Before I left for Indonesia I’d been in communication with Dr. Robby K.T. Ko, a medical doctor, geologist, English enthusiast, Tourism instructor, Cave guide, and founder of the Buena Vista Outdoor Education Center, so a very eclectic man. In fact, this is just a brief listing of his many accomplishments, so I was honored to receive an invite to stay at the BV Education Center with him and a few other guests.
Dr. Ko’s driver was kind enough to pick me up on Monday morning along with Lulu, a tourism school employee in the school where Dr. Ko teaches classes on eco-tourism management, and who would also be visiting. We chatted during the ½ hour or so ride from Bogor to Cisarua. From this main road, we took a smaller and uneven street that led us to BV, where we were greeted by Dr. Ko and Manolito, his friend and a fellow cave enthusiast. We were shown around, including to an enviable library of material on Indonesia, tourism, caving, the English language, and local mythology that he offered to let me peruse during my stay. Dr. Ko also has a large collection of books he’s written, both in Indonesian and English, though interestingly his first language is Dutch as he was born during the Dutch colonial reign. The Buena Vista Center where he lives is decorated with mementos of his interests, so paintings of Indonesia, countless varieties of plants, and geological objects (or to the layperson like me – rocks!).
(Tree near the entrance of Buena Vista)
The four of us sat down to breakfast on the patio, from my seat I could see a large mountain with rice fields and houses that climb 2/3rds up to the mountain, until they reach the tree line. Over breakfast he tells us a little more about this area, as he’s seen it change since he first bought the house back in the 1970s. It was the tale of overuse … a place formerly of pristine and panoramic views, but unhealthy tourism practices. Wealthy Jakarta residents discovered the area offered a relaxing escape from the city, so many started building resorts and villas that they could then rent out when not in use. These tourism resorts and villas began doing a tidy profit from other wishing to escape the city during the weekend. This in turn promoted more additional villas and resorts, and encouraged villagers to open restaurants and food stalls catering to tourists. Since the area is no longer as pristine it has seen a drop in visitors, causing many businesses to close and stand vacant. Many of the villas that were build as investments now stand vacant as well, and while locals made some money originally selling off their rice fields and helping with construction, they now suffer from a loss in water supply and must create new rice fields further up the mountain. The tree line is continually being moved. One of the main projects of Buena Vista has been Ecological fieldtrips to teach kids from Jakarta more about nature and warn about these sorts of unhealthy practices.
(picture by Manolito of us on the ecotour)
While the Buena Vista Outdoor Center has been dormant for a few years due to a lack of guides, on occasion Dr. Ko will still give private tours. Lulu, Manolito, and I were lucky enough to accompany him on an ecological fieldtrip of the area. As the brochure he gives us explains,
The target of OUTDOOR EDUCATION is to
convince people, especially city dwelling
persons, who will become or have become
decision makers, to prevent overusing,
overexploiting and over visiting nature
and its resources. To stop mismanagement
of natural resources including nature tourism.
To stop negligence towards nature.
When children go on these tours he gives them each a plastic bag so they can pick up litter on the way, when they return whoever has the most gets a prize. Each child is also given a little notebook to write observations and to answer questions printed in the notebook. The tour includes different stops to identify plants, see animals, and learn more about village life. On this tour we try to identify various flowers along the path, and pass irrigated rice fields. Nearby two women are hard at work washing their clothes next to the rapidly moving stream. Visiting an empty villa is also a requisite of the tour, and Dr. Ko explains the issues concerning the villas to all who attend the tours, especially young people. A gardener attending to one of these vacant villas lets us inside. It rents for $80 a night, but can sleep up to 40 people. Most nights it stands vacant. While Dr. Ko doesn’t operate too many of these tours any more, he emphasizes the importance of these types of programs that teach environmental awareness and the interconnection of people with their natural environment.
(an example of a villa)
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