VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Enggang dance is a traditional dance of Dayak Kenyah tribe in East Kalimantan. The dance is a must to be performed in every traditional ceremony of Dayak Kenyah tribe. It describes daily life of hornbill bird.  According to the belief of Dayak Kenyah people, their ancestor came from the sky and went down to the earth like hornbill bird. Thereby, Dayak Kenyah people are very respectful and they also honor the hornbill. Nowadays, the dance is often performed to welcome the honor guests.

Enggang dance is performed by young girls of Dayak Kenyah tribe. When dancing, they wear some kinds of ornament on hornbill on their heads and also big earrings. They also hold the feathers of the bird’s horn. Their dance is being accompanied by traditional music, namely Sampe, Gendang and Gong. Sampe is Dayak’s typical string instrument.  

Enggang dance movement uses basic movement of hornbill. The movement of the dance consists of three main movements: namely Nganjat, Ngasai and Purak Barik. Nganjat is the main or typical movement of Dayak dance which looks like ivory hornbill. The movement symbolizes beautiful movement of the dancers.

Ngasai movement is like hornbill which is flying, and Purak Barik is a basic movement as the act of migration. On the progress, there is a new creation of Enggang dance, but the creation cannot be separated from its meaning and also philosophy which contains in Enggang dance.

Bangka Belitung Islands Province is one of the marine tourism destinations in Indonesia. There are various marine tourism objects that are interesting   to visit.  One of them is Lengkuas Island. The beautiful island is located in Sijuk sub-district, Belitung Regency. The island takes about 25 to 40 minutes from  Tanjung Kelayang beach by motorboat.  Tanjung Kelayang beach  is located 27 kilometers from Tanjung Pandan, the capital of Belitung regency. When  you arrive in Lengkuas island, a row of granite will greet your coming at the beach location.

There are a variety of exciting tourism activities that you can do in Lengkuas Island.  For instance, you can go around the island by motorboat or just walk to enjoy the beauty of the island. Lengkuas Island is indeed a small island. It is only 1 hectare wide. On the Lengkuas island, you can do some water activities such as swimming, snorkeling and diving, to enjoy the beauty of underwater marine life.  If you like diving, you can see the spot of  the wrecked  Indomarine ship that sank in 1999. This location is one of the favorite spots for divers. The wrecked Indomarine ship now become a home for coral reefs and colorful small fish.

Besides enjoying the natural beauty of Lengkuas Island, for those who love historical tourism, can visit the Lighthouse area. The lighthouse was built in 1882 by the Dutch government.  Until now this lighthouse still functions well as a guide for ship traffic coming and going from Belitung Island. This lighthouse that was built using steel and brick construction has 52 meters high and 18 floors. To enter the lighthouse, you must pay an entrance ticket of Rp 5,000. On each floor there is a window to see the outside views. The location of the window is different on each floor. So, you can see the beauty of Lengkuas Island and its beaches from every different angle. After arriving at the top, you can enjoy the beauty of scenery, a turquoise sea with granite rocks on the beach of Lengkuas island.

Air circulation in a building is an important aspect that must be considered when trying to design a building. Three students of the Department of Civil Infrastructure Engineering created an eco-friendly building designed with a concept of a termite nest that is able to provide better air circulation. According to one member of the team, Muhammad Yusril Bastian, currently, Indonesia has many environmental problems. Therefore, eco-friendly building exists to overcome these problems.

Yusril revealed that this eco-friendly building adopts the concept of a termite nest. This concept can circulate air from outside. In addition, this concept can also reduce the temperature of heat in the room. This concept was chosen so that the building feels cool without using an air conditioner. He also explained that the temperature from outside was reduced first. Afterwards, the air is channeled into the rooms in it, so the building will feel cooler. Termite nest building can reduce temperatures to ten degrees Celsius.

In terms of building materials, Yusril said that there were no specific criteria needed in the construction of this building. The building material chosen is almost the same as conventional buildings in general. He also mentioned several advantages, including being able to save electricity by 93 percent in comparison with the use of Air Conditioners (AC) and 21 percent compared to the use of fans. As for water usage, this building is able to save water usage by 100 percent compared to conventional homes. Thanks to these advantages, Yusril and his two friends won second place in the scientific writing competition at the Udayana University in Bali last February.

Lake Lut Tawar is a volcanic one which is located at 1,500 meters above sea level. It is a highland of Takengon suburb, Central Aceh regency. If you visit the lake, your eyes will be spoiled by beautiful scenery. The lake is surrounded by mountains and has fresh air. Going around the lake takes 2 hours. We ensure that you will not get bored because pine forest surrounding of the lake will give different atmosphere. Certainly, there is a fishermen activity to catch fish at the lake.

Wandering around Lake Lut Tawar takes longer time, if you stop by at some caves surrounding area, such as Loyang Peteri Pukes, Loyang Koro, Loyang Peteri Ijo, Loyang Perupi and Ular caves, Loyang Ujung Karang, and Loyang Mendale caves. All the caves have their own legends for Gayo people. Getting tired after going around the lake, you can also watch the lake from the highland, such as from Bur Gayo. From there, you can also see Takengon City and Lake Lut Tawar. The lake is an estuary of 25 rivers which flow to Krueng Peusangan in Bireuen regency. Surrounding the lake, there are many Gayo Arabic Coffee stalls. Gayo Arabic coffee is one of the best coffees in the world.  The coffee comes from plantation in Central Aceh regency. Lake Lut Tawar has also many cultural sites where human fossils that lived 7,400 years ago in the Loyang Mandale Cave were found.

Tourism activities at Lake Lut Tawar continue to grow. The local culture of Gayo people, who have high art values, supports the beauty of its nature. Now, almost every year, local government holds Lut Tawar Festival to introduce Lake Lut Tawar to the public, certainly by keeping the beauty of the lake on the highland. One way to preserve the lake which has existed since hundred years ago is by tourism development.

The local people get income from tourism activities so that they keep maintaining the lake and surrounding forest.