Jomblang
is one of hundreds of cave complex in Gunungkidul that becomes well
known because of its uniqueness. In 2011, it is used as the object of a
program called Amazing Race America. Located on the range of karst
hills in the southern coastal spread along Gombong, Central Java up to
karst area in Sewu Mountain, Pacitan, West Java, this vertical cave has
collapse doline. It was constructed from a geological process when the
land and its vegetation vanished into the bowel of the earth thousand
years ago. The ruins formed a sinkhole, which in Javanese language was
called sumuran or luweng. As a result, the cave which has 50 meter
diameter was later named Luweng Jomblang.
To enter
Jomblang cave, we need to master single rope technique (SRT). Everyone
who wish to do caving in this place should use special equipments based
on the caving safety standard in a vertical cave and should also be
accompanied by the experienced caving trainers. Together with the
cavers from Jomblang Resort, YogYES tried to do caving in this exotic
cave. After wearing coverall, boot, helmet, and headlamp, a trainer set
SRT set on our body while explaining the name of each tool and its
function. The single rope technique equipments consisted of seat
harness, chest harness, ascender / croll, auto descender, footloop,
jammer, carabiner, long cowstail, and short cowstail.
An
adventure to the deep part of the earth was soon started by leaving
the basecamp to get to the edge of the cave as the track. There were
some tracks in Jomblang cave with various heights, from 40 up to 80
meters. Since this was the very first time for us to do vertical
caving, the shortest track, known as the VIP one, was chosen. The first
15 meter from the VIP terrace was a slope that was possibly stepped,
and we continued to go down on a 20 meter rope to get to the bottom of
the cave. The feeling of scared and nervous when we hung in the air was
suddenly disappear when we stepped our feet on the ground.
Surprisingly, the view in front of us was awesome. When we were above, we could only see barren region with
hardwood and when we were hanging on the rope to get to the bottom, we
could only see karst, but in the bowl of Jomblang cave we could really
see the green view of fertile and dense vegetation. Various kinds of
moss, fern, bush, and big trees densely grew. A forest with different
vegetation from the land above it was usually called ancient forest.
Since the geological process of the land happening in the past, those
vegetations were continuously growing up to now.
Luweng Grubug, a Visible Heavenly Light
The
cave adventure we did was not only stopped at Jomblang. We still
continued our journey to Luweng Grubug by entering an entrance, which
was an extra large edge of a cave. Jomblang and Grubug were connected
by an alley with 300 meters length. Many beautiful ornaments decorated
this alley, such as crystal, stalactite, and stalagmite. Walking for a
while, we heard thundering sound from the river stream and saw light in
the dark. We curiously fastened our steps to see what was going on.
Wonderful
scenery, which was really fascinating, spread in front of us. An
underground river which still had the same system as Kalisuci flew
quickly. The sun light that got in through Laweng Grubug formed a 90
meter light pillar and shone the flowstone in the dark cave. The water
drops also made it become a more perfect view. At that time, YogYES
really couldn’t say anything, but only feeling of amazed and surprised
seeing something called light from heaven directly.
Notes:
- The best time to enjoy the beauty of Grubug cave is at 10a.m to 12a.m when the sun shines above our head, so that we can see the more beautiful heavenly light.
- Anyone who wants to get into Jomblang cave must be equipped with tools which have safety standard for vertical caving and accompanied by well-experienced caver or trainer. For more information about caving in Jomblang cave, you can contact the owner of Jomblang Resort, Cahyo Alkantana (+62 811 117 010).
- The maximum quotas to get into Jomblang cave are 25 people for the reason of ecosystem stability and the cave condition.
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