Indonesia - Ujung Kulon national park ...some concerns

Hi All,
I am just back from a three week holiday in Indonesia. in the last few days I decided to go to Ujung Kulon national park, Unesco World Heritage.
Based on the description of the trip programme, I was expecting spotless beaches and uncontaminated forests, as well as spectacular coral reefs, and lots of wild life. Also I was expecting a nice and cosy lodge in every island ...
The park is beautiful, and the coral reefs are interesting, no doubt, but the beaches and to some extent the forest, are unfortunately impacted by a huge amount of plastic waste... tons of plastic bottles and other type of litter are deposited on the shore line by the sea, and also abandoned in the forest by careless visitors.. Also very little is done to maintain the structures to welcome visitors. The highest concern is the absence of drinkable water in each lodge, which currently forces people to buy water bottles for the travel before reaching the lodges- (I had to use 3 litres of water per day - can you imagine how many bottles are wasted in one year with an average of 6 half litre bottled per day per person??)
It is certainly worthwhile to visit this park (and especially experience some canoeing in rivers that got inland), but it would be useful to put some pressure and ask all visitors to comment about the current status of this park.
I though that it would have been useful to share this experience just to warn about the current situation, and perhaps raise some awareness about the need to clean up this national park ... before it is too late...
Giusi from London (and Rome)

Would be better to post this on the SEA Islands Branch , you could ask a moderator to transfer it for you.

Hello,
I am not sure what the SEA Islands Branch is but if more relevant than this Thorn Tree Forum for this type of information, then great but not sure how to ask to a moderator ...
Thanks
Giusi

Hi @tomandgerry, I've moved your topic to South-East Asia Islands & Peninsula: Indonesia branch.

Thank you!!!
Gius

OP, thanks for the report. I did not realise you could do the trip independently on a low budget.
The last time I was there I was in a group so I managed to split the cost down.

Garbage is a huge problem in a LOT of places in Indonesia overall.

Hi there,
I did not go on a low budget unfortunately... I had to pay more than 160 GBP per day for two people for a 4D/3N trip .... so not that cheap ...
anyhow the major issue is a park that is supposed to be a UNESCO world heritage and well managed, and it is not... It would be good to put some pressure and let people know that real situation - perhaps it will push those responsible for this park to do something about this treasure ... More garbage less tourists... so I hope this can sort of make them realise that it would be in their interest to improve the current status.

Happy to discuss more about possible actions to help on this but I guess this is not the right forum for this type of discussion... am I right?

There's a bit of a debate going on about trash management atm in an Indonesian travel forum that I read. Quite a number of the members are irresponsible IMHO in criticising the poster who brought this topic up. They criticised him for not gathering the garbage & disposing them responsibly instead of just bringing attention to the problem.

HI there,
So sorry - I am not sure about what IMHO means, and not sure if I get the story about poster ...
Anyhow I have just written to UNESCO and brought them to the attention of the serious condition of this park ... I hope it will help in improving it - there is not so much more I can do!

Hopefully more stringent measures will be taken.

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