Kembang Island attractions now lonely

Natural forest attractions of Pulau Kembang inhabited by hundreds of monkeys and probosci's monkeys (Nasalis larvatus) in the middle of the Barito River on D + 1 Eid looks empty of visitors (Antaranews Kalsel/Asmuni K)

There are only hundreds of monkeys there and if you are lucky to find a proboscis monkey going around the island, that's it,

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Natural forest attractions in the form of mangrove forests inhabited by hundreds of monkeys and proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus), Kembang Island, which is located in the middle of the Barito River on D + 1 Eid-al Fitri, look lonely of visitors.

"Today is only one time a ride, even though I hope that there will be a lot of fortune at this year's special Lebaran moment," said H Fakhruddin, one of the owners of kelotok (traditional motor-boat) on the dock of "Citra Bahari" Floating Market at Alalak Selatan on Thursday.

According to the man who is familiarly called H Udin, throughout the morning to evening it is rather rare for the lalulalang kelotok to go to Kembang Island.

"Whether on Sunday, will the visitors be rather crowded, because it is still in a long holiday series for employees and students who want to travel," he said.

H Udin estimates the lonely local and foreign tourists come to Kembang Island because the facilities there have not changed. Namely in the form of a natural view of mangrove forests and part of the rambai tree as a typical food of proboscis monkeys or a long nose monkey.

Lisna, a resident of South Alalak whose house stands on the banks of the Barito River, said she did not want to go to Kembang Island because the place was just ordinary and there were no renovations or additional facilities.

"There are only hundreds of monkeys there and if you are lucky to find a proboscis monkey going around the island, that's it," Lisna said.

Kembang Island with an area of 60 hectares only could be reached by water transportation. It is a habitat for long-tailed macaques (monkeys) and several species of birds. The Kembang Island area is also one of the tourist attractions inside the forest area in Barito Kuala District.

In this tourist forest area there is an altar as a place to place offerings for "keepers" of Kembang Island symbolized by two statues in the form of white apes by Chinese-Indonesian ethnic communities who have certain vows