Baluran National Park

Indonesia has the largest expanse of savanna in Java, if you visit here certainly seemed to be in Africa. Baluran National Park is representative of dry forest ecosystem in Java, consists of savanna vegetation types, mangrove forest, monsoon forest, beach forest, lower montane forest, swamp forest and evergreen forest throughout the year. About 40 percent of savanna vegetation types dominate the region Baluran National Park. The soil is black of alluvial and volcanic soil types covering half the area of ​​the lower mainland area of ​​overgrown grass savanna. The area is very fertile area and rich source of food for many species of grass-eating animals.

Baluran National Park presented a stunning natural treats as hundreds of deer running toward the water puddle, the male peacock spread its tail to attract the attention of the female, dozens of large buffalo, dozen eagles foraging, to monkeys and macaques are hanging. Typical trees Baluran similar to areca nut and fruitful lifetime of 1 ton to later die. Pilang the white trunked trees and lush, if you observe carefully, the tree-like in the movie “Avatar” and the tree Bekol shady like banyan with magical shades.

Not much costs should you spend on admission, i.e. only IDR 6.000,00 per car and IDR 2,500.00 per person. Activities that can be done in Baluran is research, observation and wildlife attractions, as well as marine tourism in Bama Beach. In the meantime, facilities available are office administrators, labor huts, rest house, shelter, dirt roads, tower view, and others.

Regions Baluran National Park is located in District Banyuputih, Situbondo East Java. North boundary is the Madura strait, east of the strait of Bali, south of the river Bajulmati, and west of the river Klokoran. Air temperature 27 ° – 34 ° C, precipitation 900-1600 mm / year, altitude 0-1247 m above sea level, geographical location 7 ° 29 ‘- 7 ° 55’ S, 114 ° 17 ‘- 114 ° 28’ E, as well as the area reached 25,000 ha. In the midst of this region is Mount Baluran which is no longer active. But it becomes a beautiful sight when we saw savanna from a distance.

Plants in these national park as many as 444 types, of which are typical of native plants and attractive namely Widoro bukol (Ziziphus rotundifolia), mimba (Azadirachta indica), and Pilang (Acacia leucophloea). Widoro bukol, mimba, and Pilang is a plant that is able to adapt in a very dry condition (still looks green), although other plants wither and dry up. Other plants are asam (Tamarindus indica), gadung (Dioscorea hispida), kemiri (Aleurites moluccana), gebang (Corypha utan), api-api (Avicennia sp.), Kendal (Cordia obliqua), Manting (Syzygium polyanthum), and kepuh (Sterculia foetida).

There are 26 species of mammals including bull (Bos javanicus javanicus), wild buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), ajag (Cuon alpinus javanicus), antelope (Muntiacus muntjak muntjak), deer (Cervus timorensis Russa), leopard (Panthera pardus melas), mouse deer (Tragulus pelandoc javanicus), and bakau cats (Prionailurus viverrinus).

Bull is a mascot / characteristic of Baluran National Park.

In addition, there are about 155 species of birds including rare such as fire kite (Hirundo rustica), tuwuk / tuwur asia (Eudynamys scolopacea), peacock (Pavo muticus), red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), hornbill (Anthracoceros convecus ), hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros), and stork barrels (Leptoptilos javanicus).

How to get there

Trip to Baluran National Park takes approximately 6 hours from Surabaya. Access to and from Baluran National Park very smoothly because there is inter-provincial highway that connects the island of Bali and Banyuwangi to Surabaya which crosses Baluran National Park. Thus Baluran National Park can be reached by land vehicles of various important cities around it.

Nearest main line that you can use is a Banyuwangi-Batangan with a distance of 35 km to Bekol followed by 45 minutes or approximately 12 miles. It could be from Situbondo-Batangan with a distance of 60 miles by car.

You can use a personal or rental vehicle towards Bekol through roads which can only be passed by 2 cars. The road is paved thin but decent for a sedan and highly recommended kind of SUV. Existing asphalt road is the road grade 3 that connects the entrance to the Bekol savanna-Bama along ± 15 km.

Tips

For photography lovers should come here during the dry season, the dry season is usually June – July – August. Because the water in the forest dries up and turn yellow dry grass. So wildlife animals such as deer, bull, peacock that inside the forest out into the Savana. The National Park provides water and puddles, so the animals come out during the dry season and are close to the street. These animals are very shy animals, because if there is a car approaching they will run away into the forest.

If you come during the rainy season, the plants and the water is very abundant so that the occupants of the park such as bison and wild buffaloes chose to go into the jungle rather than face-to-face with visitors. In order to better enjoy the ride in the National Park Baluran try before you enter the area you can visit the information center to get a brief explanation of Baluran National Park, after hearing lengthy explanations usually we can better appreciate, do not disturb, damage, take, or hunting flora, fauna and ecosystems.

For photography lovers, I recommend here at 4 am. Why? Because Sunrise in Baluran National Park is very nice, here there is Bama beach a spot to see the Sunrise, around Bama beaches there are also a lot of mangrove trees and conservation areas. But be careful there because a lot of wild monkeys, if not just a little wary, could be a mobile phone or your camera can be taken by the macaque monkey. On the Bama beach we could hire a boat to get around the National Park, but it is here also a pretty good snorkeling spot, but you need a little bit to the middle and could see lots of fish and marine life here.

If you want to see wildlife animals that are here the better you have to be here in the morning and walk away. Because wildlife animals here are very afraid of humans, they heard the sound of a car engine or motor will run away into the forest.

Accommodation

Lodging facilities in Baluran National Park can be found in Bekol and Bama beach, it is recommended that you confirm with the staff of the Park when planning to spend the night here, so be prepared logistics during the night time.

Office: Jl. KH Agus Salim No. 132 Banyuwangi 68425, Jawa Timur

Telp. (0333) 424119; Fax. (0333) 412680

E-mail: tnbaluran@telkomnet dan office@balurannationalpark.com

Website: http://www.balurannationalpark.com

 In Bekol there is a stilt houses facility with a capacity of 16 people. Guesthouse enough to accommodate 6 people and researchers homeless has a capacity of 4 people.

In Bama there are four houses on stilts, each stage house consists of two rooms which can accommodate 4 people. Below the stage can serve as a dining area, and a vehicle. Below room can be a variety of functions. for lighting using diesel generators lit from 18.00 – 24.00. After that, a kerosene lamp is used. For food, the cost is relatively cheap. It all depends on the menu to be ordered.