The Mystery Behind the Mass Exodus of Residents from Sari Hamlet, Gunungkidul

Sari Hamlet, which has now vanished from the administrative area of Banjarejo Village, Tanjungsari, Gunungkidul, was once home to dozens of families. One by one, residents left, leaving Sari deserted until it became what it is today.

Trifena Istini (56), a woman born and raised in Sari, recounted that there used to be 30 to 35 families living there, most of whom worked as farmers. “The atmosphere in Sari used to be like any other hamlet,” she said when met at her residence in Padangan, Banjarejo, Tanjungsari, Gunungkidul, on Thursday (18/6/2026). “There were neighbourhood units, community units, and a hamlet head. There were also night patrol activities.”

Trifena explained that entering the 1990s, many residents suddenly began leaving Sari. She admitted she does not know the exact reason. “I don’t know for sure why, but they moved one by one, and one of the last to move was my father,” she said. She once asked her late father about the exodus, but he did not explain, simply saying, “Just move, your friends have all moved.”

However, Trifena did receive advice from her father that the move was for the future of the family’s next generation, as he did not want his children to only be farmers. Additionally, with many family members being elderly, her father felt it would be difficult for relatives to visit and help them at night in such a remote location.

The final relocation occurred around the year 2000. Trifena began building a new house in Padangan, Banjarejo, in 2009. Her parents remained in Sari until the house was completed in 2010, after which the family moved, and the two remaining families followed suit. Trifena did not sell the land in Sari, preferring to use it for farming instead.