How a Farmer's Group in Way Kambas Protects the Forests

DIMAS Purnama Hasan sped off on his motorbike on Sunday afternoon, January 25, 2026. Moments earlier, the 23-year-old member of the Rahayu Jaya Forest Farmer Group (KTH) had read a message in a WhatsApp group shared by farmers and forest rangers. It reported a hotspot in an area of Way Kambas National Park in Lampung Province.

Riding a small motorcycle modified with hoe-like tires, Dimas cut along a narrow dirt path toward a second watch post about a kilometer away. From the second floor of the wooden stilt hut, he scanned the horizon for smoke. After monitoring the situation for roughly 15 minutes, he returned to the main post. “It’s far from Rawa Kidang,” he said.

That day, Dimas was on guard duty with 54-year-old Sukatno at a lookout hut—a raised wooden structure about half the size of a volleyball court—inside the Rawa Kidang restoration area of Way Kambas National Park (TNWK). From there, they monitored potential forest fires, illegal hunting, and the movement of Sumatran elephants passing through the rehabilitation zone. The post stood just a stone’s throw from Labuhan Ratu VII village.

Guard duty rotated around the clock. Members of the Rahayu Jaya KTH did more than sit watch, they also patrolled the Rawa Kidang area. Their mission was to keep the forest canopy intact. Dense stands of trees stretched across the landscape, darkening the eastern edge of the settlement. Herds of elephants from Way Kambas National Park frequently foraged there.

The park, including Rawa Kidang, remained vulnerable to fire. Seven years ago, flames had swept through the area. Hasan Mashadi, Head of the Rahayu Jaya KTH, recalled how quickly the fire spread toward the village. Residents of Labuhan Ratu VII ferried water back and forth to extinguish it, beating at the flames with leaves and branches to keep them from growing.

The impact was severe. Farmers’ fields burned, and thick smoke caused respiratory problems. “As a buffer community for the park, we truly felt the negative impact of the fire,” Mashadi said.

In response, residents convened to prevent another disaster. In January 2020, they formed the Rahayu Jaya KTH, named after the hamlet of Margahayu. The group, now numbering around 30 members, established strict rules.

The first rule, Mashadi explained, is that every member must help if there is conflict between elephants and humans. Next, they must respond when fires occur. Finally, members are prohibited from engaging in illegal activities such as wildlife poaching inside Way Kambas National Park.

The group then signed a partnership agreement with the Way Kambas National Park Agency under the Forestry Ministry. Park managers granted them a five-year permit to manage and restore 50 hectares of forest. They began replanting trees in the fire-damaged Rawa Kidang area.

In carrying out their work, the Rahayu Jaya KTH received support from the International Rhino Foundation through the Indonesian Rhino Foundation. The funding allowed them to pay guards Rp125,000 (about US$7) per person per shift, with part of the funds going into the group’s coffers for necessities such as coffee and food.

Reforestation efforts initially faltered. Rusdianto, a Way Kambas National Park extension officer assigned to Labuhan Ratu VII, said broad-leaf fig trees planted by residents were devoured by elephants before they matured. “Those trees were meant as food for the Sumatran rhino,” he said.

Members of the Rahayu Jaya KTH began conducting foot patrols to monitor and drive away elephants entering the fig-planted zone. Usually, those large land mammals come at night.

Sukatno, one of the group’s founders, said they still relied on old-fashioned methods. When elephants approached, guards set off firecrackers to scare the animals, whose population has dwindled to fewer than 1,500. If they ran out of firecrackers, they burned tires in front of the guard post. “Elephants back away when they see fire,” Sukatno said.

A guard post at the Rawa Kidang restoration area in Way Kambas National Park, East Lampung Regency, January 25, 2026. Tempo/Martin Yogi Pardamean

They also banged on empty barrels while shouting. Two waist-high drums stood near the hut. According to Sukatno, elephants avoided loud noises.

But such tactics did not always work. Sunandar, the group’s secretary, recalled a night when he and two colleagues unexpectedly encountered a herd. Startled and unprepared, the three men fled. Several elephants, perhaps equally surprised, gave chase. “We ran more than a kilometer,” Sunandar said.

The group also confronted poachers. Hasan Mashadi said illegal hunting was one cause of forest fires in the park. Hunters set grass and shrubs ablaze; fresh shoots that sprouted afterward attracted deer, making them easier targets.

Rahayu Jaya members lay in wait along known hunting trails at night, intercepting poachers, some of them residents of their own village. “We told them to go home and reminded them that illegal hunting could land them in prison,” Mashadi said.

The approach has proven effective. Poaching has declined in Rawa Kidang. In 2023, four hunters from Labuhan Ratu VII visited Mashadi’s home, surrendered their homemade firearms, and joined the group. “Because they know many of the trails, they can prevent more hunters from entering Rawa Kidang,” Mashadi said.

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WITHOUT luxury resorts, tourism in Labuhan Ratu VII still moved forward. Some Rahayu Jaya KTH members converted their homes into modest homestays. At Sunandar’s house, two rooms stood ready for visitors. Each 3-by-4-meter room contained only a mattress, pillows, a bolster, and a fan.

Sunandar said he does not not set fixed rates. Guests paid what they wished. “As long as it covers the cost of meals during their stay,” he said on Monday, January 26, 2026.

The group also offered eco-tour packages. For schoolchildren, guides led educational walks through Rawa Kidang, introducing species such as canaries, magpie robins, eagles, and deer. Other packages included visits to the Elephant Response Unit training center in the Kuala Penet Resort area.

Visitors came from cities around Way Kambas National Park, as well as from Jakarta and West Java. Tourists were also taken to Saung Ecoprint, a souvenir house run by the Dharma Lestari Women Farmers Group. The shop displayed eco-printed fabrics and bags made with natural dyes.

On Sunday, January 25, 2026, a group of students from Nahdlatul Ulama University Lampung learned to print fabric there. They gathered leaves and twigs to create natural dyes and patterns before steaming and drying the cloth. “It’s a new experience, making prints with eco-printing,” said Muhammad Reyhan, a student in Islamic education.

Since September 2025, however, the Rahayu Jaya KTH’s ecosystem restoration partnership with Way Kambas National Park in the rehabilitation zone had expired. They continued managing the Rawa Kidang restoration area, but without the contract, the park authority stopped providing funding.

In December 2025, the group applied for a business permit to manage nature tourism services. With legal status, they hoped to guide visitors to Rawa Kidang more freely. They also urged the park authority to redesignate the Rawa Kidang rehabilitation zone and the Elephant Response Unit area as utilization zones, allowing for recreation, education, and research.

Two Rahayu Jaya members said they hoped the park authority would grant the permit without discrimination. They pointed to the ease with which United States citizen Karen Brooks secured government support for her resort project.

Ahmad Munawir, Director of Species and Genetic Conservation at the Forestry Ministry, said the group could continue bringing visitors into Rawa Kidang. “If they bring people to learn and receive a fee from that, it’s not a problem,” he told Tempo in Bogor, West Java, on February 14, 2026.

But by mid-February 2026, the Rahayu Jaya KTH had received no clarity about its application. The group’s head, Hasan Mashadi, said the park authority had offered no response. Reached on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, Way Kambas National Park Head M.H.D. Zaidi declined to answer questions. “I’m on the road,” he said.