Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, National park in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Bukit Barisan Selatan is a national park on Sumatra in Indonesia that covers a long strip along the mountain range, reaching from dense rainforest down to the coast. The park includes volcanic hills, swampy river valleys, and mangrove strips along the sea.
The Dutch colonial administration declared the area a nature reserve in 1935 to prevent logging and poaching. Nearly fifty years later, the territory gained national park status.
The forests and coastal stretches still carry names from the Lampung and Semendo languages, whose communities have lived in these mountains for centuries. Their knowledge of edible plants and animal trails is valued by park rangers today and sometimes incorporated into conservation efforts.
Visitors should travel with a guide and choose entry points in advance, as many areas are reachable only on foot. The drier months between January and August are considered more favorable for hiking and animal spotting.
Grammatophyllum speciosum, an orchid species with long clusters that can reach up to 10 feet (3 m) in height, grows here. The dense forest sections also shelter small populations of Sumatran rhinoceros, which are rarely found anywhere else in the world.
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