A MUST AT DOMAS

DOMAS IS GOLD

There's a French proverb which says, 'Don't dance on a volcano'. It means beware of someone who has nothing to lose. I was not only dancing on Kawah Domas but frolicking my first experience stepping on a crater of gold, where Kawah Domas had derived its name. Kawah Domas had not threatened me in anyway and I was free to reward myself with Domas' gifts from nature after the hike.

Domas means gold. I think the yellow sulphurous colour of the pool and the sulphur discharge could have given the golden look of the crater. The pools as well as the sulphur discharge glisten and look more golden when sunlight skips and glides on the water surface.

Kawah Domas which fans out to about 5-6 hectare may not look like the crater you have seen in your geography books. I had envisioned the crater to be how my uncle would mix his sand and cement mixture together. Whenever Uncle Jalil had to plaster some bricks walls for my grandmother's house, he would mix the right proportion of sand and cement together before making a half metre mound of the mixture with his changkul(hoe). A perfect depression is made at the top of the peak where some water would be poured. That shaped looked like a volcano with its vent forcing out the magma and lava collecting on the crater mouth. That was my mental model of a perfect crater. But Kawah Domas tore away that image from my mind.

What finally unfolded in front of me was a crater with different angles of inclination and denseness of rocks surrounding the fringe of the crater. I saw instead, slopes of white and grey rocks where some sides had flattened. slumped and collapsed. Some parts looked like they had been 'scooped' out and the materials dumped on the higher elevation of the slopes.

The crater floor itself boasted of bubbling pools of mud, geysers, boiling hot water, gases and steam rising in the air. The smell of the sulphur was tolerable that day. I didn't need to whip out my handkerchief and end up looking like a desert bandit. Instead I was busy taking pictures of the crater and listening to the hissing sulphur vapour which kept coming out from the cracks of the rocks. Needless to say, I had to be a 'Jumping Jane' in trying to avoid getting my legs submerged and scalded in hot boiling pool of water.

Pak Rizki lit up a cigarette. I was just about to tell him that I am not a nicotine substance abuser when he showed me an experiment that took me off my feet. He puffed out the smoke of the cigarette near the sulphur emitting rocks. The chemical reaction resulted in more sulphurous smoke in the air. I let out a 'Wow' and tried to produce the same effect by nearing the stick to the rocks.

A guide rushed away with a basket of eggs to be boiled in the hot boiling water. Temperature of the water can reach 150 degrees Fahrenheit on cold days but stabilises at 95 degrees Fahrenheit on hot days. The locals swear that eating the hard-boiled eggs can lower your cholesterol level.

My mentor picked up some igneous rocks and explained to us their uses. Andesite rocks which are made into bracelets and necklaces can lower cholesterol level, clear eczema and get rid of skin allergy. Andesite wearers who have medical problems feel warm with direct contact of the stone. Animals will run away if you have a piece of basalt in your pocket. I questioned the logic here but waas not in the mood for a debate with my guide. Batu apung or pumice stone can leave your heels smooth.

The most relaxing moment and a must at the crater was having our legs massaged in mud by the guides. The tired feet too deserved a soak in the hot mud pool. The water feels cool when you do not move your legs but if you walk in the pool the, the raised temperature of the water could cause some discomfort. Diabetic patients ought to be more careful of this.

The mud has an exfoliation effect on your skin and is good for those suffering from eczema. The locals have mud bath and face masks to improve their health and skin smoothness. Bottles of mud are sold to tourists. The sulphur laden water can improve your blood circulation and get rid of the click-clack joint sounds you have to bear because of arthritis.

Reluctantly, I pulled my legs out from the pool and headed back to the carpark. My Kawah Domas hike had been wonderful though I still mourn for my white rabbit fur tissue box, bag and muffler. Can anyone buy me those if you are going to Kawah Domas on your next holiday destination? You would truly make me feel elated and estatic and I will show you may gratitude till eternity.

KAWAH DOMAS HIKE - Pit Stops 21-25

FAUNA, FLORA AND MORE

Pit Stops 21-25

We have finally reached the final leg of the pit stops. Nature had offered us views and things to marvel at. We need to comprehend them for nature does nothing uselessly. Tangkuban Prahu had awed those with souls, reminded us of our smallness and brief stay on earth. Now Kawah Domas would not hide herself when we reached it. The goal of our hike is living in agreement with nature and having no conflict with Big Mother.

Pit Stop 21: Stumped for Words



A pair of hands clasped in prayers emerged from the base of the trunk

Faces in agony on the fallen trunk

An octopus with its tentacles.

My husband saw a toad with its stretched out hind legs.

Your imagination determines the image you see

Have you wondered how nature has her own ways in sculpturing the many elements found around us? Nature is a great sculptor with a pair of deft and nimble hands. She moulds objects which are beautiful and aesthetically pleasing from ordinary things.

Tree stumps, uprooted buttress roots, termite eaten trunks and lightning struck branches transform into animals, human and objects.What result from the works of nature did I see? I saw an octopus with spread tentacles. There was a toad stretching its hind legs. A face carved from a tree stump. A hand clasped in prayers emerged from a recessed trunk. I was stumped for words!

Pit Stop 22: Keep Clean, Go Green

Bins for your waste disposal

Tourists exercise high social responsibility in keeping the area free of litter. Not much unwanted waste was seen in the area. Dustbins made from recycled plastic drums and bamboo baskets placed randomly contained mainly empty aqua bottles.

Workers come two days once to keep the place clean and clear the dustbins, said Pak Daha.

Pit Stop 23: Creedance Clear Water Revival

Small rivers that end up as big rivers

The path of the river is not smooth

Clear and sparkling water seen in the river

Rocky river bed indeed!

It’s crystal clear. It’s the 3R. Revitalising, Reinvigorating, Reviving. The water flows swiftly on the river bed of hard lava flow, eroding and contouring the bed artistically. At the upper course, the rocks of different resistant showed vertical erosion being more aggressive than lateral erosion.

The river leaps, falls, splashes, crashes and snakes its way downstream. It gurgles and giggles when it flows on smooth surfaces but groans and moans when it forces its way against boulders and rocky surfaces. I could hear the river crash from a waterfall but was unable to see one because of the undulating terrain and the thick vegetation.

Pit Stop 24: Feel The Tremors

What is this Pak Didi?

The seismic monitoring device embedded in the ground

Over 300 of them are found around the region

I was perplexed when I saw several of them along the hike. They were square cement slabs with a round metal rod in the centre planted in the ground. I signalled for Pak Riziki to stop and explain to me what they were.

I discovered that there were over 3o0 of such cement slabs around the mountain area. Why so many and what are they for? They are actually seismic monitoring detectting reading equipment. Like a seismograph. Any unusual movement in the ground is detected by the equipment and it sends the seismic activity data to the earthquake and volcano office for further analysis and interpretation.

Living around a temperamental vicinity is fragile and dangerous. One needs to be brave to leave behind what one has built and lived for. The collated data can prewarn the locals of any impending disasters; saving lives and properties.

But, unless you and your family have lived around a volcanic area for generation after generation, you would never know why it is difficult for the locals to tear themselves and flee even warnings after warnings have been given.

Pit Stop 25: Kawah Domas Entry Point

Going downhill. We are almost there to the kawah.

A few more steps...and then I can have my leg mud massage

Mud in bottles being sold. Good for your complexion too!

500m and not 500 miles to Kawah Domas

Kawah Domas with her boiling pools behind us

We finally reached the Domas crater entry point after an hour. It would be a short walk down before the crater and all its beauty lay before our eyes. The hike had been very enriching for me. I got to know a lot of things from the three Orang Hutan who had added value to my hike by packing it with informative explanation on the flora, fauna and anything else you can find in the forest.

The climax of the hike would be to finally step foot at the Domas Crater and witness first hand the shooting geysers, rising sulphur vapour, hot steam floating and bubbling mud pools that have drawn

tourists from all over the world.

.

Next entry will be a slide show of our Kawah Domas Experience....

KAWAH DOMAS HIKE - Pit Stops 15-20

FAUNA, FLORA AND MORE






Pit Stops 15-20

Our hike was a series of steps. Once a while we took a giant leap but most of the time we took small, seemingly insignificant steps to reach Kawah Domas. These small steps completed our final destination which ended with a leap of joy when we saw Kawah Domas in front of us.


Pit Stop 15: Green Moss, Grey Lichens



Mosses cap the rocky sides of the hill

Mosses retain moisture and slow down the rate of erosion

It was damp and cool here

We will conquer Kawah Domas soon

Thick furry moss covering a piece of rock

The black forest slowly disappeared from the landscape. Trees of different species emerged. The air became dank, damp and moist. Black had changed to green. We were surrounded by greenery. Not grasses but lush thick healthy mosses as far as the eyes could see.

Both mosses and lichens are small organisms and are often overlooked. They do not scream for your attention and demand no care at all. But the mosses and lichens found here are totally the opposite. I could not ignore them but to acknowledge their presence and their contributions to the ecosystem in the forest. They ruled the part of the forest as your distance to the crater below shortened.

The lichens in yellow, grey and orange colonise the trunks of many trees here. The mosses are found everywhere. They cap rocks, emerge in crevices, drape hill slopes and survive on decomposed wood. They slow down the rate of erosion, retain water and provide food to numerous animal and insects.

I would roll myself on the ground if the moss had totally populate it. I guess it would be as close to sleeping on water bed, at least for me.

Pit Stop 16: Wild Rambutan

You would be excused for mistaking this as an edible rambutan

The wild rambutan partly eaten by a black monkey


Pak Daha picked up a rambutan from the ground. Great I thought. I could quench my thirst. I was hallucinating the rambutan white juicy and fleshy pulp sliding down my dry throat.

To a forest simpleton like me, the rambutan on the guide's opened palm looked like the ordinary rambutans being sold at our fruit stalls or supermarkets. It is hairy, oval in shaped and green in colour. The similarities ended there except for its smaller size.

The one that Pak Daha had shown me was actually a wild rambutan. Thank goodness I was not glutton enough to pop the fruit into my mouth immediately. Its kidney-shaped flesh is hard, yellow ochre in colour and resembled a chestnut. It is inedible but is food to the black monkeys of the forest in the region.


Pit Stop 17: The Harendong Tree



The Harendong Tree smothering the ground with its purple flowers


Getting a better view of the tree

Roots fought for space on the ground

This is another evergreen shrub which can grow to a 4m tree with oblong-elliptic hairy leaves on its underside. It bears dense purplish flowers in bunches or solitary. The pollinated flowers grow into berries with many seeds. The pulp is sweet once the fruit is riped but otherwise astringent when green.

I know the harendong tree as the kemunting shrub. They were easily found behind my kampung house at 1 Jalan Buntu where springs, butterflies and grasshoppers entertained me fully as a free child with childhood. I had to compete with the birds for the sweet, edible fruit once they turned purplish and maroonish in colour. The harendong juicy fruits were the blue berries for the 60's child like me.

The Orang Hutan in the region believe that the fruits is a cure for dysentery and diarrhoea. The roots and leaves are boiled and drunk for diarrhoea and stomachache. The crushed leaves have another medicinal value. They can be used to treat and dress wounds.

When we were below the Harendong tree, it rained purple (the colour assosciated with royalty)because the wind was blowing the petals off their petiole. The lightly coloured purple flowers carpeted the ground while some landed on my head. I wish to believe that it was treating us like a royalty. Do you know that purple is one of my favourite colours besides orange?

Pit Stop 18: Dragon Vine Divine

Dragon Vine leaves have medicinal values



Boil the roots for your cuppa of tea


What dragon has no wings, claws, a tail and can't fly? Its Dragon Vine! This forest vegetation has served the locals well too. It grows low on the ground and creeps like vine for support. The roots of the Dragon Vine act as a pain reliever. You don't chew the roots but boil them with some water to get the most out of its medicinal properties.

Run out of tea leaves at home? Just pluck some of the leaves and boil together with the roots to make your cuppa. Caffeine free!


Pit Stop 19: Bamboo Taboo



The angklung made from bamboo

The 3R water I tried

It so clear that I can see my own reflection

A bamboo bridge to increase communication


The bamboo trees grow in clumps and their tall slender stems move gracefully as the breeze blow against them. The leaves rustles and hummed sweet music in the air. The heavy rain in the previous night had uprooted some bamboo plants in the forest area. Since this is a protected place, no locals can remove anything, be it fauna or flora from here. Otherwise, the bamboo tree has a lot of economic and cultural values to the Indonesians.

The bamboo stems are used as building materials, bridges, piping system, rafts and kitchen utensils. Hunters store water in the hollow stems. The angklung, an Indonesian traditional wind musical instrument is also made from bamboo.

We saw many uses of the bamboo during the trail. For bridges, rain shelters and piping system to drain crystal clean water from the gushing river. I also learnt from my guide that bamboo plant belongs to the grass family.

Stopping beside a bridge, we cupped our hands to drink from the river water that flows from the bamboo pipe. My verdict? The water was super clean, cold and revitalising in taste.

By the way, the bamboo is linked closely to black magic and things of supernatural in many Asian countries.

Pit Stop 20: Black Monkeys

Can you spot the black primate atop the tree?

You're on candid camera!

The playful yet shy black monkey

They caught our attention because of the movement and calls above us. A pair of black monkeys were teasing each other and turning the foliage and branches into their playground. Using their long tail, they curled themselves upside down from a branch to swing and balance themselves midair. They are shy creatures. Once they felt our presence, they scampered to greater height and hid behind a screen of green leaves.

It was a delight to observe these official residents of the animal kingdom here. The whole forest is theirs and the humans can't get any closer to them.

KAWAH DOMAS HIKE - Pit Stops 1-6

FAUNA, FLORA AND MORE

PIT STOPS 1-6

Our Hike To Kawah Domas Pit Stops

I am blogging my hike with 25 Pit stops and will post at intervals. I had to rewrite all pit stops after three days of getting all my information organised but the blog hanged and deleted my entry. I am not giving up and surging forward to post all pit stops again here.

Pit Stop 1: Tourist Information Office

The trek begins at Tourist Information Office

Terraced steps to aid your safe trek

We took the shorter hike to Kawah Domas than the longer Kawah Ratu journey. The testing of your feet and endurance began at the Tourist Information Office and ended at the crater. Three guides were assigned to us. Pak Rizki, Pak Daha and Pak Didi introduced themselves proudly as 'Orang Hutan' or the Forest People.

The three gentlemen came with a fees of RP 300 000. They are very familiar with everything found in the forest like the back of their hands. We were fortunate to amass ourselves with a lot of information about the the fauna, flora and everything nature that we came across during the two hour hike. It was simply a multi-sensory experiential learning lesson I would be proud of to conduct for my students. This time round, I was a student and they, my mentors. They were instrumental in adding value to our hike and enriching it with golden nuggets and learning takeaways to an otherwise ordinary touristic hike.

Pit Stop 2: The Black Forest

The Black Forest of Jambu Alas trees greet us


The Peace Tree. The trunks shows the two-finger peace sign

The Blacks Forest with its twisted trunks and gnarled looking hands

The black tree trunk tress with equally dark coloured burnt spread-out branches were the opening scene of the walk. The gnarled and armed-like branches seem to welcome us for a good hike. My husband's thought otherwise. The trunks according to him were screaming for help to save them because of the extreme temperatures they had been forced to endure.

If your imagination is wild and fertile, like mine, the trees may look and take the form of many interesting shapes. I saw a bear's face, a mother holding her child, an emu emerging from the rocky ground and even ghostly appearances of extra-terrestrial beings.

After descending some steps, Pak Rizki mentioned that the Jambu Alas trees had transformed to that state due to Mt Tangkuban Prahu eruptions. The heat, ashes and smoke had 'toasted and scalded' those trees to what they are now. Yet, they are still standing strong and surviving for more years to come. Their resilience and tenacity to stand upright in an environment of uncertainty was a lesson for me.

Pit Stop 3: The Changing Temperature


The refreshing air was good for the lungs

Pak Riziki was our chief guide


Pak Daha and Pak Didi helped us along the way

It began to get cooler as we hiked further down. Temperature could easily reach 18-22 degrees Celsius. The vegetation got thicker and at certain routes, the branches of the Black Forest interlocked forming an umbrella above us. That made the hike more enduring and pleasant as the cool air enveloped us.

Ferns acting as ground cover and mosses as rock caps are becoming more evident. According to Pak Riziki, the area receives exceptionally high amount of moisture during the 'Ber' months. I did a quick mental check and knew what he meant. Come September, October, November and December the meteorological station will record high amount of rainfall received. We were lucky it did not rain that day and was blessed with an air-conditioned room temperature.

At above 2076m above sea-level, it is an ideal elevation for a leisurely hike for urbanites like me who seldom succumbs to the thrice weekly exercise regime. The relief was gentle here and I was looking forward to more exciting new discoveries along the way.

Pit Stop 4: The Exotic Batik Design

The youth shaving off the Parkis plant bark

The eye-catching motif on the bark

The wood shavings remind me of a tiger stripes

Souvenir wares for your collection

A youth was holding a bark and shaving the outer layer with his parang. The transformation on the bark to reveal the next layer was like magic to my eyes. From a plain rough looking bark, the smooth surfaced trunk now displayed complementary hues of brown, beige and cream batik-like design as if drawn by a batik artist with his tjanting tool.

We were enthralled by the unique design transformation found on the Parkis (fern) plant. Where the old frond of the fern has fallen off, the frond joint leaves behind dots, spots, lines and imprints on the bark. Once the outer layer of the bark is shaved off, it reveals an exquisite batik-looking fabric print. I picked up some wood shavings and upon closer inspection thought that the design was akin to a tiger stripes.

Taking advantage of the beautiful motif on the bark, the entrepreneurial spirited youth had set up a stall to sell his wares of ash trays and vases he had sculptured from the bark.

Pit Stop 5: Gully Your Way

The gullies with the more resistant lava bed protruding than the other rocks.

Lava once flow along this channel.

The unevenness gully bed due to the piling of lava over several eruptions

Swirling fast flowing water has contoured the rocks in the gully

Running water from heavy rains has formed gullies along the side of the trail where lava had flowed during Mt Tangkuban Prahu eruptions. The ditch-like gullies of varying depth and width have been at the mercy of forceful water flow, which has caused deep vertical erosion into its bed. Soil and rocks have been removed through corrasion, attrition, hydraulic action and solution. The eroded materials are flowed further down the hill slope while the heavier and bigger ones are constantly being eroded by the rain that meanders its way into the gullies.

I noticed the gully floor has been unevenly eroded because of the different rock composition. The more resistant rocks like basalt and granite stood out like protruding bumps while the softer clayey materials have hidden and recessed themselves further on the gully floor and sides. Rushing and swirling water has meandered its way around the tougher rocks, polishing and grinding the edges to smooth finish.

Screaming oxidised orange-coloured mica rocks emerged from the deep crevices where the softer materials have lost the water battle. Oxygen combines with iron-bearing silicate minerals has resulted in the "rusting" look of the basalt rocks. I was so fascinated to see how running water has contoured and incised the gully floor in its own natural way without any form of modern technology.

Pit Stop 6: Weathering And Erosion

A forest fairy perches on a rock that has a sheeting appearance

Basalt of different sizes strewn on the ground with the flow of rain water

A dislodged piece of rock removed from its original position

Rocks from lava flow of varying resistance. The protruded rock looks like a crocodile head to me.

Rocks of different hues and mineral composition. Lines of weakness are very clear.

White silicate in between the layers of rocks.


Biological weathering on my right side. Soil erosion has caused the tree to lose its pride and stature.

I was pleasantly surprised to note that we were actually standing on once molten rocks which have cooled and crystallised the lava flow to form plutonic igneous rocks which Mt Tankuban Prahu had emitted in 1969 and earlier. I was kicking and stepping on igneous rocks like basalt, granite, andesite and quartz. Now they have been exposed to the weather elements of erosion and biological reaction of the trees and animals. Some pieces of rocks ended up as my souvenir items as I pushed them into my jeans pocket

The gully erosion where water flows along narrow channels during a heavy torrential downpour and surface runoff turbulence have left many beautifully-layered rocks smooth and rounded in shape. The exposed surface displayed different shades, indicating the different minerals found in the rocks. The bigger boulders are mainly found at the upper part of the gully while the smaller ones have been transported to the lower part of the terrain. In no time the bigger size particles would be dislodged because of the increased elevation and gravity as more soil is washed away by rivulets and streams of water on the gully floor.

I got a feeling that the falling rain has also played a part in sheet erosion of the rocks. The water splashes on the rock surface and the particles are knocked by the raindrop impact. Rock layers are detached and peeled off in a more or less uniform manner from the rock surface. It gives the rock a layered appearance as if it has been chiselled off by an expert mason.

Roots and trees have also contributed to the biological weathering of the rocks here. They push away the materials from the soil as the roots find their way deeper in the ground. Animals burrow their home in the gound, loosening materials at the same time.

More Pit Stops Coming.....