Beautiful Place

Bukit Barisan Selatan



Bukit Barisan Selatan was declared as Wildlife Sanctuary in 1935, and become a National Park in 1982. Initially the size of the park was 356.000 hectares, but actual current park area calculated using GIS is approximateli 324.000 hectares. At the geographical location between 103o23' - 104o43' East and 4o33' - 5o57' South, rainfall average 1.000 - 4.000 mm/annual

Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is located on the tip of the south-west region of Sumatera. Seventy percent of the park (249.552 hectares) are fall under the administration Lampung Barat district and Tanggamus district, both are part of Lampung Province. 

The rest of the park covers 74.822 hectares (23 % or total park area) is in the Kaur District of the Bengkulu Province, Sumatera Selatan is also important for the park borders overlaps with province's border.

Besides its abundance in flora and fauna, the park is also blessed with a number of fascinating natural beauty spot, including its four lakes, four waterfalls, seven natural caves, and 23 river basin areas. 

The park has been highlighted as a priority area for Sumatran Rhino conservation through WWF's Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy (AREAS). In addition, IUCN, WCS, and WWF have identified the BBSNP as "Tiger Conservation Unit I" (Wikramanayake, et al., 1997), the most important forest area for tiger conservation in the world. Finally, on 2002, UNESCO has selected this area for nomination as a World Heritage Cluster Mountainous Area together with the Gunung Leusef and Kerinci Seblat National park.


The unfortunately, loss of habitat because of forest conversion into settlements, cultivation and plantations have become the major threat to the park and it's endangered species survival. Illegal encroachment for coffee, pepper and other agricultural plantations has gradually entered the park and contributed to a substantial loss of habitat. The clearing of forest in Bukit Barisan Selatan also increases another serious to the endangered species : poaching.

The overall goal of the Bukit Barisan Selatan National project is to ensure stable of increased population of Sumatran Rhinos, Elephants and Tigers.

Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park was represents a significant natural habitat for insitu conservation because of its large diversity of flora, fauna and ongoing ecological and biological processes. It is home to a variety of wildlife, includinng 118 mammals, 425 birds, 45 amphibians and reptiles, and 51 fish species. It also contains around 200 species of tree, 126 orchids, 15 species of bamboo and 44 undergrowth species. The Sumatran Tiger, Elephant, Rhinoceros and Stripped Rabbit, are some of the unique and endangered animal species found in the park. 

Bukit Barisan National Park contains some of Sumatra's last protected lowland forest. It is extremetely rich in biodiversity and is home to three of the world's most endangered species : The Sumatran Elephant (fewer than 2.000 survive today), The Sumatran Rhino (total global population : 300 animals and declining rapidly), and The Sumatran Tiger (total global population around 400 animals).

The Bukit Barisan National Park has been included in the Global 200 ecoregions. WWF's ranking of the earth's most biologically outstanding terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.

Coffee and lumber are two of the largest export products from Sumatera, Indonesia. The park has lost 20 % of its forest to illegal coffee growing. The World Wildlife Fund has found that more than 450 km2 of Bukit Barisan Selatan park land is being used for growing coffee, producing over 19.600 tons.


The coffe is then mixed in with legally grown Sumatera coffee and sold to the world market. Indonesia is the 4th largest producer of coffee and the 2nd largest of robusta coffee. Robusta coffee is the coffee found in the major brands in your grocery store. Vietnam is 1st in both, Madagaskar is also a major producers


Declared by Minister of Agriculture No. 736/Mentan/X/82. October 14, 1982.