Facts
| Elevation: | 2,209 m (7,247 ft) | Prominence: | 1,345 m |
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| Ribu category: |  Tinggi Sedang |
Province: | Jawa Barat (West Java) |
| Google Earth: | kml | Other names: | |
| Rating: |   (1 votes) Add your rating
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Photos
 Bukittunggul as seen from Tangkuban Parahu (Daniel Quinn, March 2011)
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 Bukittunggul as seen from Gunung Puntang (Daniel Quinn, March 2011)
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 Tangkuban Parahu and Bukittunggul as seen from Gunung Puntang (Daniel Quinn, March 2011)
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 Bukittunggul, right, as seen from Tampomas (Daniel Quinn, February 2010)
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View a slideshow in our Picasaweb gallery
Bagging It!
This mountain is the highest peak in the mountainous area north of the city of Bandung, higher than both Tangkuban Parahu and Burangrang which lie further west. It can be easily reached and climbed as a daytrip from Bandung. If using public transport, take a cream white angkot from Bandung railway station to Lembang and then a yellow angkot from Lembang to Cibodas or Patrol (via Maribaya). The road ends about 2km beyond Cibodas at a large red metal Bukkittungul sign and a small warung. To get here in just over an hour take a metered taxi from Bandung which should not cost much more than Rp 120,000 and it may save you almost an hour of waiting around whilst angkot drivers try to fill their vehicles with passengers.
From the warung and the sign, where there is enough room to leave two vehicles, a farm track leads up the hill straight ahead – you can also take the track on the left and join the track a hundred meters along. Don’t take the track leading right to a small village. If in doubt, ask at the warung. The farm track is suitable for 4WD and motorbikes so if you can find an ojek (motorcycle taxi) you will be able to save more than an hour of walking up the track through the plantations. There are likely to be plenty of farm workers who you can ask for help. Assuming you haven’t got a motorcycle taxi up through the plantations, it will take just over 2 hours to reach the point at which you leave the farm track and tackle the steep and overgrown path to the summit of Bukittunggul.
But first, a description of the farm track itself. It snakes through the plantation from the warung gently ascending the slopes. Telegraph poles follow the track for a short distance (connecting the various remote villages up the hillside) and the smaller peak to the right of the track is the lower Gunung Palasari (which according to several plantation workers is quite a good viewpoint). After about 30 minutes, you will walk under a nice-looking green Bukittunggul sign gatepost and past a “Pos Satpam” building. The track then snakes its way up the hillside through a large kampung with a mosque. In good weather, you should be able to see the forested Bukittunggul peak in front of you. Keep following the track as it passes another small warung (possibly in a village called Pasirangling) and another mosque and sign with “Flamboyan” on it.
The track then leads downhill and then back up the hillside near a small shelter with a blue tarpaulin roof and towards the village of Pangli (Panglipurgalih). Shortly after this, as you come close to reaching the highest point on the farm track, you need to take a left and scramble up the steep hillside. You will probably have to ask for help in locating the correct point at which to leave the farm track and tackle the summit as there are no signs or clear tracks. It took about 90 minutes of hard-going jungle-bashing to reach the top. There is a narrow and overgrown path for most of the route to the summit but at points it seems to vanish completely!
The summit itself is unremarkable – a few flattish areas suitable for camping and not much of a view! Apparently there are remains of the foundations of an ancient Sundanese temple here but I didn’t see anything on our route. It takes about 3 hours to walk back down from the summit to the starting point at the warung. However, you may well have the opportunity to hitch a ride on a farm truck or motorbike.
Whilst this Ribu is perhaps the least interesting in West Java, the walk through the plantations and small hillside villages is pleasant enough and if you ask for help from locals and are willing to hack through steep jungle on the approach to the summit then you shouldn’t have too much difficulty in reaching the top.
Bagging information provided by Daniel Quinn.
Practicalities
| Getting there | There is plenty of very basic public transport running between Bandung and Patrol/Cibodas. It takes just over one hour to drive from Bandung to the starting point. |
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| Accommodation | There is some basic accommodation in Lembang. Bandung obviously has a wide variety of hotels. |
| Permits | None required but take a photocopy of your passport photo page just incase. |
| Water sources | Unknown – take sufficient supplies with you. |
Location
Origins and Meaning
Prominent Hill. In Sundanese tunggul means “tree stump” but also “to stick out above the surface”, “to be most prominent” (related to Indonesian word unggul = superior, like the English term “outstanding” or “standing out”). (George Quinn, 2011)
Bizarrely, my taxi driver from Bandung decided to come with me on the trek still wearing his uniform and armed only with a bottle of Pocari Sweat and some kretek cigarettes! He soon regretted it. By the time we reached the point at which you leave the plantation track he was getting very weary and his uniform was totally covered in mud! Then a rainstorm began and he decided to wait behind near the farm track while I tackled the final 90 minutes of steep jungle-bashing to reach the peak.
I asked a local farm worker for help and he led me along what could definitely not be described as a clear path and up the steep sides of the peak itself.
On the way back down we managed to hitch a ride on the top of a farm truck blasting out dangdut music across the hillside and even saw several angkots far up the farm track collecting farm workers. My taxi driver then drove barefoot back to Bandung railway station in about 90 minutes – a fare I am sure he will never forget!