THE PEOPLE
Most of Ujung Kulon National Park
has always been a wilderness and only last century was described as "a
place desolate and frigthening, never trodden by Javanese". However,
isolated communities were once established along the shorelines and its
waters have provided shelter and food for early mariners for many centuries.
THE SUNDANESE
Around the Gunung Honje Range live the people of this region, the Sundanese
of south-west Banten. These 42,000 inhbitants who speak a dialect of the
Sundanese language, live in numerous villages kampungs outside the eastern
boundary of the park.
With
live based on their traditional culture, 90% of the local people still
live off the land and the sea using age old methods. Their staple rice
diet is supplemented by corn, sweet potatoes, cassaava, beans and cucumber
crops and tropical fruits like bananas, rambutan, mangosteen, jambu and
the highly appreciated durian. Cloves and coconut are sold elsewhere to
bring money into communities. The villagers also raise oxen, goats, sheep,
ducks, geese and chickens and collect wild honey and palm sap.
Sundanese society is based upon large extended family who provide support
and aassistance within the family. The saying "whether we eat or
not, as long as we are together" prevails as family relationships
are very strong.
CHALLENGES
Until this century, it was the hunting, fishing and gathering grounds
for these communities and although they are still able to collect forest
produce in the park's buffer zone area, agriculture, hunting and fishing
are illegal inside the park.
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