Comments re the political situation and environmental damage at Lore Lindu
(originally posted on the Oriental Birding email list)

The situation at Lore Lindu, which has been discussed recently in this forum, was very interesting not to mention disturbing. We enlisted the help of a local guide, Darwin (who I would highly recommend) who told us a bit about the situation. Apparently, a number of the local tribes have been dissatisfied with their local politician's empty promises since the central government adopted its policy of greater local autonomy. They perceived that tourists visiting the park were being treated better than they are and decided to protest by moving into the park and clearing land along the road edges and at the same time blocking the road with hundreds of felled trees. I was told that the trees were cleared off the road after the army or police paid a visit. They plan to use the land for growing corn until the government comes good with a better offer. According to Darwin the government has offered each family a plot of 2 hectares of land about 80 km from the park. The people are happy with this but are demanding the construction of a metalled road, which of course would be a great expense and it is likely that this will not be agreed to. The damage to the forest is quite alarming. From about 3km before the Dongi Dongi bridge the damage is evident almost up to Danau Tambing. The forest has been flattened from the edge of the road to about 500 metres into the forest. Many huts have been constructed amongst the debris and during our week in the park the number of huts increased considerably; we noticed that whole families had started moving in. These people are desperately poor and I think it must only be a matter of time before disease strikes in the extremely unsanitary conditions surrounding this new habitation. We also saw large numbers of rattan collectors, trucks full of rattan and timber, people hunting animals and birds with air rifles and bats with nets. The only trees left standing in the so-called conflict area were large eucalypts which are highly valued for timber - evidently these are being saved for later.

Birding around Dongi Dongi is now virtually a waste of time. Fortunately, the Anaso road is still very good despite the rattan collectors. The lake is also okay although numbers of birds were very low and about 15 people were living in the pondok there.I must stress that at no time was there even the slightest suggestion of antipathy or aggression towards us. The people we met at Lore Lindu (and elsewhere in Indonesia for that matter) were nothing but friendly and seemed genuinely pleased to see us.

A similar situation to that at Dongi Dongi has apparently developed at Kamarora where the local people have been making incursions into the forest to plant coffee and other cash crops as well as to harvest timber. We could find no forest worth much birding time in the immediate vicinity of the HQ. Birding along the road at the time of our visit was a waste of time. Again, I would urge that you not be discouraged from visiting. My comments are meant to draw your attention to the problems in the park not to put you off! We really enjoyed the birding further inside the park and found the accommodation at Kamarora to be very pleasant.

Both photos taken above Dongi Dongi en route to Anaso