Gede Pangrango National Park, together with four others, was established under a declaration made by the minister of Agriculture on 6th March, 1980. These first five park had the distinction of launching Indonesia's National Park Programme.

The park, covering 15,196 ha, evolved from several already existing conservation areas: Cibodas Nature Reseve (240 ha), gazetted in 1889, was the oldest reserve in Indonesia and in 1925 was extended to 1,040 ha; Cimungkat Nature Reserve (56 ha) gazetted in 1919; situgunung Recreational Park (120 ha) gazetted in 1975; and Mount Gede Pangrango nature Reserve (14,000 ha) gazetted in 1978.

The park is situated between longitudes 106°51'-107°02' East and latitudes 6°41-6°51' South. Administratively, it is shared between the Regencies of Bogor, Cianjur and Sukabumi.

The Gede-Pangrango area has been the centre of much research over the last two centuries, so establishing its worldwide reputation. Sir Thomas Raffles organised the building of a path on the south-eastern slopes in 1811, although the earliest recorded climb of Mount Gede was by C.G.C. Reinwardt in 1819. Other explorations were conducted by F.W. Junghuhn (1839-1861), J.E. Teysmann (1839), A.R. Wallace (1861), S.H. Koorders (1890), M. Treub (1891) and W.M. van Leeuen (1911). C.G.G.J. van Steenis (1920-1952) collected and studied here in preparation for his now famous book: "The Mountain Flora of Java". published in 1972.

Today many Indonesian and foreign scientists carry on the tradition and, as a result, these mountains are one of the most well researched tropical forest systems in the world. Even so, in such a set of complex ecosystems, exact relationships between the myriad of species will keep biologists intrigued for many decades to come. Climate, topography and vegetation all interact.

Gunung Gede-Pangrango, the twin volcanoes of West Java, is one of the first national parks in Indonesia. It covers a total forested area of 15,000 hectares. This area has a special place in the history of both conservation and botanical research in Indonesia. It includes the Cibodas Nature Reserve which has been the scene of numerous botanical and other studies for a period of well over a hundred years by a number of scientists and naturalists, including such eminent figures as Reinwardt, Junghunn and Wallace.