Gunung Kidul Regency

Gunung Kidul is the name of a regency - a well known cultural region - and the town located in the province of Yogyakarta (special region), Indonesia. Like many regions on the island of Java, it is densely populated with roughly 1,600 people per square kilometer. The regency is bordered by the city of Yogyakarta to the north west, the regency of Bantul to the west, the regency of Sleman to the north west and the Indian Ocean to the south.

It occurs on a karst region, and the southern coastal edge is rough and wild but exotic with several beautiful beaches - Baron, Kukup, Krakal, Drini, Sepanjang, Sundak, Siung, Wediombo and Sadeng. Some of these beaches provides fresh fish and other sea product from local fisherman. The most notable of all is Baron beach, it provide a park next to the beach, surrounded by seafood restaurant and hostel. It has a fresh-fish market in the east side of the beach. In the west side of the beach, there is a few-hundred-metre river coming out from an almost sea-level cave on the side of western ridge. The beach itself is Khaki-colored and sprawled with traditional fisherman's boat. beside of the main beach, there is a kilometre of almost untouch-white sand beach lay beyond it's eastern ridge. It can be reach by small hike, there is a rest area with a beautiful view on top of the eastern hill. Gunung Kidul area in earlier times heavily forested - but most of the teak forests have been removed - and many re-afforestation projects occur on the western edge of the regency. The regency has been subject to extensive drought and famine within the last hundred years.