The Primate Forests of Petungkriyono

Hidden among the forested hills of Central Java, Petungkriyono feels a long way from the island’s better-known temples, cities and volcanoes. Steep valleys, rivers and villages sit beneath some of the most important remaining natural forest in this part of Java — a landscape that still supports an exceptional community of endemic wildlife.

For primate watchers, the forests are particularly significant. Javan Gibbons call across the valleys at first light, while Javan Lutung move through the canopy and the elusive rekrekan — the Central Javan form of the Javan Leaf Monkey — survives in these increasingly fragmented forests. After dark, the focus shifts to the Critically Endangered Javan Slow Loris, another of the island’s remarkable endemic primates and one of Petungkriyono’s most important inhabitants.

But this is more than somewhere to collect sightings. Much of what makes Petungkriyono interesting is the relationship between its wildlife, forests and the communities living around them. Time here can combine primate watching with local conservation work and village life, giving a much deeper picture of what it takes to protect Java’s remaining wild places.

The Search

The best primate watching begins early, when the forest is still cool and the first gibbon calls carry across the valleys. Javan Gibbons are often heard before they are seen, their extraordinary duets revealing family groups moving through the canopy. Spending time beneath these territories offers the chance to watch them feeding, travelling and interacting rather than simply searching for a brief sighting.

Petungkriyono also brings together two of Java’s distinctive leaf monkeys. Groups of Javan Lutung move through the upper canopy, while the much less familiar rekrekan — the Central Javan form of the Javan Fuscous Leaf Monkey — can require considerably more patience. Finding them means reading the forest: listening for movement and calls, watching fruiting trees and working with local knowledge of where groups have recently been active.

That slower approach is part of the experience. Rather than moving rapidly between predetermined stops, mornings can be spent following activity through the forest and allowing encounters to unfold naturally. Along the way, hornbills, forest birds and other wildlife add another layer to days built around some of Java’s most threatened and geographically restricted primates.

After Dark

As daylight disappears, Petungkriyono reveals a very different side. Night walks through forest edges and surrounding vegetation offer the chance to search for the Critically Endangered Javan Slow Loris, one of the world’s most threatened primates and a species that remains under severe pressure from habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade.

Finding lorises is a completely different experience from watching gibbons and leaf monkeys by day. Moving slowly with local guides, the search focuses on the canopy and tangled vegetation, looking for eye-shine and subtle movement among the branches. Encounters can provide time to watch natural behaviours such as climbing, foraging and moving through the forest.

There is plenty more to look for after dark. The elusive Javan Binturong is a particularly exciting possibility, while Javan Frogmouth and Javan Scops Owl are standout nocturnal birds. Civets, bats, frogs, reptiles and an extraordinary diversity of invertebrates can also appear, making nights in Petungkriyono as rewarding as the daytime primate watching.

Conservation in Action

What makes Petungkriyono particularly special is that primate watching here is closely connected to the people working to understand and protect the forest. Local conservation organisation SwaraOwa has spent years studying Java’s primates and their habitats, with work ranging from population monitoring and acoustic surveys to education and community-based conservation.

That relationship extends beyond the forest itself. Owa Coffee links locally grown, shade-grown coffee with conservation and sustainable livelihoods, demonstrating how protecting habitat can also create value for the communities living alongside it. Depending on current activities, time in Petungkriyono can offer an insight into monitoring, research and the practical realities of conserving wildlife in a densely populated island.

It gives a visit here a depth that goes well beyond seeing rare animals. Days begin with gibbons calling across the valleys and nights may end searching for slow lorises beneath the forest canopy, but between those encounters is the story of a landscape where wildlife, villages and conservation are inseparable. Petungkriyono offers the chance not simply to see some of Java’s rarest primates, but to understand the forests on which their future depends.