Pulau Banyak Archipelago, Indonesia by Georg Jackstadt (Abdul Halim 1963-2013) - all photos by author
Special thanks to artist Hans Drake, who accompanied Georg, for the use of his beautiful map.
We
spent one week in Pulau Banyak in Indonesia. It took almost two days
to get from Medan to Pulau Bangkaru, the most western island of the
archipelago. Pulau Banyak literally means "many islands" -
supposed to be 99 - but some of them disappeared after Aceh was hit
by the 2004 tsunami and a heavy earthquake a few months later.
Pulau Bangkaru is an amazing place: the entire island is National Park
and one of the most important nesting grounds for sea turtles in Southeast
Asia.
Bangkaru is the second largest island of the Banyak archipelago, uninhabited and entirely covered by undisturbed rain forest.
The
coast of Pulau Bangkaru is wild with big waves crashing into the rocky
shore - difficult to land safely with a boat. This isolation was one
reason that made it such an undisturbed unique nesting ground - until
Homo non Sapiens put turtle eggs and meat on the menu list.
Mahmud Bangkaru from Sweden 'discovered' Pulau Banyak in the 90's and
managed to achieve some protection for Pulau Bangkaru. The governor
of Aceh supported the idea to give Bangkaru the status as a National
Park and CALTEX donated some funds for the protection of the sea turtles
and the environment - until ACEH became a politically trouble spot for
Indonesia (the province wanted to gain Independence) and Indo- army
was sent to Aceh. At that time (mid nineties) Pulau Banyak's few backpacker
tourists were scared away and turtle egg poaching began in big style...
- until quite recently.
Now there is a NGO formed with the goal to protect Pulau Banyak and it's environment. Sea turtles have a special importance in the agenda. It is also hoped that Eco Tourism can create some jobs for local people.
We went to Pulau Bangkaru to bring some outboard engines and train locals on the job of the 'turtle patrol.' They will control the beach every night, look for turtle tracks, measure and tag the turtles while they are laying their eggs and take DNA samples, so the scientists have something to do...
These were
the first sea turtles on Sumatra which were tagged and studied. The
turtles lay their eggs only at night - after they are done they straddle
back to the water. When the small turtles hatch and make it to the sea
- many get eaten by Monitor lizards and sharks - those who grow up may
swim with sea currents more than 20.000 km to America - and once grown
up they will go back to exactly the same beach where they were born
!!! Pretty amazing...
Besides
sea turtles we saw lizards, snakes, Manta rays and a croc just about
100 m from our campsite - I wonder what it eats, there were no monkeys
- it's probably on a strict turtle- diet... ?
After 3 days on Bangkaru the Indo-Dutch Marine Biologist left with the
Swedish photographer and Mahmud Bangkaru - while I had the pleasure
to do island hopping in the Banyak archipelago.
Those
small islands are different in character: less wild than Bangkaru and
more the typical tropical-coconut-palm-tree-and-white-beach-islands
from Bounty / Bacardi - ads (No Bacardi though - "es gibt kein
Bier auf Hawaii " is nonsense for Hawaii but on Pulau Banyak brutal
reality -the Province of Aceh is Sharia country (Islamic law) and therefore
dry.
I
used an inflatable catamaran for the tour - easy to transport - I had
no clue what kind of car we were using from Medan to the west coast
- so I chose the inflatable which worked actually fine at Bangkaru to
watch and photograph turtles in the water or to bash through the waves
in the surf - On the other hand it is not a rocket for long distances
but most of the small islands are close to each other, so that is no
problem as long the weather is fine.
It
wasn't on the last day of of paddling when I had the wind blowing into
my face so strong I had no idea if I was actually making any progress
forward even I pulled on the paddle like mad - in the end I was faster
than I thought. - A faster, less wind-sensitive kayak is certainly better
for longer distances. OK, maybe another time, - this was my first paddle
trip ever in the Indian ocean - I am certainly keen on going again !!!
I am now working at a proposal for the NGO to develop kayaking / island-hopping
as an Eco-friendly activity to provide jobs for local people - if we
want to stop egg poaching we have to provide alternative jobs!
Sit-on-Tops
will be the proposed type of boat for this: easy and fast to enter if
you want to bash through the braking waves in the surf, and great for
snorkeling / swimming while on a tour in-between the islands... It's
tropical climate here where an Eskimo-style sit-inside kayak does not
have many advantages.
More information
about North Sumatra and Aceh can be found on www.sumatraecotourism.com
- This is a nonprofit web site providing info, contacts, addresses etc.
for people who want to visit this part of Indonesia which has been hit
by the tsunami and is now struggling to recover.
About Contributing Writer Georg Jackstadt: Georg sent TopKayaker this story in 2008. We learned with sadness that he passed away in March of 2013 having contracted malaria on one of his many fascinating sojourns by kayak through Southeast Asia. The following tribute is written by his friend Huey of Kayak Asia.
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The Pioneer Kayaker of Sumatra
Abdul Halim (1963 - 2013)
Halim (Georg Jackstadt), was a german geographer living for 19 years in Sumatra, Indonesia. A self-taught kayaker, he got a team of Indonesians together to do whitewater rafting - "we thought there was business" - later whitewater kayaking - "when we realized it wasn't business - so we could still get to the rivers but had no customers to fill rafts."
He started in 1995 at Asahan river - probably the wildest whitewater in S.E Asia. In the following years he built up a whitewater center, did first descents of many Sumatran rivers and competed at national and international events. One highlight was year 2000 when he went to France and was one of the 'wild boys' who became the first Indonesian ever at the Whitewater Racing World Championship in K1.
Disaster hit in 2003 when a flash flood wiped out the village of Bukit lawang and his W.W. Center. 150 people died. Tourism collapsed after that. The tsunami in 2004 made things worse. As if that wasn't enough, there are now plans for a hydropower scheme that would destroy most of the whitewater at Asahan river.
He never gave up pursuing paddling - and started exploring Lake Toba, the world's biggest crater lake. Coming from whitewater, he had no idea that touring kayaking could be so much fun. Nobody had ever done paddling trips on Lake Toba and he had absolutely no idea how many kilometers a touring kayak can cover per day or whatever, when he pushed his brand new kayak into the water. Since then, he had seen more shores on the lake than anyone else, and visited some villages not yet connected by roads. "You just feel like you're inside Lord of the Rings when you paddle in that scenery".
He later explored and paddled more of Sumatra's amazing landscape, including Pulau Banyak, Mentawais, Padang's coast, etc. He loved the waters and never tired of championing the rivers and waters of Sumatra. He was the founder and main mover of "Save the Asahan River". All international paddlers who wanted to paddle Sumatra seek him out. And Halim was always generous to share his knowledge and willing to help with logistics.
Halim was a friend, a colleague, a fellow kayaker, a fellow guide....we shared our love of Pink Floyd as much as the waters. We had an evil scheme going that anyone we took to paddle in Lake Toba must watch the Pink Floyd concert. In his youth, he looked a lot like David Gilmour, and while David went on earning his millions playing guitar, Halim touched the hearts of whoever paddled with him. He was a genuine person who loved life and kayaking. A true and kind soul who always had a pat and rub for animals and little creatures that wandered into his path. His gentle enunciated accent, funny anecdotes, and wacky jokes brought much silly laughter. He was never angry, never harsh.
Halim, no amount of tears shed today will bring you back even for a moment just to say goodbye. You had led ahead this time. I wish you good winds and good currents for the paddle ahead.
See you on the other side of the waters again.
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