In a small forgotten town near the city of Semarang, there was a place called Ambarawa. This town was not an ordinary town, it held stories, mysteries, and adventures. This is where the story of a young man named Barra began. Barra was a young man with an adventurous soul, always fascinated by history and hidden secrets.
One day, he heard a story from an old merchant who stopped by his village. The merchant whispered, "You know, in Ambarawa there is an old station called Stasiun Willem I or Stasiun Ambarawa. People say that inside one of its trains lies a treasure. Not gold, but something far more valuable." Those words kept echoing in Barra's head. Without a second thought, he decided to go to the town of Ambarawa to find out more.
The journey to the town was full of obstacles. Barra passed broken roads, muddy paths, and climbed steep hills. That evening he arrived in Ambarawa feeling very tired. The town looked old and quiet, with colonial buildings from the Dutch East Indies that gave it a mysterious atmosphere. The most striking thing was the old train station in the middle of the town. The station seemed frozen in time, standing tall with silent old locomotives. With great excitement, Barra stepped inside.
Inside, he saw rows of old trains that once operated, now only silent witnesses of the past. As he walked through the station, suddenly a small child appeared out of nowhere. The child was pale and wore ragged clothes. He stared at Barra with sharp eyes and said, "Are you looking for something, human?" Before Barra could answer, the child pointed to a large locomotive at the end of the platform and said, "Over there… what you are looking for is there." Then the child disappeared as if he were only a shadow.
Barra felt his hair stand on end. He approached the locomotive the child had pointed at, an old steam engine with peeling paint and rust covering much of its body. The walls of the locomotive were full of holes, as if from gunfire. Carefully he climbed into the cabin and looked around. Inside, he found a human skeleton still wearing a conductor's uniform. Without hesitation, he examined the skeleton and found an old key tied to a scroll. He opened the scroll and read its contents. It said that long ago, this place had been used as a refuge for the native people.
After reading the scroll, Barra felt the presence of someone unknown. He hid inside a wardrobe beside the skeleton. Carefully, he peeked through a small gap and saw a woman and a man wearing typical 19th-century clothing. They spoke in a foreign language. "D'r is ien hjir, ik kin de loft fiele." Hearing those words, Barra felt that his life was in danger and quickly planned a way to escape the station.
He planned to run away through a window in the corner of the carriage. He took a deep breath and ran as fast as he could. As he ran, he saw a piece of paper lying on the floor. Without thinking, he picked it up and jumped out the window. He landed in a large rice field and ran aimlessly until he reached a nearby village. He sat on the ground and opened the paper he had taken. It turned out to be a map. The map showed a secret location abroad, in one of the Dutch colonies in Africa. The colony was named Kaap de Goede Hoop, which means Cape of Good Hope, now known as part of South Africa.
Barra planned to sell the map to a merchant in the village. He thought to himself, "That place is too far away, I could never reach it." But after seeing how poor he was, he changed his mind. "If I can find this treasure, I might be able to change my life," he said.
Barra then went to Semarang using public transportation to look for a ship that could take him across the ocean to South Africa. He met a captain named Jebryl, who agreed to take him for Rp. 10,000,000. Hearing that, Barra tried to get loans from the bank and online lenders and even mortgaged his parents' house and animal pen. After managing to collect the money, he gave it to Captain Jebryl and was finally allowed to board the ship. The ship began to sail, and the captain shouted, "Raise the anchor!"
Seeing the suspicious behavior of the crew, Barra began to walk around the ship. After exploring carefully, he noticed a brown door that looked dirty and rusty. "This door is not locked," he said quietly. He slowly opened the door. Behind it was a room filled with old documents, black-and-white photographs, and some broken firearms. In the corner of the room was a large locker with a piece of paper stuck to the door. On the paper was written, "JANGAN DIBUKA!!!" Barra forced the locker open and found scrolls describing a cave located on the Cape Peninsula.
It turned out that this cave was not an ordinary one but a headquarters for Dutch officers. There they hid weapons, gold, and important goods. "So they were not just sailors but treasure hunters and smugglers," he thought.
While reading the scroll, Barra suddenly heard footsteps coming closer. Without thinking, he hid the document in his bag and ran out. His heart was beating fast, but he felt proud because he was now holding a great secret. However, one of the crew saw him leaving the room. They looked at him with intimidating eyes, and one of them carried a knife, as if ready to kill him.
Barra thought fast and saw a lifebuoy hanging on the ship's deck. Without hesitation, he grabbed it and jumped into the sea. He drifted for a whole day, feeling weak and hungry until a ship came and rescued him. The captain who saved him introduced himself as Rakesh, a forty-year-old man who had just returned from India to sell his catch. Barra asked, "Where am I?" The captain replied, "You're at the Bay of Bengal, my friend." Shocked, Barra asked, "Where are you heading?" The captain answered, "We're heading to Harbour Island, Cape Town, South Africa." Hearing that, Barra asked if he could go with them. The captain nodded and said, "Sure, but it'll cost you a lot of money." Barra said, "Name your price." The captain replied, "2,000 rupees." Barra checked his wallet and found Rp. 400,000. He handed it to the captain and said, "This amount is equivalent to 2,000 rupees. Exchange it to your currency." The captain accepted it and told Barra to sit on the deck with the cargo.
Happily, Barra said that his journey was not only about finding treasure but also about discovering and preserving forgotten history. He said this while eating a piece of bread and drinking a cup of coffee given by the crew. After several days of sailing, Barra finally arrived safely at Harbour Island, Cape Town, South Africa. He sincerely thanked Captain Rakesh and his crew. He was grateful that they had brought him across the vast ocean, bringing him closer to his great adventure. With the map he had found, Barra continued his journey in South Africa carefully, avoiding the local authorities.
After finding two mysterious maps, one at Stasiun Ambarawa and one on Captain Jebryl's ship, Barra felt that the great secret he had been searching for was near. The maps complemented each other, and when he combined them, a red cross appeared in the middle of the Cape Peninsula. Barra knew that was no coincidence. It was the key to a mystery that had been hidden for a long time.
With burning determination, Barra exchanged his money for South African Rand and rented a motorcycle for 1,600 Rand per week. After getting the motorcycle, he rode toward the Cape Peninsula, enjoying the magnificent scenery. The blue ocean stretched into the distance, tall mountains stood proudly, and endless beaches spread before him. It reminded him how wide the world was and how great his adventure had become. But fate seemed to test him. On the road, Barra accidentally crashed into a big tree that suddenly appeared before him. "Ouch!" he shouted as his motorcycle fell. Though frustrated, he quickly stood up, brushed off the dust, and made sure his motorcycle was not badly damaged. He took a deep breath, put on his helmet again, and continued his journey, following the map that led him to his greatest goal.
After some time, Barra arrived at the location shown on the map, a hidden cave among tall hills. It was so remote that it seemed impossible for anyone to know of it. His heart beat fast as he turned off his motorcycle and began to walk toward the cave, carrying a lighter he had bought to light his way.
Inside the dark and cold cave, a frightening atmosphere surrounded him. "The walls of this cave feel very well maintained, almost as if someone has been taking care of it," Barra thought. Without hesitation, he walked deeper. The darkness grew thicker. Stalactites hung above him like sharp swords. Barra stopped for a moment to check his path. The silence of the place made him feel that it was hiding something greater. After resting and eating his provisions, he thought again about the scroll and the Dutch words that had stayed in his mind.
As he continued walking, he found an old wooden door hidden behind rocks. The door looked ancient, as if it carried the weight of history. Carefully, he opened it.
What he saw made his heart almost stop. The room was large, a grand meeting room with a round table in the center surrounded by broken chairs. On each chair sat a skeleton wearing a Dutch general's uniform. On the table were broken ceramic plates and bent silver spoons and forks.
Barra stood still for a moment, then began to search the room for clues. In the middle of the room, beside the table, was a wooden chest locked with a number padlock. Beside it lay an old letter that read, "De code is de datum van de onafhankelijkheid van ons koninkrijk."
Quickly, Barra took out his phone and translated the sentence into Indonesian. "The code is the date of independence of our kingdom," he remembered his history lessons. The independence day of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was 16 March 1815. With trembling hands, he entered that date as the code. The lock clicked open.
He slowly opened the chest. Inside, gold glittered brightly. But more surprising was an old scroll neatly folded, written, "We hebben de stad van de Kalahari ontdekt." Barra took out his phone again and translated it. "The city of Kalahari," he said. A city long thought to be only a legend, a lost city in the middle of the vast desert. Barra felt a new light in his quest.
Inside the chest was also an ancient map showing the location of the city in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. The map was detailed, proving that the city truly existed. Barra knew that this was his next destination, a place full of secrets hidden for centuries. With the gold he found, Barra left the cave. The night sky over Cape Town was full of stars. He felt relieved yet aware that his journey had only just begun.
He decided to camp near the cave, lighting a fire to warm himself and calm his mind. The next morning, after a good rest, he felt ready to continue. He returned to Cape Town to prepare for the long journey to the Kalahari Desert. Before leaving, he sold some of the gold in a local shop to fund his expedition. With burning spirit and a clear goal ahead, Barra was ready to move forward. He knew that the secret he had uncovered would change history, and he was the one destined to reveal it.
Though Barra had already found great treasure, he knew that his adventure was not yet finished. The lost city of Kalahari was still waiting to be discovered. With each step, Barra came closer to the great secret that could change the world.