Coban Rondo, a javanese language which the direct translation of it is Widow Waterfall. Eventhough theres a waterfall on its name, Coban Rondo refers to an eco tourims place not very far from Malang, East Java. At that place not only you can see the beautiful waterfall (obviously), Coban Rondo also a good place for trekking (again, obviously), camping or enjoying cold nature breeze. I guess its a bit late, but couple months ago i went trekking here while i was in Indonesia and heres my travel log for that.
Coban rondo is located 30 km from Malang, about 45 minutes drive all the way up the hill to the Batu direction. I never know any public transport to go there, usually i go there by driving either car or motorcycle. The road going there is quite straight forward, drive up to the hill, pass the Batu city square ( a park with the big apple statue), go up again curvy slope of Payung area until reach the cow statue. The cow is actually represents Batu city which well known for its fresh milk product. Turn left on the cow statue and thou shalt arriveth at Coban Rondo.
I went there with my best mates from college times, Angga, Pur and Bram. Me and Purnama took a bus early in the morning from Purabaya terminal from Surabaya heading to Malang. First class bus cost about 15 k IDR for two hours drive. In Malang bus terminal, Bram and Angga already waiting for us along with two ready to roll motorcycle for us to go there. Riding motorcycle uphill to Coban Rondo on a cloudy comfy weather, it was nice. Thats why i personally advise anyone, if you have the guts, go Coban rondo with motorcycle.
Just when the things getting almost perfect, Angga forgot to bring registration card (STNK) of the motorcycle. At that point of time, i would want to have the luxury of kicking his ass so hard back to Semarang where he belong. Ill save the story on the ass kicking for later times, lets focus back on Coban Rondo trekking.
To enter Coban Rondo, visitor have to pay tickets per pax and also the vehicle. Very cheap, so cheap that right now i forgot about the price but it should exceed 20k IDR for 4 people. We parked the motorcycle near the canteen and then start walking up to the pine tree forest.
Ive been trekking several times here with my friends so we kinda have the usual route for this. But the new thing about this adventure is it started to rain when we already did half of the route. Its too far to go back down and its even further to finish the route. We decided to not give damn about the rain, 4 bad ass trekkers didnt back down and kept moving forward.
Luckily after grueling steps of mud, we arrived at a river so we can clean ourselves a lil bit. Sitting down on the big rock on the river while cleaning our face, ahh i felt so Bear Grylls already.
The trekking wasnt as easy as we thought would be. I didnt know how far we walk but it took us 4-5 hours round trip, exhausted to the max. Also with the rain and the mud, made it even worse. At one point of time, we just swearing each other who’s the culprit coming with the idea of so called “fun trekking” to Coban Rondo. So heres a trekking tips from me : keep your axe, jackhammer and firearms at home. When trekking went bad, you might get tempted to use it on your friends.
Its already dark when we arrived back to the motorcycle and then drove back down to Malang. All in all it was a great trip, adventurous and so manly. Coban Rondo is a great place for trekking and any outdoor activities and i would recommend going there if you happen to be in Surabaya or Malang. For this trip, i would like to holla at my fellow adventurers Angga Rajasa, Purnama Anaking and Bramantyo Ageng Swandaru. We should go for more macho adventure next time haha.
More on coban rondo :
– Cobanrondo.com (in Bahasa Indonesia)
Photo credits to Angga Rajasa.
Kiki Ahmadi's Blog 
I really love the green grass in your picture
That’s some educative piece of writing!!