The villages that surrounding of Mount Rinjani National Park over than 20 villages, lies on the foot hill from 600M above sea level up to 1156M, from the east Sembalun village, Sapit and Tetebatu to the central of Lombok, Aik Bukak and the west to the north, Sesaot forest and Senaru Village.
According to the percentage of population on Lombok Island are mostly sasak ethnics, most slopes surround Mt. Rinjani National Park populated by the indigenous Sasak population and only some small area found group of Balinese stay side by side.
For Sasak and Balinese people of Lombok revered Mt. Rinjani as a secret place and abode of deities, Segara Anak crater lake is the destination of thousand of pilgrims. They do secret annual ceremony on beginning of rain season, place offerings in the water and wish to a good intensity of the rains during rain season for farming, bathe away disease in the hot springs.
The highlands are forest clad and mostly undeveloped. The lowlands are highly cultivated by the local people who lives around. The major crops grown in the fertile soils of the island are rice, soybeans, coffee, tobacco, cotton, cinnamon, cacao, cloves, cassava, corn, coconuts, copra, bananas and vanilla
Gunung Rinjani national park lies within the major transition zone (Wallace) where the flora and fauna of south East Asia makes a dramatic transition into that which is typical of Australia. The park has a rich variety of plants and animals, although they can be hard to spot due to the terrain and rainforest cover.
Sometimes seen early in the morning is the morning is the rare black Ebony leaf monkey, know locally as lutung. The long tailed gray macaque of kera is common in Lombok and order males are seen on the crater rim. Rusa deer are forest dwellers and are occasionally seen a long the Rinjani trek train.
The smaller barking deer or kijang has an alarm call with a distinct dog – like bark. Look for the disturbed ground where the wild pig or babi hutan has been foraging. Also found in the forest is the leopard cat or bodok alas, palm civet or ujat and porcupine or landak.
A variety of colorful birds live in the forest of the park. Perhaps the best – know icon of the park is the crested cockatoo that is not found any further west of Lombok. Many of the forest-dwelling animals, insects, birds, civets, and monkeys owe their survival to the wild fig tree or beringin as a provider of food and shelter.
The pine-like casuarinas species, Cemara, are a feature of the grassy higher slopes. Orchids or anggrek are also a feature of the grassland areas, as is edelweiss or bunga abadi growing above the tree line, it is a beautiful icon of the park and one of the park and one of our best-know sub-alvine plants.
The following stories are a selection taken from a booklet for village guides containing a collection of traditional stories that have been related for generations by the people of Dusun Senaru.
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