Ivana Atmojo

We went to Ujung Kulon (yes, the island of single-horned rhinoceros) these past few days of Lebaran holiday. The journey was very very long, and I finally understood what “Ujung Kulon” really meant: all the way to the west edge of the island..literally.

During the journey, there was barely any proper rest-area to stop by, and that meant: a. Gas stations were scarce; b. There was no restaurants nor mini-depot to be found; c. We had to knock the local residents’ door and asked for their permission to use their toilets (well, unless you prefered to pee in the bushes). Even so, there were only few houses with proper toilet systems. Most of the residents still live in the conventional way–to pee & poo in the jungle and the river; d. As we got closer to our destination, there wasn’t even proper asphalt road. All there was was just these narrow roads in rocks and stones—so you really had to drive carefully to do your cars a bit of justice.

We finally reached the edge of the island, and there was this house by the sea that we would stay in. It was a very beautiful yet calm blue sea, completely untouched! That sure felt truly refreshing for us who had spent more than 10 hours in the car. So I just ran into the sea to swim there and then, and get soaked & salty in my sundress.

The morning after, we crossed the island to reach another island. And there in the islands were lots of deers in the jungle! Beautiful deers!

They were not really used to being close to human beans, so we had to be really gentle to be close to them. Any abrupt move and they would leave you running. So I had to tip-toe, stopping every once in a while, mimicking an ostrich bird when necessary (*LOL*, I really did though). So here are some of the pics I took:

I finally got myself particularly close to an old deer. He looked really hungry. I searched in my bag but couldn’t find any food, so I pinched some “ketupat” from my friend’s bag and feed him. And he actually ate it!

We were actually hoping to meet the rhinos, but due to safety reasons and other considerations, we had to cancel the plan. Oh well, I guess I could only picture the single-horned rhinos up-close in my very mind

We also had the chance to borrow a canoe from one of the locals, so Ivonne & Edy & I went canoeing. The canoe was old, rather imbalanced, and looked fragile… but we managed to get to the middle of the sea anyhow. When we were still there, Ivonne wanted to trade place with me (at the back). As she and Edy stood up to exchange place slowly, the water suddenly started pouring in. I was cheering and laughing of excitement, and within 5 seconds we were completely drown. So we were all technically still in the canoe, yet only our heads were actually above the water level. We couldn’t help laughing as it felt really really funny. We weren’t strong enough to flip the canoe to get the water out, so we decided to keep rowing back to the shore with our hands. Our friends who stayed on the shore were wondering where we had gone, so they fetched their binoculars, only to see 3 laughing heads rowing back with the canoe nowhere to be seen. So yes, we just couldn’t help being soaked & salty again!

The morning afterwards, I managed to take some pics of the bulls. We were all packed and ready to leave when I saw two large groups of bulls passing by. I really wanted to take close-up pictures, so I went running with them. It was really fun! I never imagined going jogging with the bulls could be that much fun!

Do you notice the small horns of the baby bull? They look like mini teeths, very cute!!! I wonder if it actually feels itchy, having that teethy horns just starting to grow from your heads.

Well people, wherever and in whatever ways you have spent your holidays, I hope it’s been worthwhile too!