bandung hotels, tourism and travel

Tuesday, 15 March 2011 17:14

The hidden paradise

Ujung Genteng area located in Sukabumi resident, it is the most southern part of west java make this places gifted with ones of the most amazing beaches of south java shore. The route is 220 km away from Jakarta, or 250km from Bandung. Before arrive at ujung genteng be sure to visit Cikaso Village.  This Village is gifted with a pure and beautiful twin waterfall, named as Curug Cikaso.  But once again the road to reach this village is still not layered, only hardened by stones.  Entering Ujung Genteng Area, the first Scene you can visit is located in Amanda Ratu resort.  It is offering the scene of rock island in the middle of river estuary.  Some says this is the Tanah Lot of Ujung Genteng.  Continuing about half an hour from here, then you'll enter the Ujung Genteng Beaches area.

Surfing

Any die-hard surfer will tell you that Indonesia is blessed with some of the best surfing and most consistent year-round waves on the planet.

For the novice, you’re thinking Bali, right? Well, that’s partially correct, and it’s just a tip of the iceberg. They’re probably thinking Ujung Genteng, and many others. And while Bali does have its surfing culture, it is not the dream destination for extreme surfers (simply because of the length they go to find the best surfing spots), Bali is “acceptable” up to intermediate level. Ujung Genteng, G-Land, Leakey Point, Lagundri Bay, and Mentawai, are just some of the top dream destinations. They must all sound greek to any non-surfer. And the latter two, Nias and Mentawai in Sumatra, are considered to have the most consistent waves. Whereas Java has Ujung Genteng in the West, and G-Land in the East.

Pangumbahan Turtle Park

Pangumbahan Turtle Park is located in Cibuaya, Ujung Genteng, Sukabumi resident, West Java. Pangumbahan Turtle Park is a beeding turtle park managed by local government and is one of the largest breeding parks in Indonesia.  This breeding turtle is located in a very beautiful beach with powder sand, clean and when sun sets, the sky is like a beautiful painting. You’ll be amazed with the beauty of this virgin nature.  In this site, the coastal area is clean and still shady with big coconut trees, making it ideal for sea turtles to lay their eggs because they tend to avoid barren and dirty areas. Most of the sea turtles often spotted here are Chelonia mydas, which can grow up to 1.5 meter length and weigh up to 300 kg.

Around 4 pm, turtle kids, 4 months old, are released into the sea. The unique thing about this turtle habit is that they’ll be back in adulthood laying on the same beach where they were released.

Around 7 pm o’clock in the evening, you’ll see the adult turtle lay their eggs. It turned out the turtle is afraid of light and humans. So, when she will lay eggs, it is highly guarded by the beeding park officers there. Even though visitors may see the turtle lay eggs, guards still have make sure that the turtle had been in a comfortable position for laying. Visitors are also prohibited from carrying a flashlight or an object that emits light like a camera. So, it is advisable to take photos at the time the turtle has finished laying. The eggs that she could give up to hundreds and will be taken by the officer to be breeded in a safe place.

Along the Pangumbahan coast, turtles lay their eggs in a regular basis. Turtle in this place in are categorized as rare animals with the average size of 105 cm and weight of 100 kg. Not only large, this turtle also has beautiful greenish color, so called green turtle (chelonia mydas).

Those turtle are sea turtles that lay their eggs over the age of thirty years. Sea turtle eggs take between 52 to 70 days for hatching, depending on the wheater. If the rain season, slightly cooler sand will make the time to grow longer. Vice versa, if the wheater is hot, time to hatch is quicker. From a hundred turtle eggs, the possibility can survive until the age of thirty years in only one. Or it could be noone at all. These sea turtles are highly sensitive to any means of disturbance while laying their eggs during night time. At once, the sea turtles can lay 100-200 eggs although this can be halted if they sense threats or disturbances. Therefore, Pangumbahan Beach has to be isolated from residential area. The track heading to this place is quite extreme thus an off-road vehicle is preferred. It is best to use car with high ground clearance.

The existence of turtle center in pangumbahan turtles region expected to become ICON for sukabumi district more known in the world, and conservation area management (Coastal Park)  expected also to synergize with other programs, such as the National Community Empowerment Program Independent Marine and Fisheries as well as other programs. Such as: Center for Research, training, environmental education, business, tourism, community economic empowerment, and the use of environmental services can be optimized by not forgetting function of the real turtle conservation that can really affect the welfare of coastal communities. This conservation center successfully manages the nesting turtle population by regulating the many visitors to the reserve, such that they can experience the turtle nesting ritual without undue disturbance to the animals, and incubating the eggs and releasing young turtles safely back into the sea after they have hatched.

Article and Photo credit to

http://uniquetraveldestinations.wordpress.com
http://www.motoyuk.com/tag/ujung-genteng/ 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eriksusilo