Field Visit – Gunung Leuser National Park
Meeting with Institution of Community Tourism in Batu Katak, Bukit Lawang, Batu Rongring and Tangkahan, Langkat District – North Sumatera Province.
13-15 July 2019, ASEAN Centre of Biodiversity (ACB), National Working Team (NWT) of MoEF, and Penabulu (Service Providers) conducted field visits to three (3) location areas, namely Batu Katak, Batu Rongring and Tangkahan located in Langkat Regency, North Sumatra Province.
Field visit began to Batu Katak, on 13 July, 2019, meeting with Mr Darwin from the Batu Katak Tourism Institution or Lembaga Pariwisata Batu Katak (LPBK) and Bahorok Resort Officer – Gunung Leuser National Park namely Mr. Tomin, Mr. John and Mr. Mispan. Their response was very positive with this SGP Indonesia, because in addition to having a program but also to increase the capacity of human resources who understand conservation efforts and build strong relationships with national park and strengthen organizational capacity in the preparation of village regulations in terms of ecotourism management and biodiversity protection.
Field visit continued to Bukit Lawang, conducting small discussions with SPTN 5 officers namely Mr. Tomin, Mr. John, and Mr. Mispan. Bukit Lawang is now a tourist attraction that is visited by tourists from abroad. Facilities such as lodging (Rindu Alam, Ecolodge and others), river baths and tracks for trips to the national park area can be easily accessed.
In terms of organizations related to the SGP Indonesia program, they are eager to hope that organizational strengthening will be important to regulate the rules of the tour guide, including price and grade determination for tour guides, identify the roles of community groups and Indonesia Tourism Association and the need for further discussion between Gunung Leuser National Park, Department of Tourism, and Indonesia Tourism Association regarding the issuance of a tour guide certificate within the Gunung Leuser National Park area.
14 July, 2019. Field trips continued to Batu Rongring, discussing alongside the Rongring River with RELLASI – Rongring Ecosystem Leuser Lestari Indonesia (Community Based Organization), ACB, NWT and Penabulu as Service Providers. RELLASI give welcomes to the SGP Indonesia because it will have an important role to support in increasing organizational capacity in organizational structuring and strengthening the administrative and financial management of RELLASI. Organizational structuring is more directed at the RELLASI strategic plan and actions as well as the management of the organization through enhancing RELLASI administrative and financial capacity.
Tangkahan Ecotourism is the last field visit. A small discussion was held with the Institution of Tangkahan Tourism and the Conservation Respond Unit (CRU). Institution of Tangkahan Tourism is a community-based organization that has a legal entity association that has a Cooperation Agreement with Gunung Leuser National Park in managing Tangkahan Ecotourism Area including Elephant Tourism with CRU. Tangkahan Tourism Institute was pioneered since 2009 in which community and elephant conflict occurred. Furthermore, the LPT was legalized through a notarial deed in the form of an association in 2012 working to manage ecotourism.
