Tangkahan

Tangkahan is a community-based ecotourism area located in Batang Serangan, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra, at the edge of Gunung Leuser National Park. Known as 'The Hidden Paradise,' it is centered on the confluence of the Buluh and Batang Rivers surrounded by lowland rainforest. It is notable for its Sumatran elephant conservation program, jungle trekking, river tubing, and former illegal logging area transformed into a sustainable tourism model.

Visitors can expect a lowland rainforest setting at the confluence of the Buluh and Batang Serangan rivers inside the Gunung Leuser National Park buffer zone. The area features clear rivers for tubing and bathing, jungle trails, natural hot springs, and the Conservation Response Unit elephant patrol station where visitors can observe elephants bathing and feeding. Accommodation is in simple ecolodges and guesthouses, with most activities requiring a local guide and river crossings by foot or raft.

Tangkahan was formerly a site of illegal logging in the 1980s-1990s. In the early 2000s, the local community with support from conservation NGOs and the Gunung Leuser National Park authority transformed the area into a community-based ecotourism model to protect the forest. It is part of the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra UNESCO World Heritage Site and hosts a Conservation Response Unit established to mitigate human-elephant conflict.

The site represents a community-based ecotourism model managed by local residents, primarily of Batak Karo background, focused on forest conservation and Sumatran elephant protection. Revenue supports local livelihoods, forest patrols, and conservation education.