Situated 1300-1425 m high on the slopes of Mount Gede-Pangrango, Cibodas Botanic Garden contains beautiful mountain scenery with impressive views across the Cipanas valley of West Java. The Garden covers about 125 ha of undulating topography, with large grassy expanses, rocky coniferous areas, and valleys filled with tree ferns and waterfalls. Cibodas Botanic Garden is a popular recreational center for the Greater Jakarta area as well as a research station for students and scientists studying tropical montane flora The Cibodas Botanic Garden was founded in 1862 by the botanist and curator "Johannes Elias Teysjmann" as an extension of the Bogor Botanic Garden. Now one of four Indonesian Botanic Gardens (Kebun Raya Indonesia), the Cibodas Botanic Garden is a part of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The average rainfall is 2380 mm, and the weather is cool (18?C) and moist. The Garden is located ? 45 km southeast of Bogor, or ? 100 km southeast of Jakarta.

Collections and Supporting Facilities

The Garden currently maintains a collection of 5831 living specimens from 1206 species. Among the most prominent collections of the Cibodas Botanic Garden are the floral gardens, cacti and succulents, bamboo, palms, conifers, Euphorbia and Myrtaceae collections. Native Indonesian plants worth seeing include the orchids, the fern collection, the IndoneThe Garden maintains a herbarium and seed museum for research, development and conservation purposes. The 4521 herbarium specimens from 1503 species consist of those collected from the Garden and from the Gede-Pangrango National Park which is annexed to the Garden. The 649 species in the seed museum are used as a reference for seed identification. Historically the Cibodas Botanic Garden is associated with the introduction of quinine to Indonesia. Here that valuable species was planted for the first time, introduced from South America. A few years later, the plants had to be transferred to another, more suitable place, but the introduction of exotic plants to Indonesia continued. Worth mentioning are the introduction of Eucalyptus species from Australia, and the conifers from Europe and America, which now dominate the landscape. The succulents Aloe and Agave, and the Acacia, Callistemon and Camellia plants were introduced for decorative purposes, in addition to many other temperate species which can be seen in the commercial nurseries alongside the roads leading into the Garden. Facilities such as a guest house, library and nursery are available for scientists, research workers and students who wish to study the Garden and the mountain flora of Mount Gede-Pangrango.

Cibodas Waterfalls

There are a variety of waterfalls in Cibodas Botanic Garden, some human-made, and some naturally occurring in the landscape. Visitors can trek through the forest to a lovely natural waterfall or drive their cars over a specially constructed shallow waterfall.