The Alas Gorge

One of the many cleared slopes along the Alas River.  

ALAS river flows rapidly from the highlands around Gunung Leuser in Aceh, through innumerable valleys, and enters the Indian Ocean at Singkil.

It was the first Sumatran river commercialized for rafting in the late eighties by Americans. It was so popular hundreds of Achenese were employed to support the influx of tourists. 

More local rafting companies wanted a slice of the action, offering cheaper and cheaper trips. The illegal loggers were alarmed by tourists' cameras. One night, some loggers poured petrol around the house of local rafting employees and threw down a light. That fire and cheap trips extinguished the golden era of Alas rafting trips. Now only a couple of rafting operators are still offering trips, and the Acehnese are back to chopping down their forests. 

All these slash and burn practices can be seen for the first 2 hours as we paddled down the Alas from Sigala-gala. Entire hills and valleys stripped of tree cover and replaced with banana trees. 

"They chopped the trees, rolled whatever they could down the river, and burned those they couldn't move. Why didn't they use those logs? And planting bananas!?", Halim was livid.

The villagers had been practicing slash and burn for millenniums. But motorized boats and chainsaws were the game changers for the hills here. In one day, entire slope could easily be cleared. But then again, what we had paddled past was outside the National Park boundary. It could be argued the villagers had every right to make the best of where they were living.

About 2 hours from Sigalala, the valleys narrowed so much that the river looked like entering into a gorge. This was the famous "Alas gorge". The valleys constricted the river into this narrow waterway and rush it through like a jet. 

 Entering the "gorge" of the Alas River. Been waiting for years to see this place I heard about for so long!

Alas river was already a fast flowing river on the wide plains, at a rate of about 7km/hr. In the narrow valleys, the flow rate sometimes increase to 10km/hr, resulting in an exhilarating ride. There was no need to paddle. There were many beautiful waterfalls along this scenic route. It was just an amazing feeling to paddle close under them, and let the sprays bathed you in cold, clean water. 

Halim admiring one of the numerous waterfalls we encountered on the river.

"Rapids!", Halim shouted as we heard the roar of water. 

"Class 3, 3+. I want to tie down my barang barang. If I remembered, only standing waves. Biggest one on this stretch of the river. Should be fun!", Halim was already making for the eddy looking for a place to tie down his gear.

Halim in his element on a big rapids after exiting the gorge.