 | Pangandaran Things To Do | Tips 1 - 10 of 23 |  |
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ThE GREEN CANYON.
You'll arrive at a large parking with some
restaurants , and food stalls...
There were a lot of boats waiting ,
a good sign said our guide. And your journey
begins. The water was quit green dispite the
rain the few days before. The trip can be
cancelled when the water is too wild.
A lot of rain sometimes colors the water
brown as well.
Your boat cruises in an impressive environment.
The vegetation leans over the river , which
is a bit lower and surrounded by rocks and
slippery soil.
If you are lucky , like we were , and it is a slow
day and not too many people have passed by ,
you can see a giant reptile resting in the sun
on a leaning branch , you can see a colorful
kingfisher waiting for a fish to swim too close
to the water surface.
And then your completely surrounded by rocks ,
above , left , right , you'll have to climb a little bit.
And there it is the green canyon.
Take of you clothes. Throw them in the boat
and start swimming.
(no dressing area , just were you bathing
drawers under your clothes.)
Amazing , the water is falling down from
ancient rocks , making capricious shapes.
Sometime the water is really fast...
Stunning , moment after moment...
The light that falls down on the water ,
makes his way true the vegetation ,
giving it all a mystic atmosphere.
There seems to be no end of this canyon.
The water is fresh , clean.....
(pitty I didn't had a water proof camera) Leave a Comment |
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A little walk in the forest and we were in the
wayang atelier. They make these faces
of really light wood. It is wood that grows
quit fast and is easy to handle.
I must say they made beautiful puppets ,
his wife made the clothes. Every face got
a meaning , every color a different sense.
Of course the goal was to sell one of those
dolls after we had a little demonstration
of wayang play.
But a little look at our guide he knew we were
finished. No pressure.
I must say , if you are planning on buying
one of these puppets. Do it here.
For me they seemed to be more value
for money then they are in yogya or
anywhere else. Beware of industrial made
ones. You'll pay as much and they
don't have a soul. Leave a Comment |
Yes , we heard of these little stops.
They drag you into a shop and get really pushy.
But that wasn't the case here.
Our guide was a young guy and we had no
idea we paid for a day-program with
more then just the green canyon.
This stop was very educational.
We stopped at a little village were people
made sugar in a traditional way.
We were taken round to see all the steps..
Interesting. I'll build a travelogue about that. Leave a Comment |
After the swimming we made a stop in a little
village to see the rotan bridge.
This bridge has an important role in the local
community. You see the village was at one
side but the kids went to school at the other side.
This hanging bridge was quit strong. They
even drove over with a motorcycle.
Everybody who wanted to go to the
other side had to pay a 500 indonesian roepia.
For them it is quit expensive I guess...
For us it is about 0,05 euro.
An example of local economy.
(if you look at the sign board , the latest cathegory ,
WISATA , that are we , the tourists. lol)
Near the water here were growing palms.
A special kind of palm that is used to make
the roofs water proof. It is a palm that grows
as one single stalk with leaves. Leave a Comment |
My absolute highlight that three weeks during
holiday if I had to choose one thing ,
it would be THE GREEN CANYON .
Absolutely amazing.
The picture is taken before really ariving at
the green canyon. At the time we were in
Pangandaran it was really quit there.
But it was weekend and you could sence that
a lot of weekend tourists were expected.
So , I would have thought that there would
be a lot of people going to the green canyon..
But that wasn't the case.
You could get there by public transport ,
but it isn't easy and one of the local tour
operators is an easy and cheap solution.
So , we went with the five of us , one guide
and one driver and a german couple and
another 'Antwerpenaar'. It's a small world.
About 30 km to go.
Of course we had to make a stop first... Leave a Comment |
By now we were starving. We went for dinner
in a little village near the beach.
We didn't had much instructions like
'we leave at that hour or....'
The nice thing was we all got along just fine ,
the mood was relaxed and lazy...
The five of us had dinner together ,
exchanging tips and what we learned
on food by now.... nice , interesting.
They hadn't tried the fried sweet tempeh...and
we didn't knew...
And afterwards.... swimming.
This place was called 'Batu Karas'
And is know by surfers. The beach seemed to
be at least a little bit cleaner...
We rented a big motor tyre and let ourselfs
go with the flow.
We watched those characteristic blue crab fish
on the rocks... Leave a Comment |
By the lack of tourists we rented one of
those boats completely for ourselfs.
We didn't feel like bargainning on the price...
I hate that. So we went , yeah yeah yeah , whatever.
Instead of a 6 houres walk with a guide through
the forrest we saw the waterfall in just half an
hour.
(it looks a bit like our shower ,
but surrounded by trees and rocks. ;-))
We also saw the impressive caves
with bats flying in and out...
And then we did some swimming...snorkling.
I must warn you. The reef is almost completely gone.
There are some colorfull fish left , but in general
....the reef is dead.
Also in the neighboorhood of the waterfall
the sea is full of litter, plastic bags...
It makes me sad to see that.
Afterwards we had the boatman put us of
at a remote beach , with some fisher boats
some monkeys ... the farest from were I knew
we could get back by feet.
We had a great afternoon.
Don't forget your protection agains sunburn.
On a boat and near the water the process of
getting a sunburn is much faster. Leave a Comment |
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At the end of the peninsula there is a
national park and a nature reserve.
It is not that big...540 hec.
And a part of it is open for public.
The entrance fee is so low...
If I heard about the place , the comments
where not too positive.
Not too much animals , dense vegetation , small.
I loved it ...it is very nice and special.
It rises up from sea level and I had one of the
most remarcable meetings in my life. Leave a Comment |
Pangandaran is a village , 20 000 souls strong.
60% of them live from the sea and 40%
have an income from agriculture.
That is what someone told me.
Who are all those people selling souvenirs and
having hotels...
Whatever...the special thing about Pangandaran is
its location. It is a peninsula. Both sides of the
village have got nice beaches.
And that is rather unique on Java.
But the best parts are still to come... Leave a Comment |
The 530-ha "Cagar Alam Pananjung Pangandaran" (Nature Reserve Pangandaran) is South of the village of Pangandaran and takes up a whole 3-km peninsula. This favourite Pangandaran spot to travellers lies along the narrow isthmus of the peninsula with broad white sand beaches that sweep back along the mainland. At the PHPA office maps are available which shows all the different paths through the park, and which animals are where ...
An intriguing place, the park seems to have everything; stalactite and stalagmite, causes to crawl into caves, teak forests, shady banyan trees, grazing fields, myth-historical remains, seashore, abundant wildlife (watch the python), home of hundreds "long-tail Macaque", a beautiful sea-view out of the sweet water-place at the top ... at the brink of a towering volcanic cliff above the sea.
About 80% of Pangandaran National Park is secondary rainforest, and its most famous resident is the enormous Javanese Rafflesia flower. When lucky, you'll be thrilled to watch the extraordinary Rafflesia arnoldii/Patma, which grow up to one meter in diameter. She is the largest bloom in the world, although the one found at Pangandaran Peninsula is a bit smaller as her sister, growing in Sumatra. Watch your nose, because it stinks like "a gigantic rotten puffball mushroom" ... Leave a Comment |
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on March 11, 2005
on August 26, 2005
