Way Kambas National Park, National park in East Lampung Province, Indonesia.
Way Kambas National Park covers 1,300 km² of swamp forest and lowland rain forest in southern Sumatra, mostly secondary growth after logging in the 1960s and 1970s. It lies at 0–50 m elevation with flat to gently sloping terrain and five ecosystem types, including mangrove and coastal forest. The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, a 100 ha managed breeding centre, was built up in 2023.
The area became officially protected in the late 1980s, after logging and poaching had sharply reduced the population of large mammals. Since then, biologists have worked to stabilize the remaining elephants and rhinoceroses.
The Elephant Conservation Centre, set up in the 1980s, keeps domesticated elephants used for patrols, breeding and ecotourism; paintings made by the elephants are sold through Novica, an online arts agent linked to the National Geographic Society, with about half the proceeds helping endangered Asian elephants. The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, by contrast, is closed to the public.
The park lies in Labuhan Ratu district, East Lampung, at 0–50 m elevation on flat to gently sloping ground. The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary is not open to the public, so visitors see elephants through the Elephant Conservation Centre, where domesticated animals are used for patrols, ecotourism and breeding. About half the bird species live in the coastal swamps and mangroves.
A sanctuary for Sumatran rhinoceroses helps animals from zoos readjust to forest life before release. The process can take several years, and not every individual adapts successfully.
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