Catching snakes for their skin used to be a lucrative business in North Java. Now, with imports of snakes increasingly banned abroad and the use of buffalo hide as a substitute, snake catchers in Indonesia may soon have to find other sources of income.

Author Archives: Iqbal Kusumadirezza
Iqbal Kusumadirezza is a former Jakarta Globe photojournalist and now freelance contributor to EPA (European Pressphoto Agency), based in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.
Down and Out in Bandung’s Dollar City
In the 1960s, Bandung experienced a textile boom that brought prosperity and jobs to the area. In the present day, locals complain of endemic pollution and health problems linked to unscrupulous factories dumping their waste in the city’s waterways.
Fear and Loathing at Citarum’s Pollution Ground Zero
Along West Java’s longest river, the Citarum, chemical pollution, siltation and agriculture waste have made the waterway one of the world’s dirtiest. Those working on its banks say efforts are being made to clean it up. But will they turn the tide?