Nature tourism in Gunung Kidul is so various. We can find beaches, highlands area, caves, tourism village, and so on. Mertelu village is the one of tourism villages in Gunung Kidul. This village is aggressively developed as tourism destination of the northern side of Gunung Kidul. We all know this time that the center of Gunung Kidul tourism destination is located in the southern part where we can find many beaches and caves. Mertelu village is claimed as the tourism village which has the longest flying fox track in Indonesia.
Mertelu tourism village which carries the concept of Green village on offers the nature tourism destination of natural highlands and forest area. The natural panorama provided is really amazing. You can see the beauty of the city of Yogyakarta and Klaten from the top of the hill. This location will give us clean and fresh air. Green village was built in 2017.
Although it’s kind of a new tourism destination, the facilities provided in this place is quite complete and satisfying. Clean toilets, relaxing gazebo, food court area, mushola, and homestay are available here. Mertelu tourism village offers also traditional art shows and attraction to get the visitor’s interest. One of the art performances which becomes the main shows of Mertelu tourism village is wayang kulit show. On certain months, if you are lucky you will see also a traditional ceremony called merti desa ceremony.
One of the main attractions of Mertelu tourism village is flying fox which is claimed as the longest flying fox in Indonesia and even claimed as the second longest flying fox in South-East Asia. This nomination is not without any reason because this flying fox track is actually really long. The length of the track is more than 625 meters. This would give give a sinking speed of 80km/hours during gliding on the flying fox trail. It will absolutely challenge the adrenaline of those try it. Not only rushing adrenaline, during gliding on the flying fox we will feel flying sensation and also see the beautiful view of the nature. It’s no wonder if this flying fox is not only well known by the local people but also the foreign tourists who were interested to try it.
The long gliding track is such terrifying but you don’t need to worry because this extreme activity is equipped by safety equipment and professional guide. The administrator said that the technology used in this flying fox comes from France and the safety equipment is imported from England. So it has already international safety standard. If you come here, you must try this flying fox. You are really suggested to come here on good weather or when the skies are clear, because this flying fox games won’t be operated if it has bad weather.
The sunset becomes the prima donna that has been always looked for by the visitors once they came to Mertelu tourism village in the afternoon. From the top of Green Village hill you will see clearly the sunset views without any obstacle. Other than beaches, this place could be alternative place if you want to enjoy seing sunset views. You can come here also in the morning because you can see the beautiful sunrise view if the skies are clear. If we are lucky enough we can also see clearly the view of Ratu Rowo tourist destination complex from the top of the hill. Is that kind of attractive, isn’t that?
If you want to come here, you should better to come with your family or your friends. You don’t need to worry about the entrance fee because this tourism village entrance ticket is free. You need only to pay parking retribution of IDR 5000.- for a car and IDR 2000, – for a motorbike. The flying fox facilty costs IDR 100.000,-
It takes about 40 km to reach Mertelu Village from the city center of Yogyakarta. It is quite far. Even so, it has easily accessible route. You are really suggested to get there by your own vehicle or rental vehicle because it will be hard for you to find public transportation in this area. From the city center of Yogyakarta you just need to follow the route to Bukit Bintang, then you can go straight until you find the T-Junction located near the gas station. From this T-Junction you need to take the road to the left to Gendangsari subdistrict area and find the sign direction of Mertelu tourism village.
