Park rangers bathing elephants at an elephant camp managed by Conservation Response Unit (CRU)--Gunung Leuser National Park, in Tangkahan, Indonesia.
Image details
Contributor:
REY Pictures / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
ECH2TEFile size:
28.7 MB (1.4 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
3872 x 2592 px | 32.8 x 21.9 cm | 12.9 x 8.6 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
25 October 2012Location:
Tangkahan, Langkat, North Sumatra, IndonesiaMore information:
Park rangers bathing elephants at an elephant camp managed by Conservation Response Unit (CRU)—Gunung Leuser National Park, on Buluh River, near the park's bordering village of Tangkahan in Langkat, North Sumatra, Indonesia. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Located in Langkat, North Sumatra province of Indonesia, Tangkahan ecotourism village is one of the country's pioneers in transforming destructive use on forest into a more-sustainable economic activity. The forest close to the village, mostly within the area of Gunung Leuser National Park, had suffered from illegal logging, poaching, and wildfires in 1980's and 1990's; until the local community realized that there is a more sustainable way in utilizing the forest. They have been running ecotourism packages since 2000's, which are integrated with the existence of an elephant camp managed by Conservation Response Unit (CRU)--Gunung Leuser National Park. CRU is the place where national park rangers and Sumatran elephants prepare for their routines together: forest patrol and ecotourism. "The CRU concept was established due to the situation that more than 500 captive elephants were living in government elephant camps in Sumatra with very limited use and facing a serious problem of limited resources, " stated the camp's official on CRU Tangkahan's website. "To remove the elephant activity from our program would weaken CRU and is not an alternative for the time being."