Kepahiang and the Rafflesia

The Hills Where The Largest Flower In The World Is Found And Named For The Man Who Was Governor Here And Where You Will Very Probably See Nothing At All · Kepahiang, Bengkulu

RAFFLESIA ARNOLDII IS THE LARGEST SINGLE FLOWER ON EARTH - up to a metre across, red-brown, pitted, no leaves, no stem, no roots, a parasite living entirely inside a vine until it erupts through the bark - AND IT SMELLS OF ROTTING MEAT. It was described from Sumatra in 1818 and CARRIES THE NAME OF STAMFORD RAFFLES, who was Lieutenant-Governor at BENGKULU when it was found. It is the provincial emblem. THE HILLS AROUND KEPAHIANG ARE WHERE PEOPLE COME TO SEE ONE, and this row is going to be blunt: YOU PROBABLY WILL NOT. A bud takes many months to develop, the open bloom lasts only days, and there is no season, no schedule and no guarantee. WHAT WORKS IS LOCAL: guides and conservation volunteers around Kepahiang track buds and post when one opens, and people drive hours on that news. Go for the highlands and the coffee; treat a bloom as luck. Access is arranged with whoever looks after that patch of land, for a small fee that goes to them - and that arrangement is the entire conservation system here.

Kepahiang, Bengkulu, Kepahiang, Bengkulu, Indonesia

KEPAHIANG IS ROUGHLY TWO HOURS BY ROAD FROM BENGKULU CITY, which has an airport, on a climbing mountain route. THERE IS NO PARK GATE AND NO TICKET FOR RAFFLESIA - blooms appear on private and community land and in forest margins, and ACCESS IS ARRANGED WITH WHOEVER LOOKS AFTER THAT PATCH, usually for a modest fee that goes to them. THIS IS THE SYSTEM THAT PROTECTS THE FLOWERS AND IT SHOULD BE USED. LOCAL GUIDES AND CONSERVATION VOLUNTEERS TRACK DEVELOPING BUDS and announce openings; ASK BEFORE TRAVELLING and be ready to move at short notice. DO NOT TOUCH A BLOOM OR A BUD, do not step inside the roped area, and do not pick anything. THE AMORPHOPHALLUS TITAN ARUM also occurs here and is a different plant entirely, which guides will explain. It rains often; go early.

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