Mangrove tour a Paradise in the Swamp

There is a lush mangrove forest on the north-eastern side of the island which is definitely worth to visit; this tour takes you through the forest in a dugout canoe. Bintan Island and Bali Island is the most famous place for doing the mangrove tour.

In Bali Island, take a tour through the mangroves in a sampan style boat. Explore and experience an extreme quietness of Mangrove Park by sailing small 'jukung'. You will have an unforgettable impression to see colorful and unique mud crabs and if you are inclined, catch some for delicious meal. Along the tracing of the park, you are welcome with various sounds of birds and see many wild animal lives in this area.

In Bintan Island, if you love nature and would like to feel it closer to you then do not miss a tour to the diverse ecological wildlife that exists beneath the awe-inspiring serenity of a mangrove forest. When you are traveling in the boat through the river, try to keep a look out for the Purple Helon, one of the largest birds in Asia, or the signature yellow and black banded mangrove snakes. You may also come face to face with the other inhabitants that exist in this fragile community, such as the sliver leaf monkey, the monitor lizard and, of course, the Kingfisher. You will enjoy it to your heart if you are careful enough to notice all these inhabitants of this beautiful island.

Bird Watching & National Park Bird watching has become an exciting ecotourism activity in Pulau Dua in Ujung Kulon or Sebangau National Park, Central Kalimantan, with 106 bird species recorded in the 568,700 hectares forest conservation area. Binoculars and a bird guidebook are all that are required to enjoy the wild birds within or on the fringes of the forest, while the morning and afternoon are the best times to see these lovely creatures feeding, playing and seeking mates.

Petak Bahandang village in Tasik Payawan district is one of the most interesting locations in which to observe bird life. Situated on the border of Sebangau National Park, the settlement is about three hours’ sail from Kasongan port, Palangkaraya. Part of the village population belongs to the Dayak ethnic group. In Petak Bahandang, a mainly agricultural community, no fewer than 10 bird species can be detected around the forest border close to the community farms. Among them are the rhinoceros hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros), swallows, greater coucals (Centropus sinensis) and various honeyeaters. It is also nice to watch the birds near the swamps or woodlands along the banks of the Katingan River. Bird watchers can cruise down the river, rare hawks are known for their graceful flight. Around the peat land forest park, visitors can also find hornbills, a protected species active in the afternoon and morning.

The nature reserve has various forest sub types. Its marshy forest is home to diverse land and water biota while locals utilize its non-wood products like rattan, rubber and jelutung resin. Rattan and resin are mostly found on Sebangau and Katingan riversides. The other unique feature of this park is that 95 percent of its ecosystem is composed of peat land. Although some regions in the province are former forest concession and illegal logging areas, Sebangau National Park and its environs continue to possess highly diversified species of fauna and flora. Its natural beauty enhances its ecotourism status, with its forest abounding in exotic vegetation, besides unique wildlife like its 35 species of primates. Sebangau is also home to thousands of orangutans and proboscis monkeys. These primates, however, cannot be found around Petak Bahandang village, which is teeming with countless birds and their cheerful sounds, which fill the air before dawn and dusk.

The most popular national park is Ujung Kulon. Ujung Kulon Sanctuary, in West Java, where the unique one horned rhinos roam free. This national park, located in the extreme south western tip of Java on the Sunda shelf, includes the Ujung Kulon peninsula and several offshore islands and encompasses the natural reserve of Krakatoa. In addition to its natural beauty and geological interest, it contains the largest remaining area of lowland rainforests in the Java plain. Several species of endangered plants and animals can be found here.

Let’s Go for Being a Greener Travel

How can we make our travel and tourism more environmentally friendly? There are now all kinds of titles given to tourism and travel, such as ecotourism, adventure tours, sustainable tours and even reality and cultural tours. Tourism is a highly lucrative industry and titles like ecotourism may prove just to be labels that tour operators use in the interests of capitalizing on an expanding and so profitable market. We should think carefully about what titles like ecotourism and sustainable tourism really should represent.

Ecotourism may be thought of as nature based tours that allow tourists to see, observe, witness and appreciate the natural environments of our world and the traditional cultures that exist within those environments in a sustainable manner. It may even be the case that eco tourists engage in projects to help the environments that they are visiting and so they are increasing the sustainability of such places. We then logically need to define the term “sustainable tourism”; it is a term that can be used interchangeably with ecotourism but emphasizes projects and programs that protect natural resources and sustain the local community, both currently and for their futures.

Ecotourism is then substantively aimed at those that like to travel to and experience “the great outdoors”. This though is not everyone or indeed everyone’s motivation for travel. There are, however, more generalized ways in which our travel and tourism may become more environmentally friendly and so there are ways in which we may all become green travelers. Even though we may not be communing with the great outdoors and may in fact be spending most of our travel and tour time in urban or city settings, we can still do things that help to preserve the environment generally, conserve energy and avoid unnecessary wastage. For example, we should all be familiar by now with avoiding unnecessary laundry in hotel rooms. Savings of water and detergents can easily be made by not having hotel towels and bed linens unnecessarily laundered. This means that any and every traveler can easily contribute by not unnecessarily and wastefully using room service.

Expecting room service to make up one’s room every day can be wasteful for other items too. Disposable items may thoughtlessly be disregarded, half-used bars of soap may be trashed when they could still be used and generally, daily room service is an excess that could easily be cut. Similarly, thoughtless and excessive food consumption can easily be avoided. Tourism has quite notoriously brought with it the excesses and so wastages incurred by fast food. Again, excess does not have to be the order of the day.

The fast food customer can request less packaging for carryout food and too many ketchup or chili sachets can also be avoided. Responsible disposal of any fast food trash is an automatic too. The very act of travel can be made more environmentally friendly as well. Choosing to walk when possible is widely promoted as indeed is the option of using a bicycle when on holiday. The use of hotel pickup/drop-off services instead of renting a car can be considered as can the sharing of taxis. All of these are more economical for the traveler and more environmentally friendly.

Also offering greater economy and eco friendliness are alternatively fueled vehicles. The rental of vehicles while traveling or touring is quite commonplace and increasingly vehicles that create less pollution can and should be sought. The renter of a vehicle can look for vehicles that run on natural gas, electricity, or are hybrid electric and clean air gasoline powered. Car rental companies may not yet have them but more and more do and the more customers that request and pressure for them, the more these companies will need to offer them. This is one key way in which the traveler or tourist can help to lessen the impact of travel and all that it entails. Consumer pressure can work and the more that companies, whether travel providers or food and service providers, are forced to respond to a greener consumer the more they will have to take care about what they do and how they do it.

It would be foolish and simply unrealistic to expect people to stop traveling and no longer become tourists, but travel that is more responsible and a greener outlook on tourism can be quite readily achieved. Businesses have to be responsive to their guests and customers and so when clients give voice to concerns or indeed compliments, they should listen. A significant way, therefore, in which we can become green travelers, is by being green thinkers. (Thanks to Simon Marcus Gower for the ‘Greener’ traveler knowledge & Photograph by Greenpeace – Hilda Perbatasari)