The Forbidden Forest of The Upper Cibeet River is a

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

wooded area in an old

tropical forest Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fores ...

Dayeuhluhur Dayeuhluhur is a district within the Cilacap Regency of Central Java. History Dayeuhluhur began as a '' Kadipaten'' or Duchy of Daya Luhur under Gagak Ngampar. Dayeuhluhur is place the popular Sondanese epic of Ciung Wanara in Cijolang River a ...

, in the north

Cilacap Regency Cilacap Regency ( jv, ꦏꦨꦸꦥꦠꦺꦤ꧀ꦕꦶꦭꦕꦥ꧀, also spelt: Chilachap, old spelling: Tjilatjap, Sundanese: ) is a regency () in the southwestern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is the town of Cilacap. ...

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Key Keeper

Visitors must be accompanied by a Key Keeper, to ensure proper respect for

ian culture. They claim the forest to be one of spirituality. The Juru Kunci, or key keeper is Ceceng Rusmana from

Cibeet River Cibeet River is a river in Dayeuhluhur, Cilacap Regency, Central Java, Indonesia, about 220 km southeast of the capital Jakarta. Hydrography The river source is at The Forbidden Forest of the Upper Cibeet River, Dayeuhluhur Mountain. Two ...

Flora and fauna

Similar to

Ujung Kulon National Park Ujung Kulon National Park is at the westernmost tip of Java, in Banten province of Indonesia. It includes the volcanic island group of Krakatoa in Lampung province, and other islands including Panaitan, as well as smaller offshore islets such as ...

, the forest hosts tropical and rare animals and trees, including many ''Rusa'' (genus)

Javan leopard The Javan leopard (''Panthera pardus melas'') is a leopard subspecies confined to the Indonesian island of Java. It has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2021. The population is estimated at 188–571 mature individuals in 22 f ...

and

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

s. People in this area believe that the

Javan tiger The Javan tiger was a ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' population native to the Indonesian island of Java until the mid-1970s. It was hunted to extinction, and its natural habitat converted for agricultural land use and infrastructure. It was one of ...

and

banteng The banteng (''Bos javanicus''; ), also known as tembadau, is a species of cattle found in Southeast Asia. The head-and-body length is between . Wild banteng are typically larger and heavier than their domesticated counterparts, but are otherw ...

still live there. This forest also contains many species of wild

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

River source

Many rivers have their headwaters in the region of the Upper Cibeet. Some drain to the north into the

Java Sea The Java Sea ( id, Laut Jawa, jv, Segara Jawa) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its nort ...

like Cipamali River, while others drain to the south in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

, like the

Cidayeuh River Cidayeuh River is a river in Dayeuhluhur, Cilacap, Central Java in Indonesia, about 220 km southeast of the capital Jakarta.Cikawalon River Cikawalon River is an important river at Dayeuhluhur, Cilacap Regency, Central Java in Java Island, Indonesia, about 220 km southeast of the capital Jakarta. The blood worm (Pacet) is common in the forest. This

leech Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodie ...

does not live in water but crawls everywhere on land and trees, not unlike the

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

, in search of animals (including people) to feed on.

References

Dayeuhluhur Sacred natural sites Geography of Central Java Forests of Indonesia Cilacap Regency {{CJava-geo-stub