Experience The Wonders Of Green Canyon In Indonesia

The stunning green canyon

Located 25 kilometers from Pangandaran beach in Ciamis district, this natural phenomenon has a river flowing through it, which is truly a rare nature’s work of art. There are many things to admire here. Look up and you will see green vegetations of various sizes growing everywhere on the thousands-of-year-old cliff walls, which function like umbrellas and prevents a large amount of sunlight from going entering. The vaguely seen little waterfall on a part of the cave wall (so little it is that it looks like perpetual tiny rain drops), when lighted with the sunlight, creates rainbow that is visible from many different angles (different angles have different images of rainbow). Look at the water, it is green! Why is it? Well, its real color is blue, but in the morning (before 10am) with the sunlight thrusting inside the water, the color will change into green due to the underwater mosses!

Ride a boat to the canyon

From the base camp, you need to take a 15-minute motorboat ride to reach the location. Each motorboat can carry up to 6 passengers (including the guide, which is also the helmsman). Although the trip is kind of noisy due to the boat engine (there may be some other motorboats too), but still the trip is amazing due to the greenery and monkeys you may see on the river banks (does it remind you of the Amazon River in South America?). When the surroundings become cliffy, you know you are getting closer to the cave. Up to this point, your guide will turn off the engine and start paddling towards the canyon.

Body rafting

Inside the canyon,boats cannot go in and the current is stronger. To enter, you need to partake in an activity called ‘body rafting’ along the canyon. What is body rafting? Well, it is a local term for 'drifting along with the current’. With your life jacket, helmet, boots and knee pads on, you will plunge into the river and the current will carry you down a track, which takes about 4 hours to complete the entire stretch. Some parts of the river can be as deep as 10 meters, but it gets very shallow before reaching the one-meter river drop, which is the end of the track. Your guide will come along with you during this activity and if you are the only one in the group who you can’t swim, you can still join the activity, as it is basically drifting, not swimming. Let the others in the group and also the guide know that you can’t swim and always stay close to them. There will be many rangers (stationed every 200 meters or so) and they will be ready to help in case you are stuck between rocks. Also, there will be many safety ropes along the track and you can hold on to them till the end of the track.

Jump from a stone

If you have the nerve, before the body rafting starts, you can jump from a 4-meter-tall stone, called ‘batu payung’ (umbrella stone) by the locals. It is called that way because the stone protrude from the cliff, which makes it safe to jump into the 10-meter-deep river from here.

If you don’t want to get wet, you can simply explore the dry area while doing some photography. In that case, you don’t need to rent safety equipment like life jackets and helmets and you will only need to rent the motorboat for 13 USD for the first hour and 8 USD hourly if you need time extension. If you get into the river, either for body rafting or just venturing, you need to buy the package for 37 USD from a travel organizer, which includes the safety equipment and the guide.