This area is just east of Cosmo Canyon but can only be reached if you have either a Gold Chocobo or have defeated Ultimate Weapon.
Inside the forest, you have to solve a few puzzles to proceed, but there are also items to collect. The earlier you get here, the more worthwhile some items are. If you get here after beating Ultimate Weapon, some items may not be worth it.
[Items to find: Supershot ST, Spring Gun Clip, Slash-All Materia, Minerva Band, Typhoon Materia, Apocalypse, Elixir]
Area 1:
Head over the bridge to the Mutant Flytrap and carefully walk towards the item
(A) to get the
Supershot ST. If you are not careful the Flytrap will close on you, injuring Cloud.
Collect 3 Insects
(1) (You can only collect 1 at a time) and place them near the Pitcher Plants
(2) . Place them one at a time into the Pitcher Plants, and when the plant closes, stand on it to do the next one. Be quick as the plants will eat them and, after a few seconds, will open back up again.
Head east and use the Stamen
(3) to jump over the gap and head around the tree to collect
(B) the
Spring Gun Clip.
Now Head east to the next area.
Area 2:
Pick up an Insect (1) and stand under the Stamen (2) and select Jump. At the edge of the ledge, place the Insect into the Pitcher Plant (3) and jump across both and onto the Stamen (4) to the ground again. Do not go near the Mutant Flytrap as it will hurt you, we will get the Materia (A) , Slash-All, in a minute.
Pick up a frog (5) and put in the left Pitcher Plant (6) and stand on top, wait a few seconds and the Plant will spit the frog out and launch you up to the flower. Pick up the Beehive (7) and drop back down. Place it near the Mutant Flytrap to cause it to close and grab the Materia (A) .
Grab the frog again and this time put it in the right Pitcher Plant
(8)
, stand on top to get thrown to the right. There is a
Minerva Band
(B)
that we can't get yet, but will be able to later.
Area 3:
Collect 2 insects (1) and place them in the Pitcher Plants (2) (Remember, you can only get 1 at a time, so place them near the plants to grab them quickly) and jump across to the Stamen and use it to jump up to the Canopy above.
You will start at
(X)
, Head left and down the trunk to collect the Minerva Band from the previous area. Jump off the trunk to the ground and use the frog to get back over the Mutant Flytrap. Get back up to the Canopy and head left again, but head up and right. There is a broken branch here
(4)
, walk along it and right and you will use the Stamen to get across to the
Typhoon Materia
(A) . Head back accross to
(5) and follow it down.
You will be back down and at a rope connecting the tree to a stump. Follow it down and to the right, pick up an Insect (1) and place it in the Pitcher Plant (2) to the right, jump on and press up to jump to the next one, finally jump to the Beehive (6) . Pick up the Beehive, jump down and place it near the Mutant Flytrap (7) to close it. Collect another Insect (1) and run behind the Flytrap, place the Insect into the Pitcher Plant (2) and jump across.
Head left, past the Hollow Tree and grab an Insect
(1)
, place it inside the Hollow Tree
(8) to lure out a Frog. Grab the Frog and use it to get back across the way you came, wait for the frog to be spat out, grab it again and use it on the Pitcher Plant to the far right (Where you climbed up to the Beehive), wait on top and you will be thrown to the right. Exit into the cave
(9)
.
Area 4:
Inside the cave, collect the two chests (A) Apocalypse and (B) an Elixir then exit via the passage at the top.
This exits the Ancient Forest.