Skip to main content

Bamboo forest of Mount Merapi

Bamboo forest of Mount Merapi is a diverse natural forest area home to various species of bamboo living in the wild on the southern slopes of Mount Merapi in the Turgo region, Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. This is a protected area within the Mount Merapi National Park with an total area of 64 square kilometers.

The various bamboo species grow together in a location in the forest and are very dense. A species is only about the size of a little finger growing in clusters, whereas elsewhere different species have giant sizes and are tens of meters high.

Dlium Bamboo forest of Mount Merapi

Mount Merapi National Park has at least six species of bamboo including Cendani bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea), Giant bamboo or Dragon bamboo or Petung bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper), Ampel bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris), Java black bamboo or Wulung bamboo (Gigantochloa atroviolacea), String bamboo or Pring tali bamboo or Pring apus bamboo (Gigantochloa apus) and bamboo Legi (Gigantochloa atter).

This bamboo forest is located on the slopes of Turgo Hill on the south side of Mount Merapi and can only be reached on foot through a trail to climb and down several ravines. Some orchid species including Vanda tricolor stick to large fern trees along the road to get there.

Some bamboo clusters are connected to one another by long roots and sink into the ground like a cable to communicate with each other. Bamboo that grows tightly covers the path creating dark labyrinth passageways.



Some weeds grow in vines and make a circular path snaking on some bamboo trees like a handicraft, while a very rare parasite attaches to the ends of tall bamboo like a bird's nest.

The wind shakes the tops of tall canopies and moves the bamboo and produces very clear sounds. The magical "Krotok ... Krotok ... Krotok ..." sound appears when several bamboo trees rub against each other. The faster the gusts of wind the more sound is created with the sound of the leaves.

Birds chirping endlessly fill spaces into a choir. Various insects produce unique tones, but the presentation together creates a colossal orchestra. A distinctive sound echoed throughout the forest lens.



When the weather is sunny, the sun's rays pierce the grove between the tall pillars produce a beautiful silhouette panorama. In the morning, the rays of reddish light in a green environment like a painting that impresses in a combination of young colors and old colors.

Mount Merapi is the most active volcanic geology in the world, but this bamboo forest area has not been erupted in decades where the continuity of the flora has been maintained. The fertile soil layer continues to support the ecosystem to continue to grow until now.

Popular Posts

Javan broadhead planarian (Bipalium javanum)

Cacing palu or Javan broadhead planarian ( Bipalium javanum ) is a species of animal in Geoplanidae, hermaphrodite, living on the ground, predators, often called only hammerhead or broadhead or shovel worms because of wide heads and simple copulatory organs. B. javanum has a slim stature, up to 20 cm long, up to 0.5 cm wide, head wide up to 1 cm or less, small neck, widening in the middle and the back end is rounded, all black and shiny. Javan broadhead planarians walk above ground level by raising their heads and actively looking left, right and looking up using strong neck muscles. Move swiftly, track meander, climb to get through all obstacles or make a new path if the obstacle is too high. Cacing palu track and prey on earthworms and mollusks. They use muscles and sticky secretions to attach themselves to prey to lock in. The head and ends of the body are wrapped around and continue to close the body to stop prey reactions. They produce tetrodotoxins which are very strong...

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...

Black potato (Coleus rotundifolius)

Black potato ( Coleus rotundifolius ) is a species of plant in Lamiaceae, herbaceous, fibrous roots and tubers, erect and slightly creeping stems, quadrangular, thick, and slightly odorous. Single leaves, thick, membranous, opposite and alternate. Leaves are oval, dark green and shiny on the upper side, bright green on the lower side. Up to 5 cm long, up to 4 cm wide, slightly hairy and pinnate leaf veins. Leaf stalks up to 4 cm long. Small, purple flowers. Star-shaped petals, lip-shaped crown, dark to light purple with a slightly curved tube shape. Flowering from February-August. Small tubers, brown and white flesh and tuber length 2-4 cm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Nepetoideae Tribe: Ocimeae Subtribe: Plectranthinae Genus: Coleus Species: Coleus rotundifolius