Hi All,
Having arrived at the wrong terminal in Kuala Lumpur, we jumped on a shuttle bus and still managed to make our flight in good time. At 3pm we landed in Surabaya on the island of Java in Indonesia. Our aim was to get to the village of Cemoro Lawang the following day as it required two infrequent buses and a private transfer from the town of Probolinggo which would have been a bit optimistic considering our late arrival. To our surprise we easily made it on the first two buses and got off in Probolinggo where the conductor told us to. We grabbed our bags and the bus drove away before we realised we were still 5km from the town and had just been dumped at a tour shop. The guy at the counter could see we weren’t happy but tried to sell us a tour of the volcano we had come to see anyway. We would never usually be drawn in by this but we knew we had to make the most of our short time on Java. The tour was a great price but the best part was that the mini-van left for Cemoro Lawang in half an hour. Although sceptical that this seemed too good to be true we went along with it. That evening we arrived at our guest house, alarms set for 3am, we headed off to bed.
We woke up cold but excited to see the volcano at sunrise before the clouds rolled in. After walking along the road for an hour in the dark, we reached a narrow path. We then climbed up a slippery trail for another hour which was surprisingly quiet, only passing a couple of other walkers and some local guides on horseback. Finally, we got to the top and could just make out the shadow of what looked like a volcano in the orange tinged sky. The sun rose and revealed a spectacular view, we could see 4 volcanoes in front of us: the huge Tengger crater we were standing on the edge of inside which were three more volcanoes! The steep narrow cone of the one closest to us, a huge looming volcano in the background and active Gunung Bromo (Gunung is Indonesian for volcano). Bromo was churning out plumes of grey smoke and ash from its wide crater - an absolutely incredible sight. The daylight revealed the steepness of the mountain we’d climbed and gave us some incredible views. We posed for some photos then headed back down. Breakfast was waiting for us back at our home stay where we sat on our ash dusted balcony.
We spent the rest of the morning making our way to the base of Gunung Bromo inside the largest volcanic crater down a muddy track. Once at the floor, we walked through the lunar landscape known as the ‘Sea of Sand’. This vast, flat area of black sand and ash seemed to go on forever with winds creating white waves of dust as we walked. The scale of this place just does not come across in the photos, it was truly massive (10km wide). We approached Bromos 1km exclusion zone but could not go any further as the volcano was highly active and therefore not safe to enter the crater. After another photo shoot we walked back up to our guesthouse to wash away the ash which seemed to have got everywhere!
The following morning we travelled further west to an arabica coffee plantation homestay. Once we had dumped the rucksacks in our musty room we went on a walk around the nearby village. Each small concrete house had a vegetable patch out front, full of dark volcanic soil and fresh greens. The locals seemed pleased to see us particularly a group of schoolgirls keen to practice their English between giggling fits. Back in our room we got an early night as we were off to nearby Ijen volcano in the morning.
Most would consider 12:45 a late night, for us this was a stupidly early morning. After a quick coffee we got into our minibus and sped along the dark roads, reaching the foot of the volcano about 40 minutes later. We met a guide and were ominously handed gas masks. We walked uphill for a couple of hours eventually making it to the rim of the crater in a thick cloud of sulphur. It irritated our throats and eyes but our guide assured us it wasn’t dangerous... yet. As we descended into the crater we passed men carrying huge crystals of yellow sulphur in bamboo baskets on their way up. Apparently the only way to mine the stuff here is by hand and involves the miners carrying as much as 75kg up the steep, rocky pathway. The smoke began to get thicker, it wasn’t an eggy smell but acidic and thick. We donned our gas masks before it got unbearable and made it to the base of the crater where great plumes of yellow smoke billowed from the rock. The smoke was blown either side of a channel revealing the craters ‘legendary’ blue fire. Electric blue flames licked the rocks above the gas vents, it was mesmerising to watch. We climbed closer to get a better look and a photo. Just as we’d set the tripod up the wind shifted and blew acrid smoke right at us. Ross closed his eyes and choked trying to dismantle the tripod as Danielle made a hasty retreat to where we had been stood. Spluttering and without a decent picture of the fire we posed for one by the yellow smoke and left the base for a viewpoint midway up the crater. We waited in the pitch black for sunrise and ate a sad breakfast of a cold boiled egg and slice of bread.
To our surprise, in 10 minutes light began to enter the crater revealing the scale of the huge, acid lake (over 900m wide). The view was a massive contrast to the open desert landscape of Bromo but was just as impressive. Surrounded by the crater high above the lake with yellow sulphur gas at a safe distance, we took some more photos. Climbing back up the crater was much easier in the light, we reached the lip and took one last look back at the incredible view. On the way down the trees were shrouded in an eerie atmospheric cloud, making for some interesting pictures before walking down to the minibus and starting on the long road back to Surabaya.
Somehow our trip all went to plan. It was in fact an incredible experience that we would never have managed to squeeze in had we not decided to go with the travel agent. The one thing that was substandard were the dated, musty guesthouses we stayed in. We have pretty low expectations but even for us a toilet without a flush, stale bedding, a leaky gas boiler and a freezing shower were slightly less than we’d hoped for. This meant that when heading back to our airport hotel, we found ourselves discussing the luxuries of the Ibis like a 5 star establishment; that’s if you can call having a sink and a flushing toilet luxuries.
Next stop Borneo where we hope to see some orangutans!
Love R and D xxx
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