes to use experienced orangutan researchers to accompany tourists on an orangutan watching walk. Such a program is unique in the world. The area selected for tourist visits has been identified by consultation and site research. The habituation of orangutans at least 6 months prior to the arrival of tourists, will serve to virtually guarantee an orangutan sighting and reduce the stress caused to observed animals. The effort of trekking through dense jungle will be truly rewarded by the sighting and following of a wild orangutan in its native habitat.

Tour itinerary proposed Specifically, tourists will travel from hotel accommodation in or near Palangkaraya to the major regional capital of Kasongan, 80 km by road. From Kasongan, tourists will board the very comfortable and fully catered for hotel boat, spending 4 glorious days on the boat, slowly cruising to the Lombok Tropic Holidays ecotourism site down river. Stops will also be made at riverside villages to see local specialist activities, such as rattan collection, drying and weaving, or fish farming activities. Other activities include taking a detour to walk to one of the only rocky outcrops in the 600 ha park, or shimmering on glassy, black water lakes. The tour will end at the mouth of the Katingan River, where Proboscis Monkeys can be seen from the boat racing through the mangroves.

Researchers will give information about the environment and orangutan, and will brief visitors on the walk and any regulations in force. No more than two tourists at a time will go with a dedicated guide/researcher provided by the research team. They will locate an orangutan in the field, then, with the tourists, will ‘track’ it for period of one hour or longer, watching it travel, eat and, if fortunate, socially interact with other individuals, all the time learning about the species and its environment.

Expertise The benefits of working with orangutan researchers who have long been studying wild orangutans in the area, are that they are extremely knowledgeable about the species and about the individual orangutans being followed. Ultimately, with published research from the area, its prestige will be raised. Also, this data will allow the impact of tourism on orangutan behaviour to be studied. This kind of continuing research could assist with development of further high standard ecotour operations. It could also open the door to potential alternative types of tourism and revenue streams, further benefiting the local community. It also gives this tour a high degree of credibility at the international level.

WWF-Indonesia in Palangkaraya is funded to provide technical assistance through training, workshop and skill development program to have community well organized in providing for and attracting more tourist/visitors, aimed a long term sustainable livelihood and benefits from tourism activity rather than seeking short term gain. It can expand community involvement in tourism development, for example, by promoting home stay accommodation, using local transportation, local guides and handicrafts. With its existing government and local contacts, and proven successes in negotiations for the national park status, WWF-Indonesia can promote development program ecotourism based on conservation through collaborative management with local government, local community and related stakeholders.

Expected results of the project
Income to support local communities and nature conservation The Sebangau Ecosystem is an extensive area of tropical peat-swamp forest and marshland in southern Indonesian Borneo and of high conservation importance as a major global store of carbon. It also provides many natural resource functions for the surrounding human communities. The Sebangau was gazetted as a National Park at the end of 2004 but this change in land status is unlikely to be sufficient to protect it from continued forest degradation. Illegal logging and encroachment remain problems and the roots of these are invariably economic. This ecotourism project is a mechanism for income generation for the local communities linked to protection of the natural resource.

Contribution to nature conservation The aim is to establish a tourism program that offers a specialised, guaranteed opportunity to view wild orangutans in a Borneo rainforest. This would be a unique experience, as no other tourism venture underway has the main aim of observing wild orangutans. The sole reasons for establishing such a project are to support the conservation of the Sebangau Ecosystem, through the following mechanisms:

o To generate funds to be used for: the development of essential infrastructures for the local communities; to support the development of non-exploitative livelihoods which will provide income to individuals in local communities; to support the protection of the proposed Sebangau National Park; to provide employment to members of the local communities and overall, to ensure the viability of the Sebangau Ecosystem as a National Park.

To raise awareness of the importance of the orangutan and the forest and its natural resource functions within the local communities and positively change local attitudes about the forest and the orangutan.

To raise the status of the Sebangau Ecosystem as an important area for biodiversity conservation, particularly the orangutan, locally, nationally and internationally.

Cost setting and income ma5nagement The precise amount to be paid, the organisation responsible for handling this money and the decisions on how it should be best spent must be agreed by all, including involved NGO’s, local, regional (and possibly also) national government, community leaders and the involved tour operator. The following ideas will be examined as good practice in this regard.

Permanent management body An Orangutan Watching Fee will be paid by each and every tourist visiting the site. This money should be solely used for community projects, including assisting livelihoods and developing infrastructure. The amount of this fee will be no less than US$100 per person, and may be raised upon agreement by the local stakeholders. The income and expenditure of this money should be transparent and clearly presented to all the relevant communities. The money should be used to benefit each identified, relevant community equally. Administration costs should be sourced from a different fee. This fixed fee system mirrors that used in Uganda for mountain gorilla viewing. In that case, a fixed number of permits are sold each day for a fixed price, although the money is paid to and spent by the central government.

Fixed fee for conservation activities A second fund should ideally be established that takes a fixed fee from each tourist to be used for conservation activities, education and administration. The nature of the permanent management body responsible for disembursing this money is yet to be decided upon.

Taxes and administration costs Separately, taxes and national park entry-fees will be obligatory payments to the local/national government. It is recommended that agreement is reached for park entry-fees to be returned to support the protection of the area.

Benefits to local inhabitants Through the mechanism of the permanent management body, fees levied on tourists will go to support local livelihoods as alternatives to illegal logging and other non sustainable livelihoods. Funds will also go to infrastructure (hospitals, schools etc.) and for community projects. Empowerment of the local communities in this way has been proven to develop their sense of ownership of and care for the environment.

Sustainable livelihoods WWF-Indonesia already works closely among the local community within and bordering the Sebangau ecosystem to promote sustainable, responsible and innovative livelihoods. The rattan industry thrives here, and with rattan vines needing forest trees to support them, acts to protect the environment. A number of processing factories are sited along the banks of the Katingan. WWF-Indonesia and local government are engaged in encouraging local people to develop a weaving home industry. Other industries, based on the forest, include chewing gum resin from Dyera lowii, medicinal plant collection, fishing and shrimping, appropriate agriculture and livestock keeping. These current programs will be expanded.

Outcome The project team aims to produce a blueprint for eco tour development within Central Kalimantan by close monitoring of the progress of this project. Eventually, this can be shared with other community groups from this region and beyond, giving a wider impact to the principles of nature conservation, local community development and sustainable livelihoods.