Cyclops

Information

Elevation

2.160 m

Country

Indonesia (ID)

Location / Range

Cyclops Mountains

Mountain type

Mountain range (non-volcanic)

Volcanic?

No (non-volcanic)

Coordinates

-2.5081, 140.5101

Difficulty

Moderate–Hard

Best Season

April–October (dry season)

Hazards

Dense forest terrain and high rainfall; nature reserve area with limited access; BBKSDA Papua permit required

Description

The Cyclops Mountains — known as Dafonsoro in Indonesian and Dobonsolo in the Sentani language — are a rugged mountain range stretching roughly 36 kilometres east-west across the northern coast of Papua Province, Indonesia, lying west of Jayapura city and north of Lake Sentani. The highest point, Ifar Gunung, reaches 2,160 metres above sea level. The range was gazetted as a Nature Reserve in 1978 (initially 22,500 hectares, expanded to 31,479 ha in 2012). The Cyclops Mountains are one of Papua's most significant biodiversity hotspots — their dense forests shelter hundreds of endemic species, including the Cyclops long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), an egg-laying mammal named after Sir David Attenborough that had gone unrecorded by scientists since 1961 until its dramatic rediscovery on a trail camera during a 2023 joint expedition by the University of Oxford, BRIN, Cenderawasih University, and Papua's BBKSDA.