Ujung Kulon National Park

UNESCO World Heritage Site Inscribed 1991; The Last Place On Earth Where The Javan Rhinoceros Survives In The Wild, With A Population Of Roughly Seventy Five Animals · Sumur, Banten

Ujung Kulon is THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH WHERE THE JAVAN RHINOCEROS SURVIVES IN THE WILD. Roughly SEVENTY-FIVE ANIMALS remain, all of them here, on a peninsula at the far south-western tip of Java - the entire global population of a species that once ranged from India to Vietnam. YOU WILL NOT SEE ONE. Their core range is closed, they are famously elusive, and tourists effectively never encounter them; the park is monitored by camera trap. WHAT YOU DO SEE is why the peninsula was empty enough to become a refuge in the first place: THE 1883 KRAKATOA TSUNAMI SWEPT IT CLEAN, killing everyone on it, and the forest that grew back was never resettled. Visitors take boats to PEUCANG ISLAND, walk to the CIDAON grazing field for banteng and peafowl at dusk, snorkel the reefs and trek the lowland forest, and ANAK KRAKATAU ITSELF IS VISIBLE ACROSS THE WATER - the thing that made the peninsula empty, still sitting out there rebuilding itself in plain sight of the refuge it created.

Ujung Kulon peninsula, Pandeglang Regency, Banten, Sumur, Banten, Indonesia

REACHED BY BOAT, AND THAT SHAPES EVERYTHING. The route is JAKARTA TO SUMUR OR TAMAN JAYA by road - four to six hours, longer in traffic - then a BOAT OF TWO TO FOUR HOURS to PEUCANG ISLAND or Handeuleum, where the accommodation is. PERMITS AND PARK FEES ARE ARRANGED THROUGH OPERATORS OR AT THE PARK OFFICE and a licensed guide is required for trekking. MOST VISITS ARE TWO TO THREE NIGHT PACKAGES booked in advance; there is no walk-in market. THE RHINO CORE AREA IS CLOSED TO VISITORS and always will be. CROSSINGS ARE CANCELLED IN ROUGH SEAS, which is common in the wettest months, and the park is at its least accessible then. Accommodation on Peucang is basic and limited. Bring cash; there is nothing to spend it on once you are there.

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