Pesonatan Taman Nasional Danau Sentarum Kalbar, Penghasil 30 Ton Madu Hutan Per Tahun

Illustration. The ornamental boat of the Tamambaloh Dayak Tribe at the close of the Sentarum Betung Kerihun Lake Festival in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. (Between-Timotius)

KALIBAR - Bandong tour boats slowly take tourists to the expanse of Sentarum Lake, West Kalimantan (West Kalimantan). The curiosity about the natural beauty of Borneo's heart has been answered after they traveled the land for about 19 hours from Pontianak City.

The expanse of stunning lakes surrounded by hills and mountains can be seen in front of the eyes. Several small islands were scattered by diffuse clouds as if they were holding strong.

Tourists who explore the charm of Lake Sentarum, such as not wanting to stop taking pictures, recording videos and selfies. Even though some have enjoyed their charm, they still can't hide their admiration.

Based on an Antara report, Lake Sentarum, which is located in Kapuas Hulu Regency, has been designated as a national park since 1999. Based on Minister of Environment and Forestry Number: P.7/Menlhk/Setjen/OTL.0/1/2016, the management of Betung Kerihun National Park is combined with the Sentarum Lake National Park (TNDS).

The TNDS area reaches 127.4 thousand hectares from the area of Kapuas Hulu Regency 29,842 square kilometers. The TNDS is divided into several zones, namely the core zone 5,131.43 hectares, jungle 6,781.28 hectares, utilization of the tourist sector 1,309.59 hectares, rehabilitation of 1,976.82 hectares, traditional 111,298.82 hectares and special 895.46 hectares.

For community interactions with the area consisting of areas spread across Selimbau, Suhaid, Batang Lupar and Badau sub-districts or covering 10 villages consisting of 2,292 families (KK) and 7,751 residents.

Then, for some of the areas in the four villages consist of 1,573 families and 5,326 residents. Meanwhile, outside the area only in Jongkong District in two villages consisting of 464 families and 1,481 residents.

Danau Sentarum bagi pencinta wisata minat khusus, peneliti dan pegiat wisata dan bahkan wisatawan mancanegara sudah familiari lagi. Animal dan tumbun endemik, hasil hutan dan budaya di TNDS menjadi daya tarik tersendiri untuk datang langsung sekaligus berronjara dengan ekotourwisata yang dibarkan.

Lestari and Empowered in Economics

In historily, the community first lived in TNDS, then there was the determination as a national park area. The spirit of preservation by establishing it as a national park certainly cannot be collided with the sustainability of its residents in the area to take advantage of the existing natural wealth. This is the background and at the same time encourages TNDS managers to think hard so that these two interests are in line.

Head of the TNDS Center, Gunawan said, in recent years his party has implemented the concept of society prioritizing only preservation. The community is prioritized in the framework of being empowered, because it can automatically become a part or a conservation fighter.

Several approaches were made by the TNDS, he said, through a number of simple programs and actions. As a result, it is now starting to slowly bear fruit.

In TNDS, there are eight flora ecosystems with a total of 675 flora and 154 orchid species. For fauna or animals, there are 147 species of mammals, 310 species of birds, 266 fish and 31 species of herpetofauna.

TNDS is synonymous with super red arowana, orchids, bekantans, starlings and includes borneo langgur. For forest honey production it reaches 15-30 tons per year, with a value of IDR 1.5-4.5 billion per year and the economic value of fish caught by the community reaches IDR 15.5 billion per year.

In the supervision of TNDS, the management during the previous patrol used uniforms as forest police. This makes the impression and image of the community an object that is always monitored. This was changed. Officers when patrolling wore no uniforms. Officers are also required to hang out and mingle in the community.

"It is proven that these tips are effective and the message of a conservation program is starting to be looked at by the public and even part of jointly monitoring so that the ecosystem is maintained," said Gunawan.

As an endemic area for super red arowana fish, so that the proud animal of West Kalimantan remains sustainable, the community is involved to maintain the special area designated for the breeding of these ornamental fish.

A total of 274 super red arowana fish can be released and their young can be used by the community as a source of income. However, with the identification record, it continues to be preserved and 10 percent of the breeders are released again in the lake area which has been designated for cultivation. Currently, the number of super red arowana fish that has been rolled out to other groups is 100.

Furthermore, so that there is an added value of natural wealth as a freshwater fish center from Lake Sentarum and forest honey in West Kalimantan, assistance is carried out from production to marketing to people in the TNDS area.

For the results of processing production, starting from fish chips, wet crackers, fish meatballs, packaged salt fish to others, are now continuing. Honey is also starting to be packaged well and its own brand. Currently, the area that is the mentoring center is on Majang Island, Sentarum Lake, which is gender-based or managed by housewives in the local area.

The manager of the Forest Investment Program Program for West Kalimantan 1, Siti Rofiah, who accompanies the Majang community, said that the processing program is a forum for increasing people's income. According to him, the diversification of products and markets can be maximized so that it correlates to public income.

"Previously, people only sold fresh fish and salted fish. In terms of income, it was much lower after being processed into derivative products from fish such as meatballs, sausages and others. Currently, 26 residents are involved and products have begun to be received by mini markets and orders directly, income increases," he said.

Tourist Points

TNDS has a number of interesting ecotourism, including attraction and culture tourism. For ecotourism that is worth visiting in addition to the stretch of Lake Sentarum, among them is the Sepandan Island Tourism with attractive resort facilities and the Lake Sentarum panorama.

There, visitors can shower in the lake, and in the afternoon they can enjoy the sunset. In fact, at certain times you can peek at birds reluctant to eat Arabic wood on the edge of the lake in the morning.

Another tourism potential, Bukit Tekenang Tourism, visitors can see the Lake Sentarum landscape on the top of its hill. Bukit Tekenang's favorite tourist attraction as its name gives an impression because it can see most of the TNDS area from an altitude of 350 meters above sea level. Under the hill, resort facilities are available so that they can stay and enjoy the area longer.

Meanwhile, Bukit Vega Tourism offers natural views and orchid wealth as well as arowana cultivation, Bukit Semujan Tourism which can also see the expanse of Lake Sentarum and the Tourism House of Betang Meliau which offers stay facilities and fishing activities.

For attraction tourism, namely Lake Flats Tourism With Bandong Ships and the Lake Sentarum Festival which has become an annual agenda and becomes 100 National Event Top COVERs or Kharisma Event Nusantara.