Kerinci Seblat National Park is the larges national park in Sumatera, Indonesia. It has a total area of 1.375.349,87 hectares, and spans four province : West Sumatera, Jambi, Bengkulu and South Sumatera. It is located between 100o31'18" - 102o44'01" East and 1o07'13" - 3o26'14" South.
The park area includes a large part of the Barisan Mountain range, which form the western alpine of Sumatera island and includes the highest park in Sumatera. Mount Kerinci (3.805 m above sea level), one of more than five active volcanoes in the national park. This mainly montane park include hot springs, rivers with rapids, caves, scenic waterfalls, and the highest caldera lake in South-east Asia - Lake Gunung Tujuh, while the Great Sumatera Fault runs through the national park making the area of great interest to geologist.
The park is home to diversity of flora and fauna. Over 4.000 plant species have been identified to date in the park area, including the world's largest flower, Rafflesia arnoldi, and the plant with the largest unbranched inflorescense, the Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanium).
This is also the most important location in Sumatera for wild Sumatran Tiger and one of the 12 most important tiger reserves anywhere in the world although seeing wild tigers is unusual due both to the dense forest and the animals shy nature. Other fauna includes Elephants (best seen in national park forests in Bengkulu), Clouded Leopards, Tapirs, Sun Bears and at least seven species of primate.
Forest edge farmers continue to report occasional sightings of the mysterious 'Orang Pendek', a large, bipedai cryptozoological primate resembling an orangutan (which are not recorded in Kerinci Seblat).
In 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added a second species of Muntjac Deer to the Sumatran list of fauna with the rediscovery of the Sumatran Muntjac, a deer not recorded since the late 1920s and now concluded as a new species and not sub species. The park also protect more than 370 bird species, including the Sumatran Ground-cuckoo rediscovered in the park in 2002.
The park is home to diversity of flora and fauna. Over 4.000 plant species have been identified to date in the park area, including the world's largest flower, Rafflesia arnoldi, and the plant with the largest unbranched inflorescense, the Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanium).
Kerinci Seblat National Park is most famous amongst bird-watcher as the best place to see most of the highland Sumatran endemic bird species including the Schneider's Pitta, Salvadore's Pheasant and Sumatran Cochoa, all presumed extinct for much of the 20th century before being rediscovered here. More than 375 species of bird have been recorded to date.
This is also the most important location in Sumatera for wild Sumatran Tiger and one of the 12 most important tiger reserves anywhere in the world although seeing wild tigers is unusual due both to the dense forest and the animals shy nature. Other fauna includes Elephants (best seen in national park forests in Bengkulu), Clouded Leopards, Tapirs, Sun Bears and at least seven species of primate.
Forest edge farmers continue to report occasional sightings of the mysterious 'Orang Pendek', a large, bipedai cryptozoological primate resembling an orangutan (which are not recorded in Kerinci Seblat).
The national park also houses the biggest and the tallest flowers in the world, the monstrous, flesh red flower of the parasite Raflesia arnoldi which ccan grow up to a meter in diameter, and is the best searched for in the Bengkulu area of the park, ask for flowering information in Curup. In the southern part of Kerinci district hope to see the slightly smaller Rafflesia hasselti which is a vivid dark red in colour. The huge Amorphopalus titanum and Amorphopalus gigas are also present and can grow up to 4 metres in height. A remarkable flower at higher altitudes on Mount Kerinci and Mount Tujuh is the Javanese Edelweiss (Anaphalis javanica), which only grows on volcanoes. This shrub can reach more than two metres in height and is colored white-green because of its small hairs; the flowers are yellow with white. Numerous orchids are also found, most often flowering at the beginning of the rainy season in late September or October.
Rainfall is heaviest between October - December and from February - April while May - August is mainly dry but with some occasional rains, there are no major variations in seasonal temperature. Photographers may wish to avoid the period July - August as these dry months are often hazy. Becaus much of the park is above 700 m in altitude, evenings and nights tend to be cool while in the high mountains temperatures may occasionally drop as low as 5oC at night and so trekkers should be prepared for cool evenings.
The fauna include Sumatran Tiger and the park is recognized under the Global Tiger Initiative as one of the 12 most important protected areas in the world for tiger conservation. In 2012, Sumatran Tiger Preservation Programme ofiicial stated the park has about 166 Sumatran Tigers and spreads mainly at Merangin-Bungo in Jambi, Tapan-Solok Selatan in West Sumatera, Muko-muko in Bengkulu, and Curup Bengkulu-Lingau in South Sumatera. the tigers condition are predicted well, becaus of the vast park is enough space for tiger population, although the tigers number might have slightly changed due to poaching activities.
In 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added a second species of Muntjac Deer to the Sumatran list of fauna with the rediscovery of the Sumatran Muntjac, a deer not recorded since the late 1920s and now concluded as a new species and not sub species. The park also protect more than 370 bird species, including the Sumatran Ground-cuckoo rediscovered in the park in 2002.
The population of Sumatran Rhinoceros in the park was estimated to number around 500 in the 1980, but due to poaching the Kerinci Seblat population is no considered extinct.
Declared byMinister of Forestry and Estate Crops No. 901/Kpts-II/1999. October 14,1999 and added by Minister of Forestry No. 420/Kpts-II/2004. October 19, 2004.