Let’s Visit These 5 Overwhelming National Parks in Sumatra to Escape the Crowds

We talked about it recently, and it may hold a special place in the travelers’ heart. The name is Sumatra island, located on the East side of Indonesia and right below Singapore island.

There’s a notable historical area like Banda Aceh that’s included as one important place during the colonial era. There you could learn one or two things about the history of trading while enjoying the popular Sumatran foods as well.

Aside from the beauty of culture, the island also has several popular tourist attractions to visit, for example, the beautiful Ngarai Sianok.

Other than those, you might find the Natural Parks as well that were built and developed beautifully in order to bring the beauty and educate the visitors at the same time. There’s some you can find on the island, like:

Berbak

·      Location : Tanjung Jabung, Jambi

·      Entrance Fee : Rp10.000,-

The one of many reasons why you should visit Sumatra, is a National Park called Berbak. This place is actually the biggest International Wetland Conservation in the South East Asia region.

Rich with swamp forests, Berbak can spoil the scientific adventurers for exploring the lives and wild habitats with lots of flora and fauna varieties.

The environment is also a natural home for Sumatran Tigers. So when you explore the area via using a boat, you may notice their existence on the river banks.

However, with this long-time flooded land, the acid within the ground has increased, and thus creating a land rich in humus content.

As said above, because almost 80% of the location is filled in with water, the exploring is always using a reliable boat. You may  have a chance to explore the flowing rivers that divide the lands, while listening to the chirping birds and the refreshing sounds of flowing water. The captain needs to be careful since the boat can flip over when some things happen.

Around the area, there’s the posts for sight-viewing and observation that were built on specific spots just near the river, and you can rest there. The aroma is the wetlands can be enjoyed fully while greeted by the morning light.

Way Kambas

·      Location : East Lampung, Lampung

·      Entrance Fee : Rp5.000,- to Rp7.000,-

On a part of Lampung regency, there’s a National Park that may be familiar to people, Way Kambas. This National Park was notably popular because of the birth of one Sumatran Rhinos called Andatu.

It happened in 2012, born from the same Rhino species with each named Andalas and Ratu. Andalas was brought in from Cincinnati Zoo of America, and Ratu was originally in this place.

In the wild, the number of Sumatran Rhinos is about 200. In non-natural habitat, you can find about 4 in this very Natural Park, three in Malaysia, and the other ones in America.

Not only focusing on Sumatran Rhinos conservation, this National Park also has several other rare endemic animals like Sumatran Elephants, Sumatran Tigers, Tapirs, and Honey Bears.

South Bukit Barisan

·      Location : Lampung

·      Entrance Fee : The price to enter is difference based on the purpose of visitation

The location of this South Bukit Barisan is pretty unique. The place is generally intended to be a place for rare animals of Sumatra. You can find some big ones like Sumatran Tigers, Elephants, and also Rhinos. You can see them well here, and you can enjoy the other things as well. What is it?

It’s the volcanic area near it. You could find a shallow volcanic area that is still active to this day. On the usual days, you can see the white smoke that comes from the hot volcanic lake there.

This area called Suoh erupted back in 1933 when there was a Kingdom here. The eruption made the people evacuate to safer grounds, while also bringing the prospher by providing the metals, minerals, and the natural oil for them.

Sembilang

·      Location : Banyu Asin, South Sumatra

·      Entrance Fee : Rp10.000,-

The next one is a place that is considered as one of the top things to do in South Sumatra, a National Park called Sembilang. This 202.000 hectares area is a combination between peatlands and swamp forests. The result is the wide mud land that covered the whole place, which also becomes a living home for many smaller vertebrates like worms and the small crabs.

These small animals of wetland are the favorite menus for migrating birds. That’s why, during the migrating season like October, there’re about 28 different kinds of birds enjoying their meals in this very area.

Usually the birds are migrating from the colder Alaska or North Siberia areas to the warmer Australia region. It’s like a rest area for them. If you want to witness some kinds of uncommon birds like Sterna bergii or Pseudototanus guttifer, make sure to come right on the month of October.

Batang Gadis

·      Location : Panyabungan, Mandailing Natal, North Sumatra

·      Entrance Fee : Rp10.000,-

In the height of 300 to 2.145 masl of Bukit Barisan mountainous area, you may witness the beauty of one of the great things to do in North Sumatra, Batang Gadis. This Batang Gadis National Park area consists of one giant river called Batang Gadis that is surrounded by tropical rainforests.

The place became an evacuation location for so many animals that fled for their natural habitats due to the forest fire or illegal logging. Here life is calm and relax, with many animals live within, including the rare Sumatran tigers as well.