"No one ever said: the Great Indoors” was found at a spread of Hummer H3 ad. Flipping through some more pages of Bestlife (May 2008), you will find: “There’s only one way to find out if your vaccinations really work” from Range Rover. Both of them showed their mighty trucks being harassed by the wilderness. One was parked in a sunny ditch at the foot of San Juan Mountains, Colorado, and the harsh Tibetan Plateau pampered the other one. Then I remembered someone had promised me to take me out to experience nature first hand.
“But I don’t do camping!” I said back then. “If I need any emergency midnite ice cream and extra pillow, there would be no room service button to press!” I defended myself violently.
Gayle, my mate of honor, whom I later found out that he really swept the forest floor like a gale, replied “First we do trekking. But to motivate you, there shall be something nice at the end of the road. Let’s unveil short waterfalls trips first.”
“But we’re still not going camping right?”
“No, we are going to just enjoy the view and return the same day.”
“Phewww”
When we finally reached the area, I was somehow shocked by how pristine the landscape was. The entire small mountain was blocked for strictly eco-tourism. It was called the Cigampea at Gunung Bunder (Mt. Round) just half an hour higher than the city of Bogor, West Java. Inside the protected park you will find six or even seven different waterfalls, camping grounds, pine forest in sulfuric meadows (aptly named Kawah Ratu, the Queen’s Crater).
With only about 500 m hike, it wasn’t difficult to find Curug Ngumpet (Hiding Waterfall). We needed to go around a wet cliff before hearing the water splashing on the ground beneath it. This ticked the Indiana Jones spirit inside me, that I thought I never had (true that I believed only the spirits of Halston and Gianni who would guide me through my darkest nights).
It was somehow secluded, a perfectly romantic spot, with sunbeams falling on the perfect clearances. Too bad some group of photographers and love birds were there earlier than us. Ahh, the fresh air (and the wild snake which just crossed our path). Yikes!
The second waterfall was the mother load, Curug Cigampea. It was almost 300 m tall. Sidetracking to a smaller waterfall on its right side, it was as if you’d get two waterfalls at the price of one.
Secretly, I thanked the local government for putting on paved walkways to ease our 1 km descend to reach the falls. It was tiring but then again it was safe as they had railings and flat stairs to welcome your journey. But yes it was awe-inspiring when finally you reached the bottom of that hill. One would feel nothing but so small against this natural setting.
Curug Cigampea was crowded as it was the end of the high-school final tests season. Ahh, another fresh vantage point. I had never realized that even the locals nowadays already ditched GT Mans and Riders (famous local underwear brands) for the trendier distro produced boxers (but briefs are sexier when wet!!).
Then Dr. Doolittle seemed to possess my Gayle for a while, as he was able to feed the monkeys by hand. I will never forget how he would gaze at the dominant male as if calling it to get closer. And when it arrived, they were as if talking in another language. The dominant male looked tamed before him. But still, just as a precaution, I never had the intention to get anywhere near them on that stream.
I sat there for a while. Just replenishing the good energy that I needed to refuel for my sanity. The mist was indeed mysterious. But Cigampea seemed to welcome us in its cradle. It wasn’t scary but Cigampea wanted to be handled with respect.
Warning Sign on the spot:
1. Please leave before 4.00 PM
2. Leave immediately when it started to rain
3. The same goes for landing mist
4. Keep clean and take care of your garbage
After a while, Vanindya was tired as hell. We didn’t want to imagine the ascend to the area where we came from. Huffing and puffing like some fish out of the water, we finally made it back. Only to be treated by the most glorious welcome: A group of bare-chested army cadets running in unison down the mountain road.
“Mama, mama can you see…”
Can’t wait for another trip,
Prof. Utonium
Copyrights: Opening Image. Vanindya Vidiastuty © 2008
Other Images. Prof. Utonium © 2008
Nature Photography inspired by Techno80 © 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment