Exploring Central Lombok: A Waterfall-hopping Trip
“I love waterfall. I want to make make a waterfall trip during my visit to Lombok. Not a common idea to do in Lombok, is it?” that was my conversation with a friend through the messenger.
A waterfall-hopping trip in Lombok might be not as popular as beach hopping, but can be equally as rewarding. Most of the beautiful waterfalls in Lombok are located around Mount Rinjani, with some located in Central Lombok, while others are on the western and northern sides of the island.
One possibility is to visit the five waterfalls around Aik Berik village, Batukliang Utara sub-district in Central Lombok, on the southern side of the foot of Mount Rinjani. The village is a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Sire Beach in Northern Lombok, or a one-hour drive from Mataram.
The five waterfalls — Pengkelep Udang, Benang Setokel, Kliwun, Sesere and Benang Kelambu, each have their own attraction. Before begin this waterfall-hopping trip, I found a local youth community offers guides, at Rp 100,000 (US$7.07) each, to help explore the forest and find the waterfalls. This price is not included the entrance fee to the waterfall, Rp. 10,000.
Please do consider to hire the local guide if you want to explore those five waterfalls. As, I visited the waterfalls during the rain season, my guide was really helpful, not only to find those waterfalls, but also to guide and help how to deal with the tricky track through the forest and several creeks. You will find the local guide post when you walk from the parking lot to the ticketing locket.
The first waterfall on the trek is Pengkelep Udang, which is relatively hidden as it is located lower than the trekking path. At 11 meters high, this waterfall is a favorite spot for adrenaline junkies, who love to jump from the top into the pond below. Since it was a heavy rain, I didn’t get any chance to try this adrenaline-rush activity.
A further 10-minute walk away is the twin Benang Setokel waterfalls. The name, Benang Setokel, literally means a roll of yarn. This comes from a local story that says once upon a time, people tried to measure the closest pond to the waterfall. They unrolled one roll of yarn until it touched the bottom of the pond. Hence, they call this 30 m high waterfall Benang Setokel.
The trek continued on to Kliwun and Sesere waterfalls, the hardest part of this adventure as the rain fell while we journeyed through the rainforest.
Having the local youths as guides is the young men from the village, opened this track to explore other waterfalls besides Benang Kelambu and Benang Setokel.
“We know it is a potential tourism spot for our village,” Afif said during the trek. He was always alert to which
plants should be avoided and removed any leeches that suddenly latched on.
Kliwun and Sesere waterfalls are on the southern side of Mount Rinjani. The local myth claims a light was seen at Kliwun waterfall on the day known in the Javanese calendar as Kliwon. Meanwhile, Sesere literally means desire and that waterfall is used as a meditating spot.
Leaving these two waterfalls, we headed for the main waterfall, Benang Kelambu, situated 500 m upstream from Benang Setokel waterfall. At a height of 40 m, Benang Kelambu waterfall looks like a giant curtain over a leafy wall, hence the name kelambu, which means curtain in Indonesian. The local people believe this is the bathing spot of the goddess Anjani, with the curtain-shaped waterfall being the curtain of her shower.
The cliff face is covered with leaves from the trees around, resembling vines over a giant wall of endless water pouring over four levels caused by the cracks in the escarpment wall. Since the water is groundwater, the flow is not dependent on rainfall.
Most visitors only visit Benang Kelambu waterfall, a mere 1 kilometer from the entrance gate and only a 30-minute trek, but it is worth considering exploring some of the other beautiful waterfalls if you have the time and the energy. I spent around 90 minutes for trekking and taking photos at the five waterfalls.
Tips for this waterfall-hopping trip:
- The best time to do explore those waterfalls is in the dry season. Because the rain makes the path slippery.
- Do be sure to bring enough water and wear proper shoes if you want to visit all five of these waterfalls.
- Please do consider to hire the local guide if you want to explore those five waterfalls. A guide only costs Rp. 100,000, which accommodated 1-7 visitors.
edededan 
I hate leeches! AAKK!
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err me too, but I love forest and waterfalls..
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Stunning waterfall 😮
Download/Watch San Andreas (2015)
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