Indonesia’s rich natural environment—which includes 10% of the world’s forest cover and the third-largest tropical rain forest has suffered terrible environmental abuses due to industrialization and urbanization. In 2002, President Megawati Soekarnoputri dissolved the Environmental Impact Control Agency (Bapedal), which handled the cases of 23 environmental law violations—including forest fires and illegal logging. Illegal logging has started to take its toll in the southern lowland forests of Sumatra, where the depletion of their natural habitat has driven tigers and elephants into villages to look for food. Floods and landslides are also the result of massive deforestation, precipitating deterioration of the natural environment on all fronts.
More than 30,000 flowering plant species thrive on Indonesia’s tropical islands. The rainforest hosts many different kinds of tree species, including pine, teak, bamboo, and meranti—a dark red wood that makes up over 50% of Indonesia’s timber exports. River gorges are also home to the sacred Banyan and Pule trees. In addition to thousands of delicate orchid species, Indonesia is also home to the world’s largest flower, Rafflesia, whose blossoms measure nearly a meter in diameter and smell like rotting flesh.
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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