Five Gentlemen in the Jungles of Java

Given the whole “circle of life” theme that I included without too much subtlety in my last posting on Bromo, it seems rather appropriate that my next destination owes its present verdant state to a massive volcanic cataclysm which took place some time ago.

In 1883, Krakatoa erupted for the first time in over 200 years. Well, not so much erupting as exploding with a force so great as to wipe itself out pretty much entirely. The current volcano is in fact Anak Krakatoa "Child of Krakatoa" a new volcano which started emerging in 1928. The explosion was apparently the loudest noise ever recorded by humanity and the eruption resulted in a tidal wave which wiped out much of the surrounding region. Situated in the channel that separates Java and Sumatra, it was the coasts of these two islands that bore the brunt of the tsunami. One region badly impacted was Ujung Kulon- the small peninsula that marks the westernmost point of Java. A moderately populated agricultural region was simply wiped out- not only the human population, but more or less all flora and fauna.

There was no real attempt to repopulate Ujung Kulon. The area was left largely untouched- a move that has led to the creation of the unspoiled national park we now have.

Not so many people visit- stuck on the western tip of Java it isn’t on the way to anywhere. However, if you can bear the five hour drive out of Jakarta and are willing to tolerate less than five star accommodation, you are treated to an almost prehistoric wilderness, clear waters and a profusion of wildlife.

Unlike the other destinations visited this year, this was a trip made by only one Chubb. I wasn’t alone, mind you- this was a four day boys’ trip organized by Kenneth, a Belgian friend of ours. The intrepid and multinational band of five consisted of the two of us, another Belgian- JF, Howard from South Africa and Christian, a German chap working for an Italian lollypop company. We all knew each other vaguely, but I was a little nervous- four days at such close quarters would surely result in the establishment of either lifelong friendships or murder charges!

We started out bright and early Saturday morning. I arrived at Kenneth’s house shortly before 6am and, once the others had arrived we were on the road by about 6.30. Now, the first impressions weren’t that great. For one thing the “air conditioned minibus” mentioned in the itinerary was certainly air conditioned but sadly it was a Kijang. The six hour stretch out and snooze wasn’t going to happen. Five guys fitted in ok, but the baggage and the all important cool box full of beer resulted in things being a bit tight. Soon enough though, all was packed and the first beers had been cracked open before we’d reached the main road. 

Kenneth and Howard in the "Minibus"

It was on the toll road however, that the second minor problem began to manifest. Christian noticed from the back of the car that our driver seemed to be blinking quite often and that his eyes seemed to spend more time in the closed, “mid blink” position than in the open “after blink” position. In fact, he wasn’t blinking so much as nodding off. The problem was promptly resolved by pulling over at a service station, banishing the driver to the passenger seat and letting Kenneth take over at the wheel. Problem solved and after several hours of engaging in the typical Indonesian relaxation technique of constantly texting his mates, our driver was eventually fit enough to drive once more.

Shortly before midday, we arrived at  Sumur- not so much a town as a ramshackle mishmash of small buildings and winding narrow roads. Within half an hour we’d met up with Iman our guide and transplanted ourselves from car to beach, to small boat to the slightly larger boat that would be ours for the next few days. The holiday had undoubtedly begun a few hours earlier with the first can of beer, but it was only upon hitting the high sea that the adventure had properly got started.

Local raft built for night fishing

The clear waters of Ujung Kulon

After an hour or so on the boat was a stop over at an island so small it wasn’t even marked- our first snorkeling of the trip. In line with the rest of the aquatic part of the holiday, the water was warm and ridiculously clear. An hour later we were back on the boat heading to Pulau Handaleum, another small island that was to be our stopping place for the night.

All was peaceful that evening as we sat on the veranda of the eco lodge on Handaleum. Sun was setting over the water and we were supping a final sundowner ahead of dinner- peace reigned. Iman  then nonchalantly let us know that we were shortly to be joined by another party- 25 students from Jakarta. Aha- so not quite so peaceful after all. They arrived around 9pm as were digesting some excellent freshly caught fish- a never ending parade of young ladies with the occasional lad as chaperone. Kenneth immediately decided to break the ice by approaching them with a broomstick and pretending he was the cleaner. He was greeted by giggles- sadly not the giggles of girls enjoying the exotic wit of a cool older man but the confused, nervous giggle that an Indonesian might give when approached by a clearly senile middle aged foreigner. Kenneth promptly gave up the ghost and rejoined us.

Our lodge on Pulau Handaleum

The middle aged man theme re established itself around midnight. We’d been in bed a couple of hours by then struggling to sleep amid the heat, mosquitoes, the heat caused by having to use a mosquito net and 25 very noisy students. I lay in bed grumbling to myself in true British style, when to the rescue came our grumpy old man in chief, JF. All of a sudden, the noisy chatter was broken by an enraged middle aged Belgian giving a long and angry lecture on respect. I’m not sure they understood entirely, but the perfect silence that ensued for the night indicated that now both our Belgians had established a reputation as slightly odd and to be treated with fear!

Sunday began early as we left Handaleum at 7am. We had breakfast on the boat and made the short journey to the mainland where we were due our first exercise of the day- a two hour kayaking expedition up one of the many inland rivers. We soon got the hang of paddling and navigating and, slowly but steadily heading into the jungle interior, we felt like true explorers. The illusion held for the most part- perhaps broken only the one time when we rowed over a shallowly submerged log only to find the bloke at the back was a little heavy when the kayak ran aground. With a quiet grumble and I suspect a few local curses our guide climbed out of the boat, stood up in the river and pushed. Rowing up the river was a great experience. The canopy kept us very cool and we were able to truly view the jungle from the inside- though with the exception of one small sleeping python we didn’t see much fauna- the local rhinos were presumably hiding behind the trees.

View from the front of the kayak!

Getting back to the boat we chugged along to the far side of the mainland and arrived at the larger island of Pulau Peucang, our home for the remainder of our visit. The lodge here was far larger- several buildings looking onto a central field at which wild pigs, deer, monkeys and even the occasional monitor lizard were often to be found. However, the lodge wasn’t the point. We ditched our bags, got changed and headed straight to the beach, picking up a snorkel and mask on the way. It’s difficult to describe how good the snorkeling was here, other than to say those of us who had scuba dived before were clear that we were seeing stuff here you normally would be lucky to see on a far bigger dive- a real privilege. 

Barely 20 metres off the perfect white sandy beach and we were immersed in a world of colourful clownfish, large bright blue starfish, giant clams, the occasional octopus and, on one occasion even a turtle. We could have stayed for hours but sadly had to pack up and prepare for our first jungle walk. This first walk was muddy more than tiring, with a nice wide path and very flat terrain. Over two hours we walked the length of Peucang, finally emerging from the jungle onto a rocky beach. To be honest though, as we tramped back to the lodge I was looking forward to a relaxing evening- a day of kayaking, snorkeling and walking had done its work!

Evening began well enough. The veranda had become an amusing battleground where competing bands of humans and monkeys competed for dominance. You couldn’t turn your gaze for more than a minute without a monkey trying to sneak up and steal something. Over time our gaze was turned but boy was it worth it. Up onto the veranda came not a small monkey but a large and aggressive wild pig which immediately set about menacing Howard. Howard disappeared over the side of the veranda while his loyal band of mates either doubled up laughing or took photos. Karma came to bite us though as, while we’d been distracted, a monkey dashed up and stole a can of beer- gone in the flash of an eye. That event more or less marked the end of Sunday. After an amazing fish supper, nobody had the energy to stay awake- the poor sleep of the previous night, combined with the busy day had taken their toll. All of us were out like a light!

Howard being menaced by a pig

Our final full day at Ujung Kulon again began early, with a morning trip to the mainland for another jungle trek. This time the walking was a little harder, with the jungle so thick our guide needed to hack away with his machete to get us through. Again after an hour or so of walking we reached our destination- the tip of the mainland and the westernmost point of Java. Shortly before the jungle broke we came across a couple of ruined buildings. The first, according to Iman was a Dutch prison used to house Indonesian dissenters well away from pretty much anyone. The second, reached by a pretty steep climb, was a lookout point used both by the Dutch and then upgraded by the Japanese through the war. According to Iman though, even this high point wasn’t spared back in 1883- the tidal wave was high enough even to wipe out this facility. Only a few metres on, the jungle broke and we came out onto a very quiet and almost secret spot, that reminded me of something from Jurassic Park- a small clearing looking out onto the ocean.

Lost world on the tip of Java

That afternoon, we went our separate ways. Conscious of the fact that I burn just by looking at the sun, I sat out the final snorkeling session and read a book on the veranda. We had one more, short evening stroll before dinner and then marked our last night away in proper manly style by lighting a beach bonfire. The fire took a while to light but we got there in the end. 

Campfire on the beach

After days of swimming, walking and kayaking, with the added joys of fighting with pigs and scaring students, the time would soon come for us to leave this unspoilt piece of heaven and make the long journey home. Thanks to a maniac driver, the journey home was considerably shorter than we’d feared, but that’s another story.

L- R:  Kenneth, Howard, Me, Christian, JF

In the end, we’d done all we’d hoped to do. We’d visited a part of Indonesia very few get round to seeing. We’d visited a good part of it by various means of locomotion and had a lot of fun doing so. Most importantly, we’d managed to spend four days in close proximity without killing each other- a good result all round.

The Money Shot

Possibly one of the most iconic and impressive landscapes in Indonesia- the “money shot” if you like, has to be that of Mount Bromo. Ideally taken at dawn the picture encompasses a ten kilometer wide caldera with a number of smaller craters, including Bromo itself rising from within it. If the shot is taken at first light on a clear morning, it is truly spectacular. Visitors to Egypt get the pyramids, those to Tanzania get Kilimanjaro or Nngorongoro Crater. I was determined that during our stay here in Indonesia, we would at least have a try at capturing this amazing view- oh, and see a thoroughly impressive volcano too of course!

Although our last trip left us pleasantly surprised by the Indonesian rail system, a trip of ten hours or more was probably a little longer for anything less than the Orient express so we made the easy decision to fly. The first coffee of the weekend was consumed therefore at the Starbucks in the domestic terminal at Soekarno- Hatta airport, as we waited to board our flight to Malang.

We were told there are basically two cities you can fly into in order to get to Mount Bromo- Surabaya or Malang. We chose the latter for its twin advantages of being smaller (so less traffic to handle) and being closer to Bromo. A couple of hours later, we emerged from our flight into the cool air of Malang airport- a compact building beaten for size possibly only by the airstrip in the Serengeti (you’re not going to get much smaller than a flat strip of grass and two jeeps after all). Having spent all of five minutes getting to the airport exit, we met up with our guide and began our tour.

Although we were all itching to get to Bromo, there was also little point arriving there early afternoon only to spend hours sitting in a somewhat basic hotel waiting for bedtime. It was also very obvious that the volcano experience went much further than just a crater. Volcanic highlands impact heavily on the plains below them so they were worth a visit too.  While the spectacular peaks were immediately visible off in the distance, the lush green fields of the volcanic slopes and plains were already around us. At lower levels this meant maize but also tea.

Workers drying tea at the Wonosari Plantation 

Less than two hours after landing, therefore,  we were walking around the Wonosari tea plantation- a large, fully integrated operation that combined both the rolling green slopes of tea with the factories that turned green leaves into fully labeled packs of tea.

Tea leaves being picked at the same plantation

Starting in the factory area, the guide showed us what remained a fairly low tech and manual process before taking us out into the fields. It should be remembered that low tech doesn’t necessarily mean inferior- as with many industries, when the cost of an employee is so low, a people- heavy solution often makes good business sense. Sadly, however, the profusion of people did not extend to the café, so we headed out of the plantation in search of lunch.

After a typically fast , spicy but delicious lunch in a roadside Padang restaurant, we headed on the 3 hour drive to Bromo and, before long, found ourselves winding our way up a mountain road. Very quickly, the whole landscape changed. Whereas previously, we were looking out over wide fields of maize and tea, we were now seeing tight patchworks of sloping fields where the main crop, oddly enough, was cabbages. With the cold temperature, the somewhat English crops and the steep winding roads, it all felt rather like the Lake District- well, assuming the Lake District was full of volcanoes I guess.

The slighly different landscape on the road up to Bromo

Just as dusk was falling, we arrived at our hotel. Now, hotels in Bromo don’t have much of a reputation for luxury- most of the guests tend to stick around a night and are out by 4am, so there’s not much need for niceties such as hot water. However, this particular establishment, the Bromo Permai had been billed by a well known guidebook as “the fanciest hotel in Bromo”, so we had some expectation. Well, the place was good enough I guess- a chalet with three single beds and a couple of bottles of water- basic but enough. To be honest, though in a hotel like that, getting up at 4am wasn’t too much of a wrench so, after a fitful night, we found ourselves in our jeep at the appointed hour- stupid o’clock.. No matter- we had an appointment with a volcano and with my masterpiece of a photo!

Two small boys outside their room in the Bromo Permai

Well, to be frank the whole sunrise thing was a waste of time. Nobody’s fault apart from perhaps Mother Nature. The jeep dropped us off about half a mile short of the crater and we climbed in pitch, pre dawn black with what visibility there was made worse by the heavy mist- basically by the time we got to the viewing point none of us could see more than two metres ahead of us! Never mind, it was 4.30 and we only had an hour till sunrise- so we waited. Sure enough an hour later, the sun rose, and dark fog was replaced by a slightly paler fog. My long awaited landscape shot looked more like a white sheet than the glorious array of colour I’d been hoping for. At 6am we gave up the ghost and headed back to the car, hoping the trip into the caldera would give us something more, well, visible!

Visitors at the ironically named "Viewing Point" on Bromo

As much as the viewing point had been a miss, the caldera was definitely a hit. We drove into something that reminded me of a very bare Ngorongoro, parked the car, and started the walk to Mount Bromo itself. The boys moaned every step of the way, but to their credit after half an hour, we found ourselves on the peak of the volcano looking into a very menacing and steaming crater- anyone falling in there wasn’t likely to come out with a demise just as likely to come from the lava as from the fall!

Mount Bromo from the bottom of the caldera

View right down into the crater

In sympathy to the boys, we allowed them to come down on horseback- the highlight of their holiday for sure and by 9am we were back in the hotel for breakfast. To be honest, the breakfast, consisting of rice, noodles and omelette was pretty average, but after trekking up volcanoes for five hours, the food didn’t touch the sides.

Family shot in front of the caldera after the fog had lifted

By late morning we were driving away from the ruggedness of Bromo, headed for the luxury of Malang. By the time we got to Malang, we were pretty much done with tourism and after a cursory look at a very small stupa and singosari, we headed to our hotel. Now in complete contrast to Bromo, the Tugu in Malang is a stunning hotel. Between the amazing service, the beautifully furnished rooms and the glorious food, this was paradise. Sitting on the veranda for afternoon tea felt like a step back in time and even the macet on the road felt slightly relaxed!

The night’s sleep here was a polar opposite to the rough and ready experience of the night before and we were all out at an embarrassingly early hour. Next morning saw us finally escape the hotel for a walk around the immediate area. We’d seen that there was a local pet market closeby and that’s where we headed. What an experience the Malang Bird Market was. Walking down the main road was interesting enough, as we took in all kinds of birds as well as cats, monkeys and the occasional mongoose. However, a few twists and turns and we found ourselves well off the beaten track where the really cool stuff was- all kinds of fish, reptiles and several large pythons. The kids were entranced and had to be torn away so we could take in the neighbouring flower market. They were right to complain- the flowers were pretty boring compared to the snakes!

View of the Bird Market from across the bridge

By lunchtime we found ourselves back at Malang airport waiting for the flight home and reflecting on a great weekend. Well, my quest for the iconic photo had fallen flat on its face, rendering a 4am start meaningless, but we’d still managed to see what the area was all about and that was the whole point of the trip. All in all there had been a real contrast- the rough and ready nature of Bromo against the quite, peaceful luxury of Malang. However, that is a contrast underpinning this region. The tranquil luxury of Malang comes mainly from the phenomenal wealth created in the fields surrounding it- the value of tea sitting in the Wonosari warehouse must have been several million dollars at least. However, the fertility of these fields comes directly from the unforgiving, ashen, barren volcanic peaks at Bromo, All in all the contrast is simply two sides of one interdependent coin.