A Pachyderm Experience

a trip to lampung, the lesser known part of sumatra, takes you on a walk through the rainforest on a large mammal with a long trunk and tusks, and plays football

Situated on the southernmost tip of Sumatra, Lampung is often overlooked as a tourist destination. Holiday and adventure seekers usually head northward to see the picturesque Lake Toba, the furry orang-utans of Bukit Lawang or the underwater beauty of Pulau Weh. Therefore, the idea of a road trip made me a bit hesitant. But intrigued. Nonetheless, on paper, the trip looked quite interesting: a festival, an elephant ride and a jungle trek. Not bad.

Only when I got to this trip’s assembly point did I realise that it was going to be an eight-hour bum-numbing journey each way. Leaving from Jakarta, we were to take a 2.5-hour drive to Merak Harbor, a 2.5-hour ferry-ride across the Sunda strait, land in Bakuheni Port and then take another three-hour drive to Way Kambas.

The first leg was fine, conversation was good and a few playlists on my iPod later, we reached Merak. The ferry-ride was surprisingly pleasant. It’s a roll-on/ roll-off ferry, meaning, our car got onto the ferry, entered the belly and we could walk around the upper decks.

Before the ferry set off, some local boys entertained us by diving off the ferry into the deep waters below for some spare change. Great stunts from these kids but at the same time it tugged on my heart that they had to risk their lives for some small change.

We passed the beautiful and scenic islands across the Sunda Strait and even caught a glimpse of Krakatau volcano on the way. A mesmerising sunset greeted us while on the ferry, making me momentarily forget that we had passed the five-hour mark.

The drive from Bakuheni to Way Kambas along the hilly trans-Sumatra highway would have been beautiful, but since we were driving at night, it was quite boring. We finally got to our hotel, tired and hungry, lower body numb. After a bit of socialising, I set off to bed. The next day would be a long one.

The town of Way Kambas celebrates the uniqueness of the flora and fauna of the area and the rich diversity of the different cultures in Lampung each year with the Way Kambas Festival. As soon as we arrived at the festival grounds, six of the biggest guests immediately greeted us: six Sumatran elephants from the Way Kambas National Park’s Elephant Conservation Centre. After some lengthy speeches from the Minister of Culture and other government officials the festival finally kicked off. A number of cultural dances were performed and a tableau on the transmigration of various peoples from Java and Bali to Lampung and Sumatra Island was staged.

Of course, the real stars of the show were the elephants. The crowd eventually gravitated to the pachyderms, posing for photos, watching them perform minor tricks. The highlight of the day was the three-on-three football match these animals played. Everyone was enthralled, including me.

Done with the culture part of the day, we headed to the National Park after a quick lunch for the adventure part. Located south of the Barisan Hills, the nearby Way Kambas National Park, is a 130,000 hectare reserve consisting of swampland and lowland rain forest established in 1972. Within the reserve are the Elephant Conservation Centre and the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary. The adventure part of the day included a jungle trek, a boat ride and a night elephant safari.

The jungle trek took us deep into the rainforest. According to our guide, there are still around 300 wild Sumatran elephants in this reserve. So we had to be careful. Every time we would pass a known elephant crossing, he would remind us to give-way to the elephants if we saw one. As if any of us would dare play tag with a wild elephant. Aside from the elephants, the forest is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

It is said to be a birdwatchers delight. Among the bird species which can be found in the park include the white-winged duck, the storm stork, the desert adjutant stork and a number of owls. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of these although maybe we weren’t really looking.

The 90-minute trek was easy. The only problem was the leeches. Yeah, leeches. Tiny suckers. The forest was teeming with them. If you weren’t careful, you’d miss them. But they won’t miss you. They wait for their victims, tiny mouths open. These little suckers latch onto the victim’s skin, break it and they secrete an anti-coagulant substance which stops your blood from coagulating so they can freely suck your blood. I came in hiking sandals and was actually very cautious when walking around. When we got back to camp I felt an itch under the strap of my sandal, checked it out and found a not so tiny bloated sucker, peacefully filling up from my ankle. It was a war wound and I was proud of it.

We also took a short boat ride up the Way Kanan River which runs through the Park. A number of monkeys and colourful birds made an appearance. And as the sun was setting, our guide announced that we had to head back to camp since we didn’t want to be in the forest at dark. Who would?

After a simple dinner prepared by the camp staff, we were off to the Elephant Conservation Centre for our night safari. At present, there are 62 elephants under the care of the Centre, six of these are babies. Each elephant has an assigned trainer, his job is to wash, feed and teach little tricks to his charge daily. The night we were there, there were 20 of us going on the night safari. Each of us was to get onto an elephant, driven by its trainer. The “boarding” area had two tall concrete stairs which led up to a platform, from the landing, one could easily get onto the elephants.

I chose a big one called Mambo, a 20-year-old male with long tusks. After the initial excitement of everyone getting onto their elephants, the real adventure started. Convoy style, the elephants formed a single line and headed for the forest. The pachyderms are trained to walk in line. To get them in line, each trainer is armed with a tiny flashlight. They light up a path for the elephants to see the other elephant in front and violà, 20 elephants in a line. Single file the elephants and their giddy passengers walked quietly into the forest. Once my eyes got accustomed to the darkness, I looked up. It was a magnificent night. Never had I seen the sky this clear this clear and bright. I could make up constellations of and stars. And what made it more grand was that I was soaking up this view from atop an elephant.

We made our way through some trees and to the flatlands. Then all of a sudden, my trainer asked me to hold onto his shoulders. This was when I discovered where we were. At the edge of a river. We were going to cross.

I held tight onto the trainer’s shoulders as Mambo made his way down to the riverbed. With water rushing around me, our line of pachyderms made their way across the river. When we got to the other side, the elephants again climbed out of the river onto the bank of the river. As I looked behind me, I marvelled at the sight of the long line of elephants walking through the forest and river. An unbelievable sight. I guess the eight-hour journey to get here was worth it, even if just for this experience.

The line of elephants went through the forest for a bit longer or maybe it was too long, since my thighs and bum were getting sore. On our way back to the Centre, we caught a glimpse of the baby elephants playing around, again a truly moving sight.
I went to bed quite happy and fulfilled. When I woke up, it dawned on me, I had another eight-hour journey back home. •

The office of the Way Kambas National Park’s Elephant Conservation Centre is on Jl. Raya Way Jepara, Labuan Ratu Lama, Lampung, Sumatra. T: 0725 44220.