Prambanan Temple

The Preambling temple is the biggest and a most beautiful Hindu temple about 20 minutes from Kayaked city. This magnificent Shivaite temple derives its name from the village where it is located. Locally known as the Loro Jongrang temple, or the temple of the "Slender Virgin" it is reputed to be the biggest and most beautiful Hindu Temple in Indonesia.

17 kilometers east of Yogyakarta, the temple is believed to have been built by King Balitung Maha Sambu in the middle of the ninth century. Its parapets are adorned with a bas-reliefs depicting the famous Ramayana story. It has eight shrines, of which the three main ones are dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma (all are manifestations of God in Hindu). The main temple of Shiva rises to a high of 130 feet and houses the magnificent statue of Shiva's consort, Durga.

Prambanan Temple is beautiful temple, in fact, it is a group of temples. The biggest temple dedicated to Shiva (one of manifestation of God) with two other smaller ones, on its right and on its left, dedicated to Brahma and Wisnhu (manifestation of God) respectively. Reliefs decorating the walls of the temple depict the story of Ramayana.

The Size: The temple complex covers several square miles, but most tourists only visit the central compound where the eight main shrines are located. Even within that are the Trisakti (or "three sacred places" dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) receives most of the attention. Prambanan is easily the largest Hindu temple compound in Indonesia and one of the largest Hindu in Southeast Asia. In addition to the eight main shrines there are over 250 smaller individual temples.

Location: Prambanan is about 10 miles east of Yogyakarta. The name "Prambanan" is actually the name of the local political district, Prambanan District. Indonesians call the temple complex Loro Jongrang temple, which translates to "Temple of the Slender Virgin."

History: Prambanan was built around 850 AD, but it is not clear by whom. The kingdom of Mataram and the Sanjaya dynasty were both powerful forces in the region at the time. Less than 100 years after it's completion Prambanan was abandoned. The seat of Javanese political power moved from this Central Java region to East Java - most likely because a volcano became active. Prambanan was rediscovered by C.A. Lons in 1733. Renovation of the complex started in 1918 and work on the central shrines was finished around 1953. Some 240 or so temples have seen some degree of restoration at the site.

The Ramayana: The Ramayana is a Hindu epic that dates to about 500 BC. While the text has religious significance to Hindus, it also affects the cultures of a large area where India exercised influence in the First Millennium AD, much as Homer's Greek epic, The Odyssey, still effects European culture. The story is about a prince, Rama, whose wife is kidnapped by a demon. The monkey king, Hanuman, brings his army to help Rama rescue Sita. Bas-reliefs along the sides of the Prambanan illustrate the Ramayana. The story is also acted out in dance/drama at the full moon at the temple.

Admission: It will cost you 10,000 Rupiah to get into Prambanan. That's about $1.10 US. You should expect a crowd, but occasionally the place has very few people in it.

Sumatran Rhino

Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is a member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It is the smallest rhinoceros, standing about 120–145 centimetres (3.9–4.8 ft) high at the shoulder, with a body length of 250 centimetres (98 in) and weight of 500–800 kilograms (1100–1760 lb). Like the African species, it has two horns; the larger is the nasal horn, typically 15–25 centimetres (6–10 in), while the other horn is typically a stub. A coat of reddish-brown hair covers most of the Sumatran Rhino's body.

Members of the species once ranged through rainforests, swamps and cloud forests in India, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and islands in Indonesia. They are now critically endangered with only six substantial populations in the wild: four on Sumatra, one on Borneo, and one on peninsular Malaysia. Their numbers are difficult to determine because they are solitary animals and widely scattered across their range, but they are estimated to number around 300. The decline in the number of Sumatran Rhinoceros is attributed primarily to poaching for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese medicine, fetching as much as US$30,000 per kilogram on the black market. The rhinos have also suffered from habitat loss as their forests have been cleared for lumber and conversion to agriculture.

The Sumatran Rhino is a mostly solitary animal except for courtship and child-rearing. It is the most vocal rhino species and also communicates through marking soil with its feet, twisting saplings into patterns, and leaving excrement. The species is much better studied than the similarly reclusive Javan Rhinoceros, in part because of a program that brought 40 Sumatran Rhinos into captivity with the goal of preserving the species. The program was considered a disaster even by its initiators, with most of the rhinos dying and no offspring being produced for nearly 20 years, an even worse decline than in the wild.

Photo: ultimateungulate.com

Activity

The Sumatran Rhino can run 30 mph and make a 180-degree spin a single jump. In their natural habitat of dense tropical forests, they negotiate steep slopes, riverbanks, and mountains with ease. Sumatran Rhinos leave tunnels in thick forest vegetation as they break through it, protected by their horns, and cartilage on the nose and head.

Sumatran Rhinos also visit salt-licks formed by mineral seepages, and like all rhinos, enjoy mud wallows.

Life span

Sumatran Rhinos can live 30 - 45 years in the wild, although the captive life span record is 33 years.