This is an alarming story about Pangandaran, a beautiful beach lying 7 hours drive from Bandung West Java. How would I describe this memorable place? This is a beautiful beach blessed with the mild waves and soft current and tides; it is in a contrast with neighboring Karangnini's strong tides and tidal waves. Pangandaran is embraced by a gulf that softens the thunderous waves of the Indian Ocean.
Pangandaran's tiny tropical forest is also a home for a Javanese bull. Yes, one and lonely last male Javanese bull. Sadly, it is now a place where we will see that the last Javanese bull will extinct forever. Pangandaran is also a sanctuary area for a great number of monkeys and deer. Hundreds of monkeys wander on the beach watching sunbathers lying on the white sandy beach; with its spectacular blue-green color of sea water.
Less than 50 meters from where the monkeys watch the sea and sun lovers, deer play and graze on a very tiny beach where people throw away foods to them. It creates more dependent deer to human, encouraging the deer to leave their nature. They love to eat left-over food given by visitors. This is not an encouraging situation for preserving the deer from their extinction. When the deer become more dependent to human beings, it will be the beginning of the extinction of wild deer.
Unlike the story of a single male Javanese bull, the saga of monkeys and deer will be much longer and we still can protect them. We will have to start to educate people visiting Pangandaran not to give foods and left-over along the beach. This action will help the deer and monkeys to be dependent on the rain forest where they can depend on. The restrictions must be implemented and the rain forest wardens must be strict and teach visitors.
Comparing the then-25-years-ago's Pangandaran dan today's beauty of Pangandaran is an accident. You should build and develop tourist objects across the country, maintaining the service and the objects. For instance, the mess in the vicinity of the tourist oobjects can be done by managing the flows of the people and vehicles. For Pangandaran itself, you can see a lot of changes in Pangandaran. There has been a lot of things changing here in this exotic Gulf of Pangandaran.
Pagandaran twenty years ago was a place mentioned in an international tourism handbook, Indonesia, published by Lonely Planet, as an amazing tourist beach and destination. Green Canyon with its clear water was a name for a spectacular view and panorama of serenity in Pangandaran, named resembling a great name of Grand Canyon in Colorado in the USA. The beauty of Pangandaran with its white sand in the eastern tip of the Gulf of Pangandaran stunned visitors and beach lovers. Humble and sincere behavior and service of boatmen gave another boost to the famous beach.
Another picture of Pangandaran can be seen. Some have changed dramatically. Visitors flock all over Pangandaran. The fishermen have been more economically aware of the value of Pangandaran and they start to exploit all possible potentials of Pangandaran's economy. A solemn and peaceful white sand beach on the tip of Gulf of Pangandaran has been swept by a noisy atmosphere where boatmen often scream to swimmers on the beach.
Pangandaran is no longer a beach where people can freely swim in a blue sea water without being worried by being hit by a boat. Pangandaran is no longer a rain forest where hundreds of Javanese bulls used to live on, leaving it with only one male bull. Pangandaran is just a common white sand beach where hundreds of hotels built along the beach front.
I think, if the peaceful beach is always being distracted by boatmen, sooner or later people will leave and forget Pangandaran. Pangandaran will be forgotten by people, resembling a saga of the future death of the male Javanese which is inevitably a disgraceful condition of, then, beautiful beach!