Heading into the bat cave

With their backs straining under the weight of bulging sacks, a file of men traipses up and down the hill leading to Goa Lawa ("bat cave") in Sladi, Gunung Kidul, Central Java.

The sacks are not filled with some hidden treasure stashed away in the dark recesses of the fetid-smelling cave: They contain guano, the excrement of thousands of bats that inhabit the area.

With their hoes and chisels, they work silently amid the squeals of the mammals, taking the guano as well as phosphate rock, also used in fertilizers.

For some other people, such work does not bear thinking about. For the farmers of Sladi, however, living in one of the country's poorest areas and tilling a notoriously barren land, it's a dirty job but a way to make a living.

-- Text and photos by P.J Leo