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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Jambi The Ancient Kingdom of Melayu

JAMBI province is located on the east coast of Central Sumatra faces to Melaka Straits sharing borders with four other provinces in Sumatra and has long a melting pot for different ethnic groups. The earliest inhabitants were the Kubus, who were among the first wave of Malays to migrate to Sumatra. The ancient kingdom of Melayu developed and grew in Jambi and maintained relations with the mighty kingdoms of Sriwijaya, Majapahit and Singasari, but was eventually attacked and annexed by Sriwijaya in the middle of the 17th century. Encompassing an area of 53,435 sq km, almost 60% of which is forest, the province is home to a large variety of fauna and flora and an exhilarating place for active and adventurous visitors.One of the greatest kingdoms in Indonesia history, the Buddhist Empire of Sriwijaya, prospered and grew along the Musi River bank in South Sumatra over a thousand years ago. Located in the southern-most rim of the South China Sea, close to one of the world's busiest shipping lanes linking the Far East With Europe, the region's historical background is rich and colorful. Sriwijaya Kingdom practiced a bustling and lucrative trade with ancient China its era of powerful dynasties and in Tsing recorded that a thousand monks and scholars could be seen translating and studying Sanskrit in what is now become a regional capital of Palembang. However, few relics of this memorable era remain. Stretching from the foothills of the mighty Bukit Barisan mountain range in the West Sumatra to Bangka and Belitung Island in the East, South Sumatra province is relatively flat but very fertile, with numerous rivers cutting across the landscape and meandering their way to the sea. Coffee and tea are grown in plantations in various parts of the province but the area's enormous wealth comes from oil, natural gas, coal, tin and quartz.
Palembang is still the gateway to the province, and together with Pangkal Pinang on Bangka Island and Tanjung Pandan on Belitung, provides the region with three major airports. All three cities have direct connections with Medan, Batam, Padang and Jakarta and the future will see the introduction of flights to Singapore. Air-conditioned buses from north and west points of Palembang are also regularly available, as well as the major cities in Java and Bali.

Mount Kerinci
A climb to the top of Mount Kerinci or one of many other volcanoes shows an important and remarkable change in vegetation; lower trees, which are covered in mush and sub-alpine meadows and swamps at the top, gradually replace high trees. A remarkable flower on higher altitudes is the Javanese edelweiss Anaphalis javanica, which only grows on volcanoes. This flower usually reaches four meters in height and is colored white-green because of its small hairs; the flowers are yellow with white. The peak of the volcano itself is bald, because of the last eruption in 1934. The park also houses the biggest flowers in the world, the monstrous, flesh red flower of the parasite Rafflesia arnoldi and the two-meters-high flower-flames of Amorphophallus titanum.

Mount Tujug and Kerinci Lake
Mount Tujug is a 10 sq km big crater lake about 50 kilometers north of Penuh River. It's on 1966 meters and it's called the highest sweet water lake in Southeastern Asia. The environment offers simple accommodations, from where people can book a day trip to the lake.
Another, easy to reach lake is Kerinci Lake, surrounded by mountains, 783 meters above sea level and 42 sq km big. It's a good plan for a day trip. Both lakes and the surrounding rainforest are good places to enjoy the fauna of the park.

Kerinci Seblat National Park
In this national park, live up to 129 species of birds, 36 mammalians with 24 protected 10 species of reptiles, 6 species of amphibians, and 8 species of primates. There are also 4000 floras dominated by family of Dipterocarpaceae. Some of these are highly endangered, especially the animals like Sumatera Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatraensis), Wild Mountain Goat (Capricornis sumatraensis), Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatraensis), Sumatran Elephant (Elephanus maximus sumatranus), Dead Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) and Rafflesia Flower (Rafflesia arnoldi).

Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park
Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park is a 143,143 hectares area on the low land area of eastern Sumatra, included into two provinces, Riau and Jambi. Ecologically, this area is classified as low land tropical rainforest, with some intra ecosystem inside like swamp and highland. Some of endangered species are highly protected here like Dead flower (rafflesia hasseltii and rafflesia arnoldi), amorphophallus SP, and some endangered animals like Sumatran tiger (panthera tigris sumatraensis), tapir (tapirus indicus), primates like Siamang (symphalangus syndactylus), Ungko (hylobates sp), birds (bocerotidae and argusianus argus). This area is also interesting in its natural features of its geology, like the 30 Mountains intrusive complex, folded tertiary sediments, and some offer science breakthrough. Old tribes, which characterized most of Central Sumatra forest, is also one uniqueness you will find inside this park like Talang Mamak tribe.
Muara Jambi
The old harbor area with it's candi and menapo (masonry temples and channels) is over 1,500 hectares and is about 26 kilometers downstream from the modern capital on the other (northern) shore of the river. This biggest archeological complex of Sumatra, with a small but very interesting museum, can be reached from Jambi by waterbus or chartered speedboat. The full size of the location and the connected river villages is not known yet. The restoration of the three most important structures (Tinggi Temple, Gumpung Temple and Kedaton Temple, the last with a core of unusual small river stones) has been completed. Under the findings in Muara Jambi is an exceptional nice Prajnaparamita statue, without head, comparable with the one in the National Museum in Jakarta from the beginning of the 13th century. Under the pressure of the ever-closing agriculture the excavations and restorations continue in a race against time. Probably Muara Jambi was attacked and destroyed around 1377. Following a legend the last ruler of Jambi, prince Telanai, got the prediction that his son would cast bad luck over his principality. Big fear got him, and when his son was eventually born, he was put in a coffin with a letter, and thrown into the sea. The coffin washed ashore in Siam, where the former ruler adopted the Sumatran prince. Eventually the young prince returned to Jambi with a big army from Siam, killed his father and looted the city.
Whether this story is true can be doubted, but fact is that Jambi was the location of the findings of Siamese bronze Buddha statues. Above all excavations in Jambi Estuary showed a piece of a Sukhothai Buddha stone, which originated from the current Thailand as well.
Berbak National Park
Berbak National Park is a national park area on the eastern coastline of Central Sumatra included in Ramsar Convention for international wetland conservation. In 1992, the minister of Forestry, Republic of Indonesia following the original 1935 by Dutch colonial, officially states this area as National Park. Berbak National Park is a national park area on the eastern coastline of Central Sumatra included in Ramsar Convention for international wetland conservation. By canoeing through the swamp river canal, we can enjoy the undisturbed wildlife on the riverside and canopies. We have two exotic areas in this park that are Air Hitam Dalam, typical freshwater swamp and floodplain, with wetland ecosystem and Air Hitam Laut and Cemara River where typical coastline and saltwater swamp and marsh is dominating the area. Up to 300 species of birds are living peacefully inside the park. Some exotic birds like, Wild duck (cairina scutulata), and all species of Raja Udang (alcenedenidae), and also 9 species of Rangkong (Bocerotidae). Migrant birds up to thousands, which reside off their Siberian - Australian journey, especially during October - March season, really amaze any human being, as we will find them blackening the coast horizons. Primates also dominate the canopies during our canoe traverse. The more challenging wildlife to observe may lie deep underwater below your canoe. We can observe 2 species of crocodile, that is saltwater crocodile (crocodiles porous) and freshwater crocodile (tomistoma schegelii). Turtle’s family also dominates the swamp area. Big mammalian like Sumatran tiger (panthera tigris sumatraensis), Black bear (Helartos malayanus) may occasionally show up in front of your canoe. It may be special for the tiger, will require some patience from you and may be a good stamina to traverse into the center of the park on foot.
Trekking in Kerinci - Seblat
Especially long trips through the park need a guide. Local guides can be hired in Kersik Tuo village at the foot of Mount Kerinci. Eco-Rural Travel office can also be found here, it's a company, which sell good maps, hires camping gear and organized trips for several days. It's sponsored by the WNF. Mount Kerinci, or Mount Inderapura, can be reached with most vehicles. The popular climb to the top of Kerinci takes two days. (Courtesy By Indonesia-Tourism)

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