Forest Park Conservation Area Tahura Ir. H. Juanda, Java, Indonesia

3fhimawan 5:00 PM Jan 26, 2017

A good Forest Park, nice to visit...
It is not my family hobby to visit a forest park, I was visiting the forest park when my wife joined a trail running event there. We travel by car from Jakarta on Sunday early in the morning, arrived at the park around 9am, while my wife was getting the race pack, I was trying to find something for breakfast in the parking area. But I could not find anything interesting, so my children and I took a seat at a small food hut (warung) just to have some instant noodle. I saw that the warung also offers "Kupat Tahu" (rice cake with tofu seasoned by peanut sauce), so I ordered one. The taste is quite nice, so at least I did have a proper breakfast. After breakfast, we then decided to just spend the day in the forest park just to see what's inside. It was really nice inside..., with all the pine trees, cool and refreshing wind breeze... nice..nice... I love it.... There are 2 man made caves inside the forest park, named as Jepang Cave (Japan Cave) and Belanda Cave (Dutch Cave). The closest to the entrance is the Japan Cave, which only approx. 600 metres from the park entrance, so we walked there. In front of the cave, there is a map of what's inside the cave. This cave was dug and built by the Japanese during the Pacific War during World War II. There are some guys offering flashlight and guide service to go enter the cave..., it was totally dark inside with some bats inside. The temperature was quite comfortable inside, and it was quite a nice experience inside the cave, so that we can understand how Japanese soldiers assigned in this cave. And then we walk further heading to the Dutch Cave, but it is quite a long walk to reach it..., before we reached the cave, we met with some guys offering "ojek ride" to visit the whole park including 2 (two) waterfalls inside the park. The ojek ride offered at IDR 100K. We felt it was quite expensive, but understand the distance to the Omas Waterfall is up to 6 km, it was worth the money. So we hired 4 ojeks, and honestly, the ride to Omas Waterfall was quite tiring. The path to reach the waterfall is quite difficult, but the ojek driver was so well familiar with the whole area. On the way to Omas Waterfall, we stopped at a small hanging bridge just to take pictures and a deer conservation area. Again, it was a nice thing to see. We then reached the Omas Waterfall, but we still have to walk approx. 300 metres to reach it. Very nice waterfall site. We completed the tour just close to lunch time, so the ojek took us back to the parking lot. Conclusively, this area is a nice place to visit and see, but might not be a second time unless my wife joins another trail run event in the coming year.

3Magheskar 5:00 PM Jun 6, 2013

National park in Bandung where you can hike and camp
For travelers who settle in Bandung, this national park is very easy to reach! 1. Where? Located in Dago area Bandung. 2. How to get there? It's very possible to take public transportation. If you use a train to reach Bandung, take the Stasion Hall - Dago route. It will cost you probably around Rp 3,500 or less than 50 cents. From Dago terminal, take the Ciburial - Ciroyom route public car, it's not so far. Just tell the driver to drop you off at the entrance gate of the national park. This will cost you around Rp 2,000 or Rp 3,000 at most. If you took a bus, you're most likely dropped off at Pasir koja terminal. There are 2 ways to reach Dago. First, you take a DAMRI bus, which each extremely cheap but also extremely not worth to ride, or second, you take a public car to Kalapa terminal, this will cost you around Rp 3000. From Kalapa terminal, you should take another public transportation Kalapa - Dago route, which will cost you maybe Rp 4000 now? Should be less than Rp 5000. Once you arrived in Dago, again thae the Ciburial - Ciroyom public car. Now the problem with public cars in Bandung are mostly coloured green, so don't be shy to ask the locals or you'll get lost. People there are very friendly. 3. How much? To be honest, there's no legit control nor legit ticket box at the entrance gate. I was once visited this national park for free because there were no officer. Ridiculous. Anyway for the locals it costs very cheap but for tourist abroad if i'm not mistaken it costs Rp 50,000 or US$ 5. For me it's quite expensive. Try to negotiate with the officers, they might meltdown with jokes and hospitality. 4. What to wear? Very comfortable shoses/boots/sneakers. Inside this national park, there are 2 historical caves, once was built by the Japanese and one was built by the Dutchman. The caves here aren't natural caves, they were built as a secret passages during the war area. it's really dark and quite scary atmosphere for me. There'll be locals renting flashlights, it should cost you less than Rp 5000/flashlight. If you hike further, you could reach the Maribaya waterfall, it's actually quite small and surounded by the pine tress. You could build your tent near the area and spend the night there. Take note, this national park is very lack of facilities.