Lonely Planet Indonesia

by Lonely Planet

  West Java stretches from the remote islands of the Ujung Kulon National Park (last Javan home of the one-horned rhino) in the west to the sweeping beaches of Pangandaran in the east. In between, you can visit the infamous offshore volcano of Krakatau, surf in the chilled coastal resorts of Cimaja and Batu Karas, experience local culture in Cianjur and stroll through Bogor’s lush botanical gardens. It's also the most densely populated region in the entire country and travel can be slow going as a result.

  Banten

  Most visitors head straight from Jakarta to Merak on their way to (or from) Sumatra, simply because there’s not a lot in this area to attract your attention. Banten, however, can be an interesting if not happy diversion if you have time to kill. Once set on the edge of a lush network of rice fields, the fishing town of Banten was a great maritime capital, where the Dutch and English first landed in Java to secure trade and struggle for economic supremacy.

  Its regional influence peaked during the reign of Sultan Agung (1651–83), and in 1680 he declared war on the Dutch, but conflict within the royal house ultimately led to his downfall. Agung fled Banten and finally surrendered in 1683; his defeat marked the real beginning of Dutch territorial expansion in Java.

  On the coast due north of Serang, the chief landmark here is the 16th-century mosque Mesjid Agung, which was once a good example of early Islamic architecture; its great white octagonal minaret was reputedly designed by a Chinese Muslim. The roof has since been repaired, however, and it no longer carries the same historical gravitas.

  Banten has once again become a major port of multinational interest, whose fate seems tied to the hands of those who are not of this land. In other words, it is a perfect example of warp-speed, globalised development, as what's left of this breadbasket gets gobbled up, one shovelful at a time.

  8Getting There & Away

  Take a bus from Jakarta’s Kalideres bus terminal to Serang (30,000Rp, 1½ hours), 10km south of Banten, from where a minibus (12,000Rp, 20 minutes) will drop you near the Mesjid Agung, Banten's old mosque. Development is taking place in the surrounding county.

  MANIC DEVELOPMENT IN BANTEN

  This is what happens when a government and her people have justifiably thirsted for more for way too long, when the desires for better-paying jobs, bigger industry, sweeter comforts and a more robust economy collide with what used to be a hand-to-mouth agrarian history. There are few corners of the world that better exemplify this version of progress than the rapidly changing neo-industrial sector that is Ciregon and Setam. Here, in the Banten district (just north of the town of Banten), are countless massive scrapmetal yards and petrochemical, plastic and cement factories. Where once there was a breadbasket, there is now a skyline of belching smokestacks.

  To make way for the mayhem, entire mountainsides have been levelled. Just inland lies a six-month-old road that is now a land bridge between eras. On one side is the emerging urbanised industrial landscape, with the newest factories and warehouses set between hills, still populated by working families in rickety houses, that are gradually being eaten away by backhoes. On the other side is a verdant valley, stitched with rice fields, pure and elegant, swaying with coconut palms. Or maybe, by the time you read this, that will be gone too. It's possible: after all, the entire region is slated for development and when it's completed and fully urbanised, Ciregon and Setam will form a new industrial suburb of Jakarta, home to more than a million people. It will be one more big West Java city where food will be imported and life more manic and consumptive than ever before. Is this progress? Or is it simply an inevitable byproduct of the global village? After all, the subsistence farm life may be quaint, but it certainly isn't easy. Perhaps that's why, in this corner of the world, its days are numbered.

  Merak

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  Right on the northwestern tip of Java, 140km from Jakarta, Merak is an ugly port town, the terminus for ferries shuttling to south Sumatra. In a decade or so a new Selat Sunda bridge should connect Java and Sumatra here, but for now you’ll be boarding a boat between these two great islands.

  8Getting There & Away

  The bus terminal and train station are at the ferry dock.

  Ferries to Bakauheni in Sumatra depart every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day. Foot passengers pay 15,000Rp, and the journey is about two hours. Fast boats (41,000Rp, 45 minutes) also make this crossing, but they don’t run in heavy seas. The through-buses to Bandarlampung are the easiest option.

  Frequent buses make the run between Merak and Jakarta (100,000Rp to 130,000Rp, 2½ hours). Most go to the capital's Kalideres bus terminal, but buses also run to/from Pulo Gadung and Kampung Rambutan. Other buses run all over Java, including Bogor (150,000Rp) and Bandung (160,000Rp to 200,000Rp). For Labuan (30,000Rp), a change at Cilegon is required.

  There are also infrequent trains to Jakarta, but most are economy class.

  Carita

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  Close enough to the industrial blitz of Ciregon to be at least slightly disconcerting, Carita is a different world, with rising jade hills clumped with palms and laced with green rivers. The sandy beach crashes with one small surf break, Karang Bolong, and the area is popular with weekenders from Jakarta. But unless you're headed to Krakatau, visible on the horizon from most of the resorts, or the Ujung Kulon National Park, it's not worth your time.

  1Sights & Activities

  About 2km from Carita over the rice paddies you can see the village of Sindanglaut (End of the Sea), which is where the giant tsunami of 1883 ended its destructive run. Hutan Wisata Carita is a forest reserve with walks through the hills and jungle. Curug Gendang waterfall is a three-hour return hike through the reserve.

  TTours

  Virtually everyone in town is peddling a Krakatau tour. Travel agencies, including Java Rhino (%0812 1275 2333; www.krakatoatour.com), and Krakatau Tour (%0813 8666 8811; www.krakatau-tour.com), can organise trips. Check your tour boat first as waves can be rough, and make sure it has a radio and lifejackets on board. Day trips to Krakatau start at 2,500,000Rp after bargaining. Trips to Ujung Kulon start at 6,250,000Rp for a three-day tour.

  4Sleeping & Eating

  Rates increase on weekends by about 20% at most places.

  Sunset ViewHOTEL$

  (%0253-801 075; www.augusta-ind.com; r with fan from 225,000Rp, with air-con 295,000Rp; aWs)

  This centrally located hotel on the inland side of the coastal road offers large, clean rooms. The restaurant downstairs serves Indonesian grub.

  ArchipelagoHOTEL$$$

  (%0253-880 888; www.archipelago-carita.com; Jl Raya Carita Km10; r 700,000Rp, cottages 1,750,000Rp; aWs)

  Nest in a cool Torajan-style cottage or smaller, modern 'Jakarta rooms' right on the beach; this is the nicest choice in Carita. It has a nice pool and views of fishing platforms and Krakatau from its perch, but no restaurant.

  Pondok Makan ABGINDONESIAN$

  (Jl Raya Carita Km9; mains 18,000-36,000Rp)

  This traditional-style restaurant specialises in ayam kalasan goreng (fried chicken with special herbs). Wash it down with a cold Bintang or a fresh fruit juice (6000Rp). It's just behind the Hotel Rakata on the main beach road.

  8Getting There & Away

  To get to Carita from Jakarta, take a bus to Labuan and then an angkot (minibus) to Carita (10,000Rp). On weekends allow extra time for the journey.

  Labuan

  %0253 / Pop 49,200

  The dreary little port of Labuan is merely a jumping-off point for Carita or for Ujung Kulon National Park, but it is home to the helpful Labuan PHKA office (%0253-801731; www.ujungkulon.org; h8am-4pm Mon-Fri), located 2km north of town towards Carita (look for the rhino statue).

  Frequent buses depart from Kalideres bus terminal in Jakarta for Labuan (50,000Rp, 3½ hours). Regular buses also operate between Labuan and Bogor (50,000Rp, four hours). Angkot for Carita (5000Rp, 30 minutes) leave from the market, 100m from the Labuan bus terminal.

  Gunung Krakatau

  The legendary
peak of Krakatau, the most famous of the world’s famous volcanoes, is a name almost everyone knows – but few actually know of its location (take the film makers of Krakatoa, East of Java, for instance). Resting in relative peace some 50km from the West Java coast and 40km from Sumatra, the volcano is nowadays a shadow of its former self – a small group of disconnected islands centred on Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau), a volcanic mass that has been on the boil since 1928.

  The highlight of any trip to Krakatau is rounding Pulau Rakata and first glimpsing the menacing peak of Krakatau’s child.

  2Activities

  Krakatau is only accessible by boat. At the time of research it was possible to land on the eastern side of Anak Krakatau and explore the lower parts of the cone, but this is very much dependent on volcanic activity. Walking to the edge of the caldera is never advisable – people have been killed by flying rocks. Always seek qualified advice before making any trip to the volcano.

  After Krakatau, tours usually move on to hike and snorkel on neighbouring islands. Overnight tours set up camp on either Rakata or Verlaten islands.

  DAY INTO NIGHT

  Few volcanoes have as explosive a place in history as Krakatau, the island that blew itself apart in 1883. Turning day into night and hurling devastating tsunamis against the shores of Java and Sumatra, Krakatau quickly became vulcanology’s A-list celebrity.

  Few would have guessed that Krakatau would have snuffed itself out with such a devastating swan song. It had been dormant since 1680 and was regarded as little more than a familiar nautical landmark for maritime traffic passing through the narrow Selat Sunda.

  But from May through early August 1883, passing ships reported moderate activity, and by 26 August Krakatau was raging.

  At 10am on 27 August 1883, Krakatau erupted so explosively that on the island of Rodriguez, more than 4600km to the southwest, a police chief reported hearing the booming of ‘heavy guns from eastward’.

  With its cataclysmic eruptions, Krakatau sent up a column of ash 80km high and threw into the air nearly 20 cubic kilometres of rock. Ash fell on Singapore 840km to the north and on ships as far as 6000km away; darkness covered Selat Sunda from 10am on 27 August until dawn the next day.

  Far more destructive were the great ocean waves Krakatau triggered. A tsunami more than 40m high swept over the nearby shores of Java and Sumatra, and the wave’s passage was recorded far from Krakatau, reaching Aden (on the Arabian Peninsula) in 12 hours over a distance ‘travelled by a good steamer in 12 days’. Measurable wave effects were even said to have reached the English Channel. Coastal Java and Sumatra were devastated: 165 villages were destroyed and more than 36,000 people were killed.

  The following day a telegram sent to Singapore from Batavia (160km east of Krakatau) reported odd details such as ‘fish dizzy and caught with glee by natives’, and for three years ash clouds circled the earth, creating spectacular sunsets.

  The astonishing return of life to the devastated islands has been the subject of scientific study ever since. Not a single plant was found on Krakatau a few months after the event; 100 years later, it seems almost as though the vegetation was never disturbed – although the only fauna are snakes, insects, rats, bats and birds.

  Krakatau may have blown itself to smithereens, but it is currently being replaced by Anak Krakatau, which has been on the ascendant ever since its first appearance in 1930. Today 'Krakatau's child' is growing at the rate of 7m per year, and this anger-prone volcanic kid is certainly a chip off the old block, sending out showers of glowing rocks and belching smoke and ash.

  8Information

  Labuan PHKA office has solid information on the volcano; otherwise consult tour agencies in Carita about Anak Krakatau’s current activity.

  8Getting There & Away

  Most visitors to Krakatau come from Carita. However, Krakatau officially lies in Sumatra’s Lampung province, and it is slightly quicker and cheaper to reach Krakatau from the small port of Kalianda.

  Chartering a boat is the only way to get to Krakatau; always charter the best vessel you can afford. During the rainy season (November to March) there are strong currents and rough seas, but even during the dry season strong southeast winds can make a crossing inadvisable. Krakatau is a 90-minute ride from Carita in a fast boat when weather conditions are fine. It’s a long one-day trip, but it’s definitely worth the effort – if you can hire a safe boat.

  Small fishing boats may be cheap, but being pushed around in high oceanic swells won't feel like value for money. Reliable boats with radios and lifejackets start at 2,000,000Rp to 2,500,000Rp for a small utility boat (maximum of six people) and go up to around 3,000,000Rp for faster boats (eight to 10 people). These can be organised through Carita tour agents.

  Ujung Kulon National Park

  On the remote southwestern tip of Java, this Unesco World Heritage–listed national park (www.ujungkulon.org; admission 150,000-225,000Rp) has remained an outpost of prime rainforest and untouched wilderness, virgin beaches and healthy coral reefs. It's relatively inaccessible; few people visit Indonesia’s first national park, but it is one of the most rewarding in all Java.

  Ujung Kulon is best known as the last refuge of the one-horned Javan rhinoceros, one of the globe’s most critically endangered mammals – there are only thought to be between 50 to 60 remaining, all right here.

  Numbers are thought to be stable and the rhinos are breeding, however they are an extremely rare sight and you are far more likely to come across banteng (wild cattle), wild pigs, otters, deer, squirrels, leaf monkeys, gibbons and big monitor lizards. Panthers also live in the forest and pythons and crocodiles in the river estuaries. Green turtles nest in some of the bays and the birdlife is excellent.

  The national park also includes the nearby island of Panaitan (where Captain James Cook anchored HMS Endeavour in 1771) and the smaller offshore islands of Peucang and Handeuleum. Much of the peninsula is dense lowland rainforest and a mixture of scrub, grassy plains, swamps, pandanus palms and long stretches of sandy beach on the west and south coasts.

  Most people visit Ujung Kulon on a tour organised through an agency, but it's also possible to head to Tamanjaya village and access the park from there or to make arrangements directly through the park office, which will link you up with a boat operator.

  2Activities

  Tamanjaya village, the main gateway to the park, has budget accommodation and guides. One three-day hike across to the west coast via beaches and river crossings and on to Pulau Peucang is very popular, but there are decent alternatives, including a route that takes in good coastal scenery and the lighthouse at Tanjung Layar, the westernmost tip of mainland Java. Or, for wildlife viewing, you can set up a series of day hikes in Tamanjaya.

  Pulau Peucang is another entry point, but it can only be reached by chartered boat. There's good accommodation and a restaurant. Peucang also has beautiful white-sand beaches and coral reefs on its sheltered eastern coast (snorkelling gear is available). Hikers might be able to hitch a lift on a boat out of Peucang, but don’t count on it.

  There is also comfortable but simple accommodation at Pulau Handeuleum, which is ringed by mangroves. It has some Timor deer but doesn’t have Peucang’s attractions. Canoes can be hired (50,000Rp) for the short cruise up a jungle river where you might see pythons – they're often spotted hanging on branches above the water.

  Large Pulau Panaitan is more expensive to reach but has some fine beaches and hiking. It's a day’s walk between the PHKA posts at Legon Butun and Legon Haji, or you can walk to the top of Gunung Raksa, topped by a Hindu statue of Ganesha. Panaitan is a legendary surfing spot, with breaks including the infamous One Palm Point, a left-hand barrel that spins over a sharp reef.

  TTours

  Tours can be set up in Tamanjaya itself, with the park office in Labuan or via more expensive Carita tour agencies. Basically you can either walk or boat into the park; there are no roads. Either way you must have a guide.

  Factor in food
costs (around 50,000Rp per day, per person), your guide (150,000Rp per day) and tent rental (around 100,000Rp per trip). Bring along lightweight food, such as packaged noodles, and drinking water if you are hiking; otherwise food can be organised by tour operators or the park wardens. Supplies are available in Tamanjaya, but in Sumur and Labuan there is far more choice. Boat trips are much more expensive as the boat hire costs 3,500,000Rp (for up to 10 people).

  If you'd rather get organised in advance, book through the park office in Labuan. A three-day/two-night all-inclusive tour costs about 7,500,000Rp (for two people). This includes return road and sea transport on a wooden boat, accommodation inside the national park, snorkelling, canoeing, hiking and meals. You'll pay double for a much more comfortable and faster speedboat.

  Surf packages are also available to Panaitan; Bali-based Surf Panaitan (%0361-850 0254; www.surfpanaitan.com) charges from US$900 for a seven-day trip.

  4Sleeping & Eating

  Advance bookings are recommended for Pulau Peucang and Handeuleum, particularly at weekends; contact the Labuan PHKA office. Within the park you can camp or stay at the primitive huts for a small fee. Food and supplies are available in Tamanjaya.

  Sunda Jaya HomestayGUESTHOUSE$

  (%0818 0618 1209; http://sundajaya.blogspot.com; Tamanjaya; r per person 150,000-200,000Rp, meals 30,000-50,000R)

  This Tamanjaya guesthouse was orginially built by the World Wildlife Fund and has four simple, clean rooms, each with two single beds and mosquito nets. Bathrooms are shared. Good meals are offered and there's free tea and coffee. The genial owner is an expert on the national park and can organise guides and supplies.