Alas Purwo

Alas Purwo, one of Java’s last remaining sacred spaces

On Java, across a short stretch of water from Bali, is one of the most remote and fascinating national parks in Indonesia. Alas Purwo could be an enchanting travel destination for tourists and a treasure trove for those in the logging business.
The park, in the far southeast corner of Banyuwangi, covers 43,000 hectares of land consisting of savanna, mangrove forest, beach forest and lowland tropical forest. Indeed, the jungle embracing its beaches appears to have materialised straight from the sea. Alas Purwo is also home to rare and endangered mammals, including the Asiatic wild dog, wild oxen and leopards. Thousands of migrating birds visit its pristine forests each year and turtles come to lay their eggs on its secluded beaches. And for surfers, the park’s coastline boasts one of the best and most consistent reef-breaks in the world.
But although it hasn’t entirely escaped the scourge of logging, this precious jewel of Javanese legend has not been cleared for timber or developed for tourism like most national parks in Indonesia. According to local followers of Javanese mysticism, it is the park’s sacred power that has saved it.

A sacred space

Alas Purwo is not only a Mecca for wildlife and surfers, as the guidebooks tell us. Followers of Javanese mysticism believe the park has been a sacred space for centuries, drawing mystics from elsewhere in Java to experience its spiritual power. Kebatinan (traditional Javanese mystical belief), followed by communities in Central and East Java, centres on inner and outer spirituality, and the connection between the natural and supernatural worlds. As its Javanese name suggests, Alas Purwo is the place where, according to Javanese mysticism, the earth first emerged from the ocean.
Followers of Javanese mysticism also believe that spirits inhabit trees, rocks, rivers and springs. And those well versed in ilmu Jawa, or Javanese mysticism, are said to have the ability take on the form of wild animals. So, for followers of Javanese mysticism, Alas Purwo’s rich flora and fauna also makes it a highly revered place.
In Javanese mysticism there is a fine line between the natural world and the parallel dimension of spirits. In Alas Purwo that line is often blurred, and for some it does not exist at all. People have told stories of being lost for days among the overgrown Hindu ruins, bamboo forests and a labyrinth of false trails. There are common accounts of people finding themselves in ghostly villages and encountering mysterious characters, perhaps apparitions, who have shown them the way out.
The parkland is relatively flat but has rolling hills concealing many caves that are used for meditation. Mystics, shaman, or those in search of the inner self (kebatinan) spend days — even years — at a time exploring the parallel world of spirits said to exist in the park. With few personal belongings these seekers of mystical knowledge (and fortune) come under the spell of Alas Purwo’s natural and supernatural elements. Each year during the auspicious Javanese month of Suro, which marks the Javanese New Year, hundreds of people of all religious beliefs make the pilgrimage to the park to meditate, make offerings to Nyai Loro Kidul, the goddess of the South Sea, and to harvest the supernatural energy of the place.

Accessibility

The park has maintained its magnetism in part because it is difficult to access. There are a couple of permanent walking tracks and one bitumen road, but even that has restricted access. It was built for the only available accommodation in the park, the three surf camps at Plengkung. Government rangers patrol the road and only allow vehicle access to a select few, namely the managers of the surf camps. Most guests access the camps via boat from Bali on pre-arranged package deals.
The road runs for about 12 kilometres from Trianggulasi village, on the park’s edge, as far as Plengkung, on the coastal fringe. It was built with tourist development in mind, but has met with considerable resistance — most of which has been supernatural. Inexplicable disruptions and sabotage of the construction took place, hampering its progress and confirming the widely held belief that the park is spiritually protected.