Nature & wildlife · 2 days / 1 night · Turtles at 20:00 · hatchlings at 06:00
Rivers by 4×4, a ranger hut for the night, and green turtles hauling themselves out of the surf in the dark.
Overview
Sukamade is what I suggest when people tell me they have done Bromo and Ijen and want something that is not on the poster. It is a beach at the end of a two-hour 4×4 track inside a national park, with a ranger station, a hatchery and no phone signal, and the turtles have been coming up to lay there for longer than anyone has been counting.
The trip is a full two days because the getting there is most of it: south along the coast, a stop at Red Island, a fishing village where the tarmac ends, then the truck, the rivers and the jungle. By the time we reach the station in the afternoon you have earned the beach.
I want to be straight about what it is not. It is not comfortable — the beds are thin, the shower is a bucket, the generator goes off at ten. The turtles are wild animals and some nights none come. In the rainy season the rivers can be too high and we do not go. If none of that puts you off, it is one of the best nights out I know in East Java.
Most people do it between Ijen Blue Fire and the ferry to Bali, or with a morning at Baluran National Park on the far side; it also fits at the end of Hidden East Java.
Itinerary
Times are typical for pickup in Banyuwangi and shift with your pickup point and the season. Everything is flexible — this is my plan, not a bus schedule.
Hotel, ferry port or airport. If you have just come down from Ijen, we can start at 09:00 and shorten the beach stops. The road runs south through the rice plain of Banyuwangi, then over low hills to the south coast.
A long surf beach with a red-brown hill of an island 100 m offshore. Half an hour for coffee and feet in the sand; if you would rather swim here properly, we do it on the way back tomorrow.
Lunch in the fishing village at the end of the tarmac, then Green Bay: a small boat around the headland (15–20 minutes) or a walk over it (about an hour each way) to a white beach with green water and nobody selling anything. I usually suggest the boat and saving your legs for tonight.
The car stays in Rajegwesi and an open truck takes over. About 2 hours for under 20 km: rocks, mud, teak forest, a rubber and cocoa plantation, and three or four rivers to drive through, hub-deep in the dry season. Hold on and keep the camera ready for hornbills.
Check into the guesthouse, tea, and a first walk to the beach: 3 km of grey sand with jungle behind it and the Indian Ocean in front, and turtle tracks from last night if we are lucky. Nobody goes onto the beach after dark without a ranger.
Cooked by the ranger family — rice, fish or chicken, vegetables, tempe, sweet tea. Simple and hot. The generator is on, so this is the time to charge phones.
We walk the beach with a ranger and wait. When a turtle comes up we keep back until she has dug her nest and started laying — then she is in a kind of trance and we can come close, in red light only, no flash, no phone screens. Watching her cover the nest and drag herself back to the sea takes an hour or more. The rangers move the eggs to the hatchery afterwards, away from monitor lizards, wild boar and poachers. Some nights it is over by 21:00, some nights we wait until 22:00 or later, and some nights nobody comes.
Lights out across the station. Sleep to the surf; there is no signal to keep you awake.
First light over the sea and, on a good morning, fresh tracks from the night.
The rangers bring a basket of hatchlings that emerged in the hatchery over the last day or two. You set them on the sand a few metres from the water and watch them scramble for the surf. Some mornings the basket is full, some mornings there are none ready — the rangers do not hatch them to order.
Nasi goreng or eggs, coffee, and a look at the hatchery pens behind the station.
The same two hours in daylight and the other direction. Peafowl on the plantation edge, monkeys in the teak, and the rivers look different when you can see them coming.
Then, if you want it, an hour at Pulau Merah for a swim or a surf lesson before lunch.
A warung on the way north — soto, pecel, fresh coconut.
Hotel, the Ketapang ferry to Bali or the airport. If Ijen is next, I recommend an early night — the Ijen pickup is at midnight.
Price transparency
Practical
Hotel-to-hotel. Tell me where you are staying and I'll confirm the pickup time.
No real hiking, but 5–6 hours each way including 2 hours of hard bouncing in an open 4×4 with river fords, a night on a thin mattress and a late walk on soft sand in the dark.
Turtles come up on most nights all year; November to March is the busiest nesting time, but that is also the rainy season, when the rivers on the 4×4 track can be too high to cross. May to October means dry tracks and a calmer sea. I check the road with the rangers before every trip.
Questions
No. On most nights, yes — in eight years I have come back empty-handed a handful of times, more often in the quiet months of April to June. November to March is busiest. Mostly green turtles, sometimes hawksbill or olive ridley; leatherbacks are very rare. If nothing has come up by around 22:00 the rangers may check again later, but I will not pretend to control the sea.
Only when the ranger says so, which is once she is laying — no flash, red light only, phone screens dimmed. Photos of a turtle covering her nest in red light are moody rather than sharp; the hatchlings in the morning are the easy pictures. Drones are not allowed on the beach.
Very. Concrete rooms with two or three beds and thin mattresses, a fan until the generator stops at about 22:00, shared bathrooms with a mandi (bucket shower) and no hot water, no wifi, no signal, no shop. Meals are cooked by the ranger family. Come with the right expectations and it is fine; come expecting a lodge and it is not.
About 2 hours for under 20 km. Rocks, ruts, mud, and three or four rivers to drive through, hub-deep in the dry season. In the rainy season the trucks sometimes cannot get through at all, and then we postpone or switch to another day out. If you get car sick, take something before Rajegwesi.
From about seven, yes — children tend to love it. Be honest with yourself about the late night, the dark and the bumps, and the fact that a turtle can be a kilometre down the beach in soft sand. Under-fives are hard work here.
The rangers say no, and they are right — the surf is heavy and the currents are strong. Swimming is for Teluk Hijau, which is calm and green, and for Pulau Merah, which has waves and surf lessons.
Best order: Sukamade first, back in Banyuwangi at 15:00, early night, Ijen pickup at midnight. The other way round works too but is tiring — down from Ijen at 08:00, start for Sukamade at 09:00 with shorter beach stops. See the Ijen Blue Fire tour, and Baluran if you want a third morning.
Something else? See the full FAQ or ask me on WhatsApp — usually within an hour.
Photos
Reviews
Back in Bali now and still talking about Sukamade. The truck ride through the rivers was an adventure by itself, the guesthouse was basic as you said, and at 21:00 the rangers found a green turtle laying, so we watched in red light for almost an hour. Releasing the hatchlings in the morning was our favourite moment of the whole trip. Thanks for being honest that nothing was guaranteed; it made seeing it better.
Where this tour goes
Tap a place for a short note. Drive times on this route are realistic for a private car — I plan buffers for photo stops and food.
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