Pindul Cave

Goa Pindul runs about three hundred and fifty metres through limestone in the Gunung Sewu karst of Gunungkidul, and the way through it is cave tubing: you sit in an inner tube and are floated down the underground river by the current with a guide, past stalactites, bats and a section where a collapse in the roof lets a shaft of daylight down onto the water, which is where everyone stops for a photograph. It takes about forty-five minutes. The activity started around 2010 and grew fast into an industry, with many competing operators at the village entrance, which has led to crowding, queueing inside the cave and disputes over management. The wider Gunung Sewu karst is a UNESCO global geopark with hundreds of caves, sinkholes and underground rivers.

The landscape

• Tubing an underground river - floated three hundred and fifty metres by the current.
• A daylight shaft - the roof collapse letting light down onto the water.
• Bats and stalactites - the cave's ordinary inhabitants and formations.
• Gunung Sewu karst - the wider geopark of sinkholes and underground rivers.

When to go

May to September; the cave closes in high water. Half a day.

Things to know

It is crowded and commercialised, with operators competing hard at the gate and queues inside the cave. High water closes it. It is short - forty-five minutes on the water.

Nearby

Jomblang cave is close; Yogyakarta is north-west; the south coast beaches are south.

Key facts