Goa Petruk

Useful Information

Location:	Jl. Goa Petruk, Mandayana, Candirenggo, Kec. Ayah, Kabupaten Kebumen, Jawa Tengah 54473. (-7.704610, 109.398640)
Open:	All year daily . [2023]
Fee:	Adults IDR 8,000. [2023]
Classification:	Karst Cave River Cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System bring torch
Dimension:	L=350 m.
Guided tours:	self guided, L=700 m.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Goa Petruk, Jl. Goa Petruk, Mandayana, Candirenggo, Kec. Ayah, Kabupaten Kebumen, Jawa Tengah 54473, Tel: +62-643-92814.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

It seems Goa Petruk is the name of the road, the village, the school and the pension (homestay). All of them are named after Petruk Cave, a huge river cave which is almost in natural state. Actually Petruk is the name of one of Pandawa's loyal followers. It's a popular local legend. In the cave there is a formation that looks like Petruk's nose. Unfortunately the cave was once used to mine guano by the Dutch, and the nose broke off and is thus quite hard to recognize.

From the ticket office at the end of the road a concrete trail with many stairs leads uphill to the huge cave portal. The cave has electric light, is level, huge, and there are trails and railings. Nevertheless, it is necessary to cross the river now and then, but the water is not very deep. We recommend gum boots or neoprene river shoes. The floor has no stalagmites due to the cave river, but there are rimstone pools and many stalactites on the walls and ceiling. At some point the trails and light ends, and the bright lamp of the guide is all you have, so it's a good idea to bring a headlamp. From here the trail is quite rough and requires surefootedness. Its necessary to climb flowsone and rimstone pools, and walk across debris.

A quite annoying detail is that both guides and visitors tend to put their hands into any rimstone pool. They even bath in some pools. At one point a plastic slippers has become a part of the formation. In some sections the tour walks through formations and the visitors use the stalagmites as railings. This kind of behaviour is fortunately despised in western caves.