Visit Lampung Province 2017, " The Treasure of Sumatra ".

The View of Lampung Bay with Bandar Lampung at the background.

Lampung is a province of Indonesia on the southern tip of Sumatra Island covering a total area of 35.587 km², with Bandar Lampung as the capital city. Geographically,Lampung Province is located East - West between: 103º 40 '- 105º 50' East Longitude, and North - South between: 6º 45 '- 3º 45' South Latitude.

 

Located on the southernmost of Sumatra Island, Lampung province is surrounded by oceans. Adjacent to the south, Lampung is separated from Java by the Sunda Strait, while the area of ​​the east coast by the Java Sea and is situated adjacent to the west coast of the Ocean Indonesia.

This geographical setting makes Lampung Province rich in beaches and small islands which have the potential as  maritime and beach tourism destinations. A marine tourism destination which is gaining popularity among domestic visitors in Lampung is Teluk Kiluan or Kiluan Bay. It lies in Pesawaran Regency and is situated on migration path of dolphin making it a perfect site for dolphin watching. 

Surrounded by sea waters, Lampung Province offers a lot of marine and beach tourism destination along Lampung bay, which is administratively shared by four regencies : South Lampung, Bandar Lampung City, Pesawaran Regency, Tanggamus Regency, there lie an array of  tourism sites, frequently visited by locals as well as domestic tourists. Among the beaches are Pantai Guci Kapal Batu, Pantai Wartawan in South Lampung; Pantai Pasir Putih in Bandar Lampung, Pantai Queen Artha, Pantai Duta,Pantai Klara, Pantai Mutun and Pulau Tangkil, Pantai Sari Ringgung, Pulau Pahawang, Pantai Tunjung Putus in Pesawaran Regency; Pantai Piabung in Tanggamus Regency.

 
Facing directly to Indian Ocean, Pesisir Barat Regency endowed with hundreds kilometer long coastline is very potential to be developed into International surfing destination in Lampung. This area is a wave rich  surf zone- rights, lefts, and beachies. Swell sizes range regularly between 6-12ft from March to November and 3-6ft throughout the rest of the year. Hardly no crowd like in Bali or Lombok beaches, make it a perfect destination for surfers and bodyboarders.

Bodyboarding at Krui Beach, Krui, Lampung.

There are many beaches along the coast. The west coast of Lampung Province offers at least 17 beach attraction sites including Tanjung Setia Beach, Selalau Beach, Way Jambu Beach, Labuhan Jukung Beach, Way Haru Beach, Way Sindi Beach, and Suka Negara Beach. 

Aerial view of Tanjung Setia, Pesisir Barat Regency, Lampung.

Tanjung Setia Beach is already well known internationally as "A Paradise for Surfers and Bodyboarders". High season is from May to Mid September and this is a very popular time for Australians and New Zealanders, from Mid September to November you will find more guests from Europe.From November through the off-season you will find travelers from Korea escaping the winter at home.  (http://www.surfsouthsumatra.net)
 
Topographically, Lampung province mainly consists of highland and lowland zones. the highland zone is made up of the areas covered by mountain ranges called Bukit Barisan,known as the 'Andes of Sumatra’,  which spans from the northern most part of Sumatra Island mostly occupied by Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) to the southern most of Sumatra Island covered by Lampung province. It is on this well known key spine of Bukit Barisan lying a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra consisting of three national parks: Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP) in NAD, Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP) in Jambi Province and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP) in Lampung Province.

Head Office of BBSNP in Kota Agung, Tangggamus Regency.

Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is a national park with a total area of 3,568 km², spanning three provinces in southern Sumatra : Lampung, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra , in average only 45 km wide but 350 km long stretching along the Bukit Barisan mountain range.Topograpahically,the northern part of BBSNP is mountainous with its highest point at Gunung Pulung (1,964 m), while its southern section is a peninsula covering Bandar Lampung city with Lampung bay at the end point. It is covered by montane forest, lowland tropical forest, coastal forest and mangrove forest.

Guard Station in Rhino Camp of BBSNP.

Plants in the park include Nipa palm, Casuarina equisetifolia, Anisoptera curtisii and Gonystylus bancanus, as well as Sonneratia, Pandanus, Shorea and Dipterocarpus species. Large flowers in the park include the Rafflesia arnoldii, Amorphophallus decus-silvae, Amorphophallus titanum and the world's largest orchid the Grammatophyllum speciosum.The park is home to many endangered and threatened species, including:

• Sumatran elephant (about 500 animals, or 25% of the total remaining population of this subspecies live in the park)
• Sumatran striped rabbit (most recent records of this poorly known species have been from the park)
• Sumatran rhinoceros (an estimated 60-80 Sumatran rhinos live in the park; approximately the same number live in Gunung Leuser National Park, and when combined the two parks account for the majority of this species' population)
• Sumatran tiger (approximately 40 adult tigers or 10% of the remaining Sumatran tigers live in the park).

Other animals in the park are the Malayan tapir, siamang, Sumatran surili, sun bear and lesser mouse-deer. There are over 300 species of bird in the park, like the critically endangered Sumatran ground-cuckoo.

The Offspring of Rafflesia arnoldi at Rhino Camp, BBSNP.

While highland zone mostly on the west side, lowland zone which make up most of land coverage is situated on the eastern side of Lampung province.  The landscape of lowlands is mostly dominated by land coverage with swamps, mangrove and complex river systems.

Way Kambas National Park is among the  land coverages in the eastern part of Lampung Province. Way Kambas National Park is a national park covering 1,300 square kilometres in Lampung province, southern Sumatra, Indonesia   consisting of swamp forest and lowland rain forest. The park still has a few critically endangered Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants and Sumatran rhinoceroses. It also provides excellent birdwatching, with the rare white-winged wood duck among the over 400 species present in the park.

Elephants roaming in Way Kambas National Park.

Source: Wikipedia