Ujung Genteng – Sun, Sea, Surf and Giant Green Turtles

For a long weekend while Gill’s parents were visiting we chose to head out to the remote Southern coast of West Java to Ujung Genteng; this is about six hours bumpy drive from Bogor. Ujung Genteng is known by surfers for a huge reef break that catches Indian Ocean swells and is a really beautiful, wild and remote beach. Also, almost every night giant green turtles come ashore and make their way up the beach to dig a nest and lay their eggs.

We stayed at the Batu Besar (Big Rock) Losmen, which is lovely simple accommodation about 300 m from the beach. We had one of their buildings (Gill, Andy, Ian, and Jen sharing a dormitory room) and our friends Karen and Micheal sharing the adjacent room. We enjoyed our nice deck for lots of sitting, eating, drinking cold and not-so-cold beer, and chatting. It was really a nice place to be.

Our friend Liz had told us a few horror stories about the actual turtle viewing, based on what can best be described a “cultural difference” between westerners and Indonesians when it comes to wildlife viewing. Our experience was probably not as bad as Liz’s, but a horde of people touching and poking a turtle while it lays its eggs does take a little of magic away from the experience. For the turtle viewing, we gathered at the local rangers station to be escorted along the beach (no lights used because they alarm the turtles!) to a place where they had found a turtle that was already nesting. The hordes gathered around and we were all amazed to see the 100s of eggs being laid. The turtle is in a kind of trance, so it doesn’t matter that that there are crowds around it. However, as soon as one person touched it, everyone does and the silliness starts. Touching the turtle’s face is not good. It’s a pity that the rangers do not intervene to protect the turtle, but then it seems that maybe they would also benefit from a little education.

The worst part is after the turtle has buried the eggs (spraying sand everywhere) and then turns around to go back to the sea. This is where light can seriously disorient the turtle, which is of course when shining a strong flashlight directly at the turtle so you can take photos of your kids nearly sitting on the poor beast is not a good idea. One stupid women simply refused turn off the light, despite the chorus of “mati lampu” from the westerners. There is also quite an amusing difference between Indonesian and western photography tastes – we all wanted to keep our distance and get photos with only the turtle, whereas all the locals want the typical “grinning with a victory sign” composition.

Sounds like a nightmare? Well no, it was still pretty amazing, and all the people there are getting a better understanding of these magnificent animals and the importance of conservation. Everyone is gathered around one turtle, while others are more peacefully getting on with their laying. Still, the conservation effort is woefully underfunded, even though there is an ideal opportunity for some conservation education while people are waiting to go onto the beach. At least the conservation appears to be going in the right direction, and from August 2009 all the eggs that are gathered will be hatched and the baby turtles released back to the sea. Currently some of the eggs are sold in the local market as food.

We were in Ujung Genteng for one more night, but couldn’t face another night with the turtles and the hordes. Instead, we hung out on the deck and relaxed with a few beers and snacks. The following morning, Gill and I got up at 6 am walked the length of the beach to the north. It really is a fantastically beautiful and remote white sand beach, and a great weekend trip well worth doing.

Check out the Batu Besar / Ujung Genteng in Google Earth.
Check out our Google Photos!