Exploring Kampung Laut - West Nusakambangan (Part 1)

What do you think of when you hear the word Nusakambangan? Prison, spooky, deserted, or other things that make you shiver? Relax, what you think is not entirely true. Some places in Nusakambangan are indeed creepy and not even easy to visit. Yet, some places store beauty that is a pity to miss. Nusakambangan has an area of about 210 km2. Nusakambangan is still overgrown with rare and dense flora. The forest is in the category of lowland wet tropical forests. Nusakambangan is also a habitat for wild animals that are now becoming extinct. The animal is like leopards, apes, antelope, panthers, tigers, and others. Plus, 4 prisons are still active up to now. This makes Nusakambangan not easy to visit, especially the prison area. However, several places can be visited in the western part of Nusakambangan. In this western part, there is one subdistrict that has been inhabited from many years ago. The name is Kampung Laut (Sea Village). Around Kampung Laut, there are mangrove forests, floating bridges, and Rancababakan Beach.
To get to Kampung Laut, the journey starts from Seleko Port, a port that is often visited by small and medium boats. The ships are usually from Kampung Laut, Nusakambangan, and ships carrying passengers from large ships cannot pull over to the dock. In the morning, at 8 AM small boats that escorted us were waiting, ready to accompany the journey to explore Kampung Laut and west Nusakambangan. There is no scheduled boat, so you have to rent the ship first before leaving. It is better to go with friends for a cheaper rental fee.  
For approximately one hour along with the saplings to the first destination of mangrove forest located in Lempong Pucung Hamlet, Ujung Alang Village, Kampung Laut District, Cilacap Regency. The name of this mangrove forest area is Arboretum Mangrove Kolak Sekancil Edu-Tourism. Kolak Sekancil may sound like a combination of dessert named kolak and an animal mouse deer, right? It is not. Kolak Sekancil stands for Konservasi Laguna Kawasan Segara Anakan Cilacap (Cilacap Ocean Line Lagoon Conservation). In Kolak Sekancil, there are many mangrove trees. It seems that all mangrove trees are the same but it turns out that there are 50 types of mangrove trees identified. More than 1.2 million trees have been planted in the last 10 years in Kolak Sekancil. This number makes Kolak Sekancil the most complete mangrove area in Indonesia. Not only mangrove trees but in Kolak Sekancil is also overgrown with other flora and becomes the habitat of birds, mammals, and reptiles. Amid dense mangrove forests, it has been made away so that we are comfortably walking down and enjoying the cool forest. In addition to the road, a viewing spot is built to allows us to see the vast expanse of Kolak Sekancil from above. (Kasih)