This time I had a trip to Meru Betiri and Alas Purwo national park with Arya, Dian, Riky, Rinta, Rita, Tiwi, Yana, and Yanti.
Aris
from http://www.backpackingindonesia.com/ picked us up at Juanda
airport 1.30 am on Friday. We arrived at Jajag in the morning to swicth
the ELF car with a Land Rover jeep to go to Meru Betiri national park
as our first destination. The places that we visited here were Teluk
Hijau (Green Bay), green turtle breeding camp at Sukamade beach, and
Rajegwesi beach.
The road to the area is awesome. We were
passing a rubber plantation, cacao plantation, local people housing,
and the forest on our way to Teluk Hijau (Green Bay) inside the
national park. From above, Teluk Hijau view (pic. 3 & 4) is a
stunning one that make you want to right away go closer to it. But we
need to do a short trekking first to go there by breaking through the
forest. There is a pathway to go down to Teluk Hijau that is usually
used by fishermen. Still, the plant near the pathway is rather thick.
We reached the bay around 3 pm, but we can still feel the heat at that
hour. No one else there except us and 3-5 fishermen. Being tired after
descending the hill, we just sat on the rocks, had a chat and of course
took pictures (pic 5-8). The place is very soothing, event though it
was still hot on the afternoon. The descending part was nothing
compared to the ascending part on our way back to the place where the
jeep was parked.
Then, we went to a guesthouse in Sukamade
plantation complex, still inside the national park. Seeing a bathroom
was a relieving for me since I haven't took a bath from Thursday night
until Friday afternoon. February is categorized as rainy season in
Indonesia. Nevertheless, the temperature in the national park is still
high for us.
At night, we went to Sukamade beach where there
is a turtle breeding camp (pic 9). We can also see the turtle lay its
eggs on the beach. We were already on the beach at 10 pm waiting for
the turtle to go to the beach to lay its eggs. But, we fell a sleep
accompanied by the sound of the wave, the sound of the animals inside
the forest, the full moon, the stars, the white cloud, the dark sky,
the wind and the soft white sand. Aris woke us up at 11 pm as a turtle
approach the beach in a very slow motion. Everyone just silently sat
watching the turtle digging the sand. Well, not everyone. Some of us
were still peacefully sleeping. At the third hole, the turtle is so
close to a man sleeping tight in his yellow sleeping bag. The turtle
itself didn't seem bother with his presence. However, the turtle didn't
lay any eggs that night and decided to go back to the ocean (pic 10
& 11) to extent its visa on arrival at the nearest custom :) The
custom part is a joke since the turtle can swim from Australian to
reach Indonesian islands. The turtle need a visa right?..or may be
because it often go back and forth between Indonesia and Australia, the
turtle already has a frequent swimmer member (not a frequent flyer. For
your information, a turtle can't fly). It just a great and sweet day to
spend!!
Meru Betiri national park still has another more to
offer in the morning. We went to Rajegwesi beach (pic 1 & 2).
Again, there were only us and the fishermen there. We spent some time
there to take picture, see the fishermen, and have a rest in a food
stall before continuing our trip to Alas Purwo national park.
Pictures at http://perennialsteps.blogspot.com/
