Mount Salak is a volcanic complex located south of Jakarta, on the island of Java. This mountain range is included in the Sukabumi Regency and Bogor Regency, West Java. The management of the forest area was originally under Bogor Perhutani Kesangkuan Hutan (KPH) Unity, but since 2003 it has become an area of Mount Halimun National Park expansion, and is managed as the Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park.
Gunung Salak is relatively old so it has several peaks. The highest peak geoposition of this mountain is 6 ° 43 'LS and 106 ° 44' BT and is called the Salak Peak I with a peak height of 2,211 m above sea level (asl.).
Many think the origin of the name "Salak" is from the zalacca plant, but actually comes from the Sanskrit word, salaka which means "silver".
Mount Salak is a Strato type A volcano. The highest peak (Puncak Salak I) according to Hartmann (1938) is the oldest peak. Salak II Peak has an altitude of 2,180 m above sea level. considered the second oldest. Next came the Sumbul Peak with an altitude of 1,926 m above sea level.
There are a number of active craters that don't taste at the top. The largest crater, Ratu Crater, is the youngest crater. Putri Cikuluwung Crater and Hirup Crater are part of the Ratu Crater system.
Since the 1600s there have been several eruptions, including a series of eruptions between 1668-1699, 1780, 1902-1903, and 1935. The last eruption occurred in 1938, in the form of phreatic eruptions that occurred in the Cikuluwung Crater of Putri.
Morphologically, Mount Salak has many steep and deep ravines. Because the entire mountain body to the summit is covered in dense forest, the contour of the mountain is not easily visible. This often deceives climbers and pilots who pass through this mountainous region.
Mount Salak, although classified as a low mountain, but has a high level of difficulty, both because of the characteristics of the vegetation and the terrain.
Mount Salak can be climbed from several lanes. The most frequently climbed peaks are Salak II Peak and Salak I.
The most crowded route is through Curugnangka, from the north side of the mountain. Through this route, people will arrive at the Peak of Salak II.
Salak I Peak is usually climbed from the east, namely Cimelati, near Cicurug, Sukabumi. Salak I Peak can also be reached from Puncak Salak II, with many difficulties, from Sukamantri, Ciapus. At the Salak I Peak there were petilasan (in the form of graves) which were mentioned as the "Embah Salak" commentary.
Another route is "back road" via Cidahu, Sukabumi, or from Kawah Ratu, near Mount Bunder.
Gunung Salak is popular as a venue for education for nature lovers clubs, especially the ridge area of Salak II. This is because of the dense jungle terrain and also the rare climbers who visit this mountain. It also has a quite difficult lane for beginner climbers because the paths that are passed are rarely found except in Pos I, the Kawah Ratu hiking trail. However, at the peak of Salak I found rainwater puddles.
Cimelati In this route we enter from the village of Cibuntu. If we pass this track, we will have a large villa before reaching post / shelter 1 and here also there are several waterfalls, in this path there is enough water, and the last place we take about 5 water Meters are more or less than post / shelter 3 because there are water channels owned by local residents which are also called Pos / shelter Air, After this post / shelter we cannot find water then bring water reserves after we pass this post / shelter. if you pass this will pass 7 posts / shelter which will be marked / named at each post / shelter. and the 7th post is the peak of salak 1.
The forests of Mount Salak consist of lower montane forest (submontane forest) and upper montane forest (montane forest).
The lower part of the forest area was originally a production forest planted with Perum Perhutani. Some types of trees planted here are tusam (Pinus merkusii) and rasamala (Altingia excelsa). Then, like most lower mountain forests in Java, there are also puspa (Schima wallichii) trees, saninten (Castanopsis sp.), Tides (Lithocarpus sp.) And various types of huru (tribe Lauraceae).
In this forest, in several locations, especially in the direction of Cidahu, Sukabumi, there is also a rare species of plant called Rafflesia rochussenii which spreads limited to nearby Mount Gede and Mount Pangrango.
In border areas with forests, or near rivers, people plant the types of red kaliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus), dadap cangkring (Erythrina variegata), African wood (Maesopsis eminii), jeunjing (Paraserianthes falcataria) and various kinds of bamboo .
Various types of reptiles, especially lizards and snakes, are found on this mountain. Some examples are chameleon Bronchocela jubata and B. cristatella, Mabuya multifasciat garden lizards and river Varanus salvator monitor lizards. There are not many known types of snakes on Mount Salak, but some of them are recorded starting from small stalk snakes (Calamariasp.), Snake snails (Pareas carinatus) to pythons (Python reticulatus) for several meters.
Mount Salak has been known for a long time as a bird-rich region, as noted by Vorderman (1885). Hoogerwerf (1948) received no less than 232 species of birds on this mountain (total Javanese: 494 species, 368 types of settlers). Some of the important species of this mountain are the Java eagle (Spizaetus bartelsi) and several other types of eagles, red forests (Gallus gallus), Cuculus micropterus, Phaenicophaeus javanicus and P. curvirostris, Sasia abnormis, Dicrurus remifer, Cissa thalassina, Crypsirina temia, horse bird Garrulax rufifrons, Hypothymis azurea, Aethopyga eximia and A. mystacalis, and Lophozosterops javanica.
As with reptiles and frogs, there are not many records of the Mount Salak mammal. However, on this mountain there are obviously several important species such as leopards (Panthera pardus), Javan gibbons (Hylobates moloch), surili (Presbytis comata) and pangolin (Manis javanica).
These mountainous areas include areas that must be avoided by pilots, both small and large aircraft. Geological conditions and topography that is full of valleys covered with vegetation, accompanied by weather (especially the drop of fog) which is very rapidly changing, is very dangerous for aviation.
By the mountain flight this group is classified as "death mountain" because of the long record of flight accidents. The last and biggest accident was crashing into the Sukhoi Superjet 100 civilian passenger plane on a mountain cliff in 2012.
