Gunung Salak 2211
Rain coat essential
Sir Stamford Raffles described Bogor during the British interregnum. “An oasis of a country town with unpredictable European weather, credited with more then 300 thunderstorms a year”. This fact turn Gunung Salak often in to a very wet, muddy slippery, foggy, and hazy ordeal.
Some amazing historical numbers
In the early 1800s, Java had about 3 1/2 million inhabitants, a number that had been relatively stable since the time of the great Hindu-Buddhist empires a millennium earlier. Wet rice cultivation was the basis of civilization, and as long as the population was fairly small, the population produced vast surpluses. All of this changed dramatically following the intervention of the Dutch in Javanese economic and political affairs, culminating with the institution from 1830 to 1870, of the infamous cultivation system of forced labour and land-use taxes. Under this system, Javanese land was cleared for cultivation, the products of which the Dutch sold for a handsome profit overseas. An unforeseen side effect was the spiraling birthrate. By 1900 Java’s population had soared to 28 million and today stands at well over 110 million. Jakarta alone counts for over 20 million inhabitants making it one of the world’s most, crowded, populated and polluted cities.
Most memorable, Jakarta-Bogor
When traveling from Jakarta arriving at the Soekarno-Hatta international airport the only recommendable way is by toll road which will take by the best of times a possible 1 1/2 hours, perhaps two, or even three hours. At the worst of times you might get the feeling to never reach your destination as you continuously get stuck in traffic and stay at one place for 30 minutes moving barely a few meters. There is no shortage of transportation ranging from your private Taxi costing about US$ 18 to comfortable air conditioned public busses for as little as US$ 3 per person. Well of course there is the option of traveling by public bus taking the very same road as 20 million other normal road users. Good luck with this unique adventure. This however you do only when you’re absolutely broke and have all the time in the world on your hands. . Cool, quiet Bogor was long the chosen retreat of starch colored colonials escaping the crowded capital. Today the long arm of Jakarta reaches all the way to Bogor causing the city to be completely choked with the overspill of the capitals perennial traffic problem. Despite being so crowded it is wise to use Bogor as your starting point to discover Gunung Salak and the many interesting sights in the surrounding.
Cimelati to the starting point
To reach the summit in time for sunrise I departed our hotel in Bogor just after one o’clock in the morning and was hoping to cover the short 30 km ride to the starting point in hopefully a little more then 30 minutes. Unfortunately my predictions were once again totally false as again congested roads forced countless stand stills. As you travel on the main road between Bogor to Sukabumi. This stretch is seriously heavy industrialized and as such an enormous amount of puffing and coughing trucks move anything movable during the cooler night hours, creating traffic congestion on every small ascent.
It took me on the end more than 1 1/2 hours to reach Cimelati where the street turns right, from where it is a further 10 km passed incredible rich fertile agricultural plantations. I met my guide Latif at the turn off in Cimelati next to the Mosque. Contact number 085 695 759 365
The hike
It will take a comfortable four hours to reach the summit including 30 minutes of resting time. The path itself is rather straight forward and does not offer any specific challenges. With a starting point around 900 meters the first hour is not very steep and only covers about 350 meters altitude to Pos 1 at 1250 meters. Close to Pos 1 is a small mountain stream that offers plenty of terrific drinking water.
The obstacle
Then within 20 minutes you will be quickly choked up by dense rainforest offering virtually no view at all until the very top. The trek continues to be in good condition, however due to the almost daily downpours super wet, muddy and seriously slippery. Shortly after departing Pos 1 the trek gets quickly fairly steep and is littered with roots everywhere. It was in this area after about 1/2 hour that we actually faced a rather big obstacle. As a result of resent heavy rainfall a enormous big tree lost its grip and come thundering down the mountain side, completely covering the trek. This and the fact that we where on the go 4 o’clock in the morning mad it impossible to locate the continuation of the path, and as a result we where forced to make our way through thick sticky, thorny jungle up a very steep, and at times almost vertical and super slippery hill side.
Slippery, monotonous and creepy
Pos 2 and 3 somehow fly by, without taking too much notice, and Pos 4 at around 1900 meter is reached after a still strenuous 1 1/2 hours. As anywhere in Indonesia it is very humid and wet in this altitude and as such one should frequently check for the odd leech that might indulge itself with a joyful feast on your blood. At Pos 4 the trek rapidly loses steepness but then becomes horrible wet.
Muddy and slippery conditions obviously asks for trouble and as always I end up on my countless times on my back, which made me look like I just fought a serious mud battle which I guess I did. From Pos 4 it will take less then 1 1/2 hours of easy hiking through very healthy rain forest to reach the summit. Unfortunately just like on most other mountains throughout Indonesia, the forests seem to be deserted by any wild life or birds, making it eerie and almost creepy to cross through in the dull light of the early morning.
One of the seven summits
The reward of reaching a mountain summit lays certainly in its view, as well as the great sense of achievement of overcoming the countless obstacles and hurdles in achieving another challenging task. Unfortunately in our case, Gunning Salak did not offer much of a reward as thick fog covered the entire surrounding in a mysterious blanket. 
For this reason our views were restricted to the immediate mountain top which was not exactly picturesque. There are two covered shelters in desperate need of repairs, a slowly deteriorating grave, a blue Salak singe and litter, lots of it. Unfortunately it is rather sad to see how every hiker seems to throw away each and every wrapper and plastic bag. Fortunately the luck was on our side as the fog cleared for a few seconds allowing us the get a quick glimpse of the adjacent ranges and the forested valleys in the deep.
Water source Gunung Salak
The main reason for our visit to Cimelati was actually not to climb another volcano but an invitation by Equil. This highly recommendable mineral water company bottle their product at the source where this incredible pure spring water flows out of the ground. Somehow when I received the invitation to visit the bottling plant I expected a usual sales trip where we would be told to sell as much as possible of this high end product.
What we did not expect was the discovery of a way to do business which is in complete harmony with nature, people, culture, and a deep honor and respect for the spirits, as well as a total commitment to quality. What astonished us even more was the fact that this incredible spring produces some of the purest water found anywhere on earth. 
This together with the remarkable fact that many of Indonesia’s largest beverage producers all have their bottling plants within a radius of less then 10 km from each other is certain proof that Gunung Salak nurtures an incredible perishable source of life for which we need to care and show respect.
Direction to Gunung Salak
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