Independent ascent to Java volcanoes. Attractive and dangerous volcano Ijen - Java, Indonesia. How to get from Banyuwangi to Pos Paltuding

Mount Merapi spews clouds of smoke and ash, Java island, Indonesia. (REUTERS/Dwi Oblo)

In general, of course, there are many places on the planet where it seems that people live contrary to nature. Either a tornado demolishes all the houses every year, or a flood floods the entire household, but there are also constant volcanic eruptions. What keeps people in such places?

Unfortunate Indonesia is always at the epicenter of disasters. Only on one of the islands of the country - Java - there are about 120 volcanoes, of which 30 are active (for example, Mount Merapi). Large eruptions of Merapi are observed on average every 7 years, small ones - about 2 times a year, and the volcano smokes almost every day. In this collection, we bring to your attention photos of the terrible eruption of the Merapi volcano, as a result of which villages were destroyed and people died.

A farmer stands in a rice field against the backdrop of an erupting Mount Merapi, Java Island, Indonesia. (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

With a population of 136 million, Java is the most populous island in the world, and one of the most densely populated regions on our planet. Its 136 million inhabitants make up 65% of the total Indonesian population. The world-famous island has over 120 active volcanoes. Add to that a number of major national parks, two famous ancient monuments, rainforests, tea and rice plantations, major cities, big waves for surfing and even savannas. The scenery in most areas of Java is very beautiful, and although the island is overpopulated, there are still many places with primitive nature. Although the beaches are not very attractive and the tides pose a threat to life, especially in the southern part, if you wish, you can go to the nearby islands of Karimunjawa or Seribu, where there are beautiful beaches with white sand and corals.

View of the volcano from Kepet village, Magelang province, Java island, Indonesia. (REUTERS/Beawiharta)

Simultaneously with the eruption of the Merapi volcano, located in the central part of Indonesia's most populous island of Java, two dozen more of the 129 active volcanoes in the country are showing increased activity, according to the official website of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Risk Reduction (CVGR) Indonesia on Wednesday.

The fourth (highest) degree of alarm was declared only on Merapi, whose eruption claimed 38 human lives last week, but just one step below there are two more "fiery mountains". These are the Ibu volcano on the island of Halmahera in eastern Indonesia and the most active volcano in the country, the Karangetan volcano on the Sangihe archipelago off the northeastern tip of the island of Sulawesi. Since 1675, 41 powerful eruptions of this "fiery mountain" with a height of 1,784 thousand meters have been recorded, and the last of them took place in August of this year, killing four people.

Tree debris and mud littered the river, which was located near the Merapi volcano, Java island, Indonesia. (BAYISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images)

An alarm of the second degree has been declared on another 18 "fiery mountains", four of which, like Merapi, are located on the island of Java, where more than 140 million people live in an area of less than three Moscow regions, or near its coast.

"We can say that it's quite extraordinary - about 20 (volcanoes threaten) at the same time," Vayan Svantika, head of the CVCA and Gede section, told the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

Typically, only five to ten active "fire mountains" in Indonesia (there are about 600 volcanoes in the country) show increased activity, he added.

"We are closely watching these mountains, but I cannot predict which of them will begin to erupt," the volcanologist concluded.

According to the head of TsVSGR Surono (Surono), the awakening of the Indonesian volcanoes occurred for various reasons.

The houses and streets of a village near Mount Merapi are covered with a layer of ash, Java island, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

The Indonesian archipelago, the largest on the planet, is part of the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", which has the shape of a horseshoe-shaped strip of volcanoes and tectonic faults 40 thousand kilometers long. In the Indonesian region, the plates that form the bottom of the Indian and western Pacific oceans go under the Asian one. The denser oceanic tectonic plates advancing on the latter under tremendous pressure descend to the mantle of the globe and begin to melt at a depth of about 100 kilometers below the surface, which leads to ejections of the resulting red-hot lava.

Therefore, volcanoes are located along the entire length of the Indonesian part of the "Ring of Fire" (3,218 kilometers).

This country also has the most earthquakes in the world. In 2009, more than a thousand people became victims of a series of powerful tremors in the province of West Sumatra, and in 2004, the world's strongest earthquake in the last 40 years occurred off the western coast of Sumatra. The tsunami he caused claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in 12 Indian Ocean countries.

Members of a search and rescue team search for survivors at the scene of the tragedy, Java Island, Indonesia. (REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas)

This is what the kitchen looks like in one of the houses of the village, which was damaged by the eruption of the Merapi volcano, Java island, Indonesia. (REUTERS/Dwi Oblo)

A parakeet that died in the eruption lies in an ash-covered cage on the island of Java, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

A woman in a raincoat and protective mask rides a bicycle on an ash-covered road in Java, Indonesia. (REUTERS/Andry Prasetyo)

In panic, local residents are leaving their homes en masse. Hundreds of cars and other vehicles are congested on the roads on the island of Java, Indonesia. (ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

Rescuers evacuate an elderly woman who refuses to voluntarily leave her home in a village near Mount Merapi, Java, Indonesia. (ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images)

Frightened people rush to leave their homes after the eruption, Java island, Indonesia. (AP / Ahmad Ibrahim)

Ijen Volcano is an active volcano in Indonesia. Another name is synonymous with the name of the local sulfur lake Kavakh Ijen or simply Kavakh.

Located in a densely populated area in East Java, it is the border of 2 districts: Bondowoso and Banyuwangi. This volcano is a complex consisting of more than a dozen volcanic objects: stratovolcanoes, volcanic cones, craters located within a radius of 20 km around the caldera.

The Ijen Volcano crater is one of the most attractive and dangerous on Earth. An active volcano, constantly spewing clouds of sulfuric smoke.

Volcano Kawa Ijen is not like its counterparts. Inside its volcanic bowl, it is not flammable lava that boils, but quietly spread out, surrounded by rocks, an unearthly lake of amazing beauty with the same name - Kavakh Ijen. Its dimensions are 950 by 600 meters, the volume is 36 million cubic meters. But it is not filled with water, but with a mixture of concentrated sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, and hot: its temperature on the surface is about 60 degrees, at the bottom it is even higher. Once, a sheet of aluminum was lowered into this lake for twenty minutes, and when it was taken out, the thickness of the metal became comparable to the thinnest fabric. Can you imagine what would happen if an eruption suddenly began? When the magma boils the terrible contents of the lake and tons of acid rise into the air? This threat is not unfounded. The Indonesian government in 2012 set the activity level of Kawa Ijen to a yellow mark and has not lowered the warning to date. But Lake Kawah Ijen looks amazing!

The color of its surface is changeable, it is either apple-green, or emerald, or malachite with a turquoise tint. On the shore and in the distance, on gray veined rocks, blocks of various sizes of bright yellow color are scattered. This is native sulfur. At first it is liquid, a beautiful dark red color and crawls along the slopes like lava. Cooling down - brightens, acquiring the color of amber. Then it turns yellow and becomes hard. At night, liquid sulfur, oxidizing, begins to glow with unreal blue, blue lights and flashes, fantastically transforming the surroundings. This is blue lava. And during the day, burning designates itself with smoky white clubs. A lot of jets smoke along the slopes of the crater funnel, either steam or smoke. Most likely, this is how water vapor escapes from the depths under pressure through cracks, and with it toxic hydrogen chloride, suffocating sulfur dioxide and even more harmful and insidious hydrogen sulfide.

Burning is accompanied by six hundred degrees Celsius, the radiance is not very intense in daylight, in all its glory it can be observed only at night.

Photographing this spectacle is not an easy task. French photographer Olivier Grunewald specializes in such images without the use of any filters or image modifications. In order to do this, he must wait until sunset, when blue flames are visible. He works with a gas mask to avoid inhaling toxic fumes.

Near the lake, local residents have been extracting sulfur for a long time. This is very hard and dangerous work. People manually load baskets with lumps of sulfur and then take the load to a nearby valley, where they receive payment for the extraction. Usually a basket with sulfur weighs 75-90 kg, and it has to be carried about 300 meters uphill, and then another 3 km after descending from the crater to the nearest sugar factory, in which sulfur is used in cleaning processes. Most workers make this trip twice a day and, according to 2010 data, receive about $10-13 a day.

By local standards, this is a highly paid and prestigious job. The island of Java has a very high population density and unemployment. Sulfur miners are a kind of working elite.

People who do this work often complain of breathing problems. And this is not surprising, because for a long time to be in the Ijen crater without a gas mask is dangerous to health. In turn, workers often neglect protection when they are near sulfur.

Sulfur fumes are so hazardous to health that the average life expectancy of workers is only about 47 years.

Well, how not to admire the island of Java! How many cultural monuments, beautiful temples and important shrines are on it. It has a captivating natural beauty. What a richness and variety of vegetation is here! For us northerners, palm trees are a symbol of distant hot countries, and here they are sources of food, clothing, housing. Coconut, banana, sago, rattan, sugar - and more than 200 varieties of palm trees grow here. In the variegated thickets of the Javanese rainforests, there is still an abundance of wildlife (although the local one has already disappeared).

Volcanoes stretch along the coast of the island, more than fifty volcanoes. Their purple peaks exude cirrus plumes of smoke, and sometimes burning black ash with fiery red lava, ruthlessly licking everything in its path.

Here, on the island of Java, there is such an impossible miracle of nature as glowing neon blue in the night, like a giant gas burner, the Kawa Ijen volcano.

It is part of the Ijen stratovolcano complex. Fantastic and stunning, with truly cosmic panoramas, the unforgettable sulfur volcano Kawa Ijen (Kawah Ijen) ...

Sights of the island of Java, as well as desires and realities

Yes, the island of Java is full of sights, the number of them is simply crazy!

Greedy eyes ran wide when I read about Borobudur, about the complex of Buddhist and Hindu temples of Prambanan with its giant Loro Jonggrang, dedicated to the three Hindu gods. Madly I wanted to visit the hot lake, whose vapors form giant bubbles up to three meters in diameter. And also see the jungle, coffee and tea plantations!

I rushed to write down the names of interesting places. Still need this! Yes, and this! And this is what you need!!! Alas, for my desires, vacation should be simply dimensionless. Therefore, on this trip of ours, which has a specific purpose, out of all the splendor of the island of Java, we could afford to get acquainted with only three of its natural masterpieces:

Ijen Volcano,
Waterfall in the rainforest
Volcano Bromo.

About the joy of new meetings and acquaintances

Temples, museums, palaces, beaches and so on - all this, of course, is magnificent, but, nevertheless, the most vivid and memorable travel experiences come from meeting people.

In the evening we arrived in the town of Banyuwangi, from where we will go to meet the sunrise on the Kawa Ijen volcano. Muslim quarter, Muslim clothing, Muslim cafe. Sanya asks for a menu. Bring the menu card. The husband stretches out his hand after him, but the girl in the headscarf, without looking, slams him on the table and, without saying a word, leaves.

Sorry miss, pliz that Bintang!

Silence in response. Sanya repeats, then again. The girl looks at him from behind the bar and defiantly turns away.

When traveling, no one is immune from unpleasant alterations. We had something similar. But one of the important rules of travelers is to firmly remember that there are more good people in any country of the world than bad ones, and that it is rare in any family to do without a freak. Knowing this first rule of travelers allows you to maintain peace of mind.

We thought. Leave? But hungry stomachs insisted - we must wait. Fate gave us signs, and we frivolously missed them.

Finally, we were able to place an order. I chose ayam goreng and french fries, Sanya - squid in pineapple and salad.

The second rule of the traveler

As time went. The Thais had already eaten and dispersed to their rooms, and we were all waiting. Finally, the moment came when we were already completely desperate, and then the subtle psychologists of the Javanese catering, who skillfully calculated the limits of our patience, served us our dinner.

Ayam goreng is fried chicken, if anyone does not know. But there was clearly a rooster on my plate. And one that lived a long and difficult life. Surely he dodged the hands of the cooks, and died a natural death. And so his mummified leg was fried and offered to me. The taste of the dish fully confirmed my guess.

At first, the stomach was delighted with the addition of calories, but after looking closely at what was stuffed into it, it abruptly went into unconsciousness. Like, I didn’t want to eat at all ... I didn’t even try potatoes.

Sana'a was brought his salad so richly seasoned with fatty yellow mayonnaise that none of its components could be seen under it. He picked the squid...

That was the end of our dinner. It was worth the wait...

But that fatal smallness was enough that it was nevertheless eaten.

Somewhere in Indonesia, in the eastern part of the island of Java, the village of Tuban is lost. There, the locals prepare pies from the earth. Silty soil from rice fields is used for this, and this mmm ... product is considered very useful and even, they say, has a good taste.

What we ate was obviously worse and much less useful.

We paid and went to our room. The hotel is a huge courtyard, tiny rooms with bare walls, but the room had air conditioning.

The cockerel that I had eaten seemed to be a fighting bird, because by this point my stomach was crying out desperately for help. It's good that I travel with a Big Bag of Medicines! Having collected a handful of healing tablets and pills, Sanya and I used them, and began to wait for the results. My body, in alliance with an antibiotic and no-shpa, crushed the cunning bird and quieted down, but not Sanin ...

Neither Sanya nor I could sleep and did not want to. We passed the time by studying an Indonesian phrasebook. It has a lot of interesting words! For example:

But most of all I was shocked by the word wife - isteri. Well, so, on the little things: kaki- leg, kakak- brother, etc.

We brightened up the rest of the time by watching our favorite movie with Harrison Ford “Six Days Seven Nights”. He very organically approached and lifted the mood that had fallen.

Here's another rule of an experienced traveler - the most important thing is not to lose optimism.

On the way to Kawa Ijen volcano

12 o'clock at night, we pack in minivans in the lobby and set off on our way to the Kawah Ijen volcano.

There are practically no signs on the roads. How drivers navigate there is a mystery to me. The roads themselves are narrow, winding and bumpy. Of course, they are single-lane, but Indonesians love to overtake each other. Not once, not twice, my heart sank, looking at how we were rushing straight into the forehead of an oncoming car, whose speed was by no means less than ours. But, fortunately, everything worked out.

This is a typical Indonesian driving style plus an Indonesian interpretation of traffic rules. Although, who knows, maybe these are the same rules here?

We were driving, and somehow imperceptibly, bouncing on the bumps and on the turns of the serpentine, I fell asleep. And when I woke up, the road, the forest - everything was as if washed away by streams of pouring rain. It would be more correct to call it streams of water that fell unstoppably from the sky to the earth. We drove for about an hour, the downpour did not think to stop.

What to do?

Three o'clock in the morning. We are at the parking lot. From here begins the ascent to the Ijen volcano, whose height above sea level is 2799 meters. We sit in a minivan and think a thought, and the wall of water is still falling from the sky.

Four o'clock. The rain continues to fall, with no end in sight. It takes about an hour to walk along the caldera to the crater of the volcano.

Our Dr. V makes a commanding decision to move forward. Song distributes plastic raincoats to everyone. We, like candy, wrap ourselves in this rustling package and splash through the puddles.

And Sana is getting worse! He constantly absents himself to the toilet, but is determined to get up and film everything.

Crater Kawa Ijen, sulfur and blue lava

It must be said right away that the Kava Ijen volcano is not like its counterparts. Inside its volcanic bowl, it is not flammable lava that boils, but quietly spread out, surrounded by rocks, an unearthly lake of amazing beauty with the same name - Kavakh Ijen.

Its dimensions are 950 by 600 meters, the volume is 36 million cubic meters. But it is not filled with water, but with a mixture of concentrated sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, and hot: its temperature on the surface is about 60 degrees, at the bottom it is even higher. Once, a sheet of aluminum was lowered into this glorious lake for twenty minutes, and when it was taken out, the thickness of the metal became comparable to the thinnest fabric.

Can you imagine what would happen if an eruption suddenly began? When the magma boils the terrible contents of the lake and tons of acid rise into the air? This threat is not unfounded. The Indonesian government in 2012 set the activity level of Kawa Ijen to a yellow mark and has not lowered the warning to date.

But Lake Kawah Ijen looks amazing! Wonder of the world!

It is interesting that at first it is liquid, of a beautiful dark red color and crawls along the slopes like lava. Cooling down - brightens, acquiring the color of amber. Then it turns yellow and becomes hard.

At night, liquid sulfur oxidizes and begins to glow with unreal blue, blue lights and flashes, fantastically transforming the surroundings. This is blue lava. And during the day, the burning designates itself with smoky white puffs.

A lot of jets smoke along the slopes of the crater funnel, either steam or smoke. Most likely, this is how water vapor escapes from the depths under pressure through cracks, and with it toxic hydrogen chloride, suffocating sulfur dioxide and even more harmful and insidious hydrogen sulfide.

Why is sulfur needed?

Accumulations of native sulfur, especially like the rich local one, are not so common on the planet. And the deposit of this substance on Kava Ijen is open. Moreover, it practically does not contain impurities. Here, sulfur ore is easy to mine, it does not need to be processed and enriched.

And sulfur is needed. And even very necessary. It is needed in almost all industries. Without it, rubber, fabrics, paper, medicines, plastics, fertilizers, explosives, paints, and cosmetics cannot be made.

Climbing a volcano with sulfur

We go to the Kawah Ijen volcano in complete darkness.

A headlamp illuminates only a patch of mist in front of the face. But it's not hard for us to get up. Our legs, trained by Nepal, carry us effortlessly up the winding path. But - rain! He ruins everything. When you walk, heat is released, and you are in a bag. Gradually, I became completely damp: on top from the rain, inside from sweat.

I go up the hill, pushing the wet darkness with the lantern, and suddenly I realize that I am walking alone - there is no Sanya nearby. I look around, spinning in place. I see - Sanya is behind. Apparently, he's really bad. Then I walk next to him.

I am no longer happy that the rain has stopped, leaving only a drizzle. I hardly notice that the wind has picked up, that wet sneakers are sloshing through the puddles. Sana is bad! And I can't help him...

We rise to the very top. The beam of a flashlight snatches out the guardrails. In front of them, behind them - the tourist people are scurrying in different directions. There are still a lot of people sitting on the rocks.

Officially, it is closed here, but the special guides were immediately replaced by a bunch of volunteers from local sulfur miners.

Some local runs up to us: “We have to go. Five people are with me."

Must, means must. We look around, out of our entire group, only one Shrimp breeder has caught up with us, the rest are hopelessly behind.

What to stand just like that and freeze - let's go.

As in the underworld, if, of course, there is one

If we climbed a well-packed path, about two meters wide, now we are going steeply down the cobblestones, slippery from the rain, along a barely visible serpentine path. It will be difficult for a mountain goat to pass here!

From the rain and the current drizzle - insanely slippery. Something crumbles underfoot. We walk in a tight chain, break one, it will be difficult for others to stay on their feet. Suddenly, Sanya slips from behind, his heart groans ...

“My God, where are we going! Is the dawn worth it? ' I mentally ask. It's dark... Slipping, we crawl forward a little more. It's hard to breathe... There is a suffocating smell of sulfur... My head hurts a little... Some Frenchwoman felt bad. I was scared - you have to wear masks!

From somewhere on the side, a dense cloud of sulphurous fumes crawls over us and covers us. Fuuu. What a stench! They put on masks, but their eyes are still watery. Itchy throat. In the dark we slide, we move on. Sanya stumbles again, he is picked up by several hands at once, including mine. Heart is beating... Where are we? For what? Unclear…

San, let's go back, I don't like it here... It's dark, I can't see anything...

Here, Katya is all about you, - suddenly Sanya discovers in me a resemblance to her daughter, - Here she also turns off halfway.

Okay, - I immediately backtrack, - Let's move on ...

I have a cough and watery eyes...

We see blue fire

Fire, - shouts the guide walking in front, and pokes forward into the cloudy-sulfur darkness, - blue Fire!

Fire, - tourists happily jump up after him.

I look closely - indeed, somewhere a little lower and to the left is a glimpse of a bluish tongue ... So here it is - we are going to blue flashes! Okay, just a little bit left and see if it was worth it. We reach.

Flashes play in the depths of a narrow opening, completely filled with a thick cloud of vapors. Sanya rushes there with a camera.

It's dark, it's damp, there's nothing to breathe even through the mask… Damn. I stand. Then I decide, since I'm here, I'll go and see what Sanya is interested in there. I go down, go in and see how something turns blue on the far wall with a soft stroke. It looks like a long sunbeam, only bluish-blue in color. But Sani is not.

"Sanya!" - I'm calling. Silence in response. - "SANIA!"

I suddenly get frightened: although it has already become a little lighter, such thick vapors are swirling here ... Sanya, where did he dive, led by his enthusiasm? How can I find him here?

“SAAAAAAA!” - I no longer hesitate to yell. One of our Thais comes up to me (look, they crawled quickly). "Everything is fine?" he asks. Surprisingly, in critical moments, my English, which is at the level of “I understand, but I cannot say,” is rapidly progressing.

Sanya takes pictures of blue lights, and I'm waiting for him ...

OK, - the Thai answers me and after a moment: - Taking pictures?

A maniacal gleam appears in his eyes, and he rushes into the same opening between the stones. Photographers, damn it!

Finally, Sanya emerges from the sulphurous puffs.

Yes, I heard, I heard, but I could not answer - you immediately cough, - he rapped out to my unspoken question.

Are we going? I want to go up and quickly...

And we began to rise.

Who has a bad job?

Friends, are there among you dissatisfied with your work? I am extremely satisfied with mine now. Meeting with the sulfur miners in the crater of the Kawa Ijen volcano healed me of possible dissatisfaction with the amount of work assigned, overly strict requirements of the boss, or not enough salary.

Sulfur mining is carried out by local residents who work without any protective clothing, even masks on their faces - they manage with a piece of cloth. Poisonous gases ruthlessly destroy their respiratory system, corrode the lungs, crumble their teeth. Therefore, it is rare that a sulfur miner lives more than thirty years.

There is no safety precautions, and sulfur is also capable of spontaneous combustion. Work goes on day and night under blue flashes.

Step by step, slowly, coughing, we emerge from the hydrogen sulfide gas clouds.

A sulfur porter walks past us. On his shoulders is a stick with a yoke, to the ends of which two baskets are attached. The porter stops, lowers his load. Sanya comes up, he wants to try on the burden. He goes in for sports every day, lifts the barbell at 80 kg. But a narrow stick, ill-suited for carrying heavy loads, is even inconvenient to lift. The porter comes to the rescue. Sanya raises and - immediately lowers the bamboo device with sulfur.

These people make $5 a day. Far from being athletes, they stuff pieces of sulfur weighing 70-80 kilograms into both baskets and carry them for several kilometers - first up from the crater, and then down to the foot of the Kawa Ijen volcano. They make two trips per shift.

What does the forced hard labor of rowers in the galleys mean, in comparison with this?

The porter offers to buy sulfur figurines from him. Glasses or plastic bottles scoop still liquid sulfur and pour it into molds, like those that our children use for sand cakes, and when the contents harden, they sell it. This is the earnings of the workers. We buy and take pictures for memory.

And here we are at the top of the Ijen volcano, here they are - familiar railings. Sanya's hype is gradually fading away, weakness is intensifying, he is all green.

We're going downhill. It dawned, it began to rain again, but we do not put on hoods: it is no longer possible to get wet. Here our vocabulary was enriched with another Indonesian word - “boca-boca”. It means something like - mani come on! Sanya clicked another hard worker, who taught us this word, accompanying us with an international gesture for better understanding.

He will heal everyone, the good doctor will heal

Finally we reach the parking lot, where minibuses are waiting for us. We sit down and wait for the others to return. It was quite light, the rain had passed, the sun had come out.

Sanya is pounding. He is dozing.

The members of our group are returning. Seeing Sanino's condition, the doctors become active, giving him Thai medicines to drink. Twenty minutes later Sanya gets better. “It will be necessary, on the way back, since we are flying through Bangkok, to buy a couple of packs of such miraculous drugs,” flashes through my head.

Besides us, there are 18 Thais in the group, and each member of our group approached Sana, everyone was worried. And this is not because the rules of good manners require it, but because we are also part of their gang.

It's a shame!

How did you like the lake? – the Physiotherapist is interested in us.

Lake? Sanya is surprised.

Yes, acid. Have you not seen him?

It turned out that we did not reach literally a few meters to its shore! They did not see behind the gray-yellow fumes!

So we will come again! - I try to calm Sanya, he is upset right to tears.

A group of Thais walked more slowly and ended up in the bowl of the Kawa Ijen volcano half an hour later than us. At this time, the sun came out, the wind rose and dispersed the evaporation. And our friends, walking along the very shore of the lake, clicked it in all its glory from different angles.

Only listening to them, I realized that our path, no one knows where, on slippery stones, was actually a descent into the crater to the lake. Hmm ... Really poisonous fumes, how the brain slows down. But what a shame!

To all the adventurous who set out to visit this exceptional place, my advice:

The main thing and the main thing is a face mask with a filter. We bought from Moscow in the “Overalls” store for 500 re, they were also more expensive with bells and whistles, but the most ordinary one was enough.
Shoes. If you decide to go down into the crater, then in slippers, flip flops, flip flops and the like - there is nothing to do there. Only sneakers with protectors or trekking shoes.
And keep in mind: there are no heaters in hotels and the sun does not always shine, and shoes take a long time to dry.
Raincoat and warm clothes. If I repeat this path, I would not refuse gloves.
Water and chocolate. Water - to rinse your mouth, rinse your face. Chocolate will give you the burst of energy you need to get up.

The car started moving, we cast a farewell glance towards Kawa Ijen and set off on our way to the next attraction of the island of Java - the Bromo volcano. At its foot we will spend three days filming sunrises and sunsets. Turning to a brighter future, I fell asleep.

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The idea to go from Bali to the neighboring island of Java to visit the active Ijen volcano was spontaneous, but it turned out to be rich in impressions.

Sulfur miner in the heat of sour gas...

The main purpose of the trip was to get to the volcano at night and catch an unusual blue glow, which is formed as a result of the ignition of sulfur dioxide. And, of course, meet the dawn, look at the unearthly landscape of the volcano itself and witness the process of sulfur extraction with your own eyes.

// evgeniy-isakov.livejournal.com

Night walk to the volcano Ijen: in order to see the miracle, you have to work a little...

Preparing for the trip was easy. One of the fundamental points is to take a respirator with you, without which the ascent is quite possible (if there is no hyperactivity in the volcano), but it is difficult to breathe, since the stench from sulfur dioxide is very suffocating. It would also be nice to take warm clothes with you (but without fanaticism, because despite the unusual cold for Indonesia, it is hot from physical activity during the ascent at night, it is not cold in the crater itself from fumaroles and the hot acidic lake Kawah, and the descent takes place already in the sun, when it becomes warmly), and of course the lanterns, since you have to climb along the road, albeit tolerable, but still in complete darkness.

// evgeniy-isakov.livejournal.com

Breathing in respirators is not very comfortable, but better than suffocating hydrogen sulfide

The road to the Ijen volcano turned out to be quite sane:

The road to Gilimanuk (it all depends on the traffic on the road), it took us from Jimbaran, along with a stop for dinner, about 5 hours;

An hour-long ferry to Java, whose lights are visible to the naked eye. Unlike the crossing to Lombok, loading onto the ferry takes a minimum amount of time: we loaded and sailed back and forth in just 15 minutes.

The road to the parking lot to the volcano. Here we had to stray a little along the mountain paths, but after we went to the right road, everything turned out to be very simple: the asphalt is good, in some places the road is even illuminated by lanterns.

Upon arrival at the starting point on foot, we changed clothes and, having paid 100,000 rupees for entry (it is interesting that the entrance for locals costs only 10,000), we moved into the darkness. Although it was difficult to call it darkness, since an almost full moon hung directly above us and we partly walked without lanterns. By the way, you can easily refuse unobtrusive guides, since there is only one road to the crater, and you can get lost only if you really want to.

// evgeniy-isakov.livejournal.com

We were definitely lucky with the weather: almost a full moon and no rain. There was nothing fundamentally difficult in the climb itself either. Immediately at the start, we threw off some of our clothes, because it became hot from physical exertion. Of course, someone made small pauses in order to restore their breath, but if you wish, you can safely walk without stopping. Somewhere in the middle of the journey, the acrid smell of hydrogen sulfide hit our noses, so our respirators found direct use. Breathing in it is a little more difficult, but, believe me, the filtered air tastes much nicer!

// evgeniy-isakov.livejournal.com

The last section before the view of the crater ... White dots - the lanterns of numerous tourists

Climbing the caldera, we were able to glance at the crater containing the sulfur lake and sulfur smoke from fumaroles. The picture is, of course, mesmerizing. Unfortunately, we did not see a blue glow (the fact that some guides highlight the smoke with lanterns, of course, does not count), but even without it there was something to see. The lake itself and the sulfur mining site, although located only 200 meters below the caldera, but getting to it along rocky ledges is a different story. But this is where all the fun happens. From somewhere in the heart of the volcano, hot gas flows through the laid pipes, which contains sulfur. At the exit, this sulfur is collected in some kind of yellow-red slurry and solidifies. It is her that the locals prick with a crowbar and deliver on their ridge to the foot of the volcano.

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In black and white, the landscape looks absolutely cosmic...

The work schedule of these hard workers is worth a separate description, but I will say right away, a hell of a job! Not only do you have to breathe these infernal gases all the time (I foolishly decided to test them on myself and almost coughed up my lungs), but the entire rise of sulfur is done manually. Two baskets hang on the rocker, where sulfur is added, and this whole structure weighing no less than 50 kilograms rises along the stones on its ridge to the caldera, where it is transferred to wheelbarrows and delivered down to the foot. To be honest, how they live to at least 40 years seems difficult to me, but oddly enough, these guys manage to take smoke breaks along the way and don’t look particularly hunted, and even manage to joke with each other and shout to the whole crater. But a slow unhurried step with a sulfur burden on the hump does not tell me in any way that this is light bread.

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Hell of a job, literally and figuratively

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To get to sulfur, you have to climb into the very hell.

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In this form, sulfur flows out of the barrels. When it hardens, the locals prick it with a crowbar and collect it in baskets.

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Not sure if they have a division of responsibilities. Everyone collects sulfur and delivers it to the acceptance.

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All hard workers smoke, although you have to breathe, and so it is not clear what.

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It is no longer easy to tear such a rocker off the ground, but dragging it up the stones with it is a different story.

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Someone said that the locals make two walks a day. I was pretty tired even without a burden.

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Despite the fact that the last volcanic activity was a long time ago, the trunks of most trees are burnt

The descent down is not an easy task, especially in the form in which it was before us. Since we had been driving all night, after seeing the volcano, we were so sleepy that we had to control ourselves so as not to fall asleep on the way down. But it was worth it, I got the most impressions. And the trip itself, although it seemed very long, was much more fun in good company!

And the cost of our trip came out very affordable. Considering that we had a car, and we did not pay rent, the total budget per person (7 people in a car) turned out to be very acceptable - 180 thousand rupees (about $ 15), which included gasoline, ferry (148 thousand rupees in one side) and entrance fee to the volcano. A separate expense item is a respirator and a cartridge for it (sold at ACE Hardware for 45 thousand) and, of course, food on the road.

In any case - the trip was worth it on all fronts!

evgeniy_isakov
08/12/2015

Pages: 1

When traveling in Indonesia, I recommend visiting the Bromo volcano and it is better to do it yourself so that beautiful views and emotions remain not only in the photo, but also in memory. In this article I will talk about visiting Mount Bromo, interesting legends and impressions. First, useful information, and then my trip to the crater through the field, meeting the dawn on the mountain, how to get there, where to live and what to see.

Volcano Mount Bromo Mount Bromo

Mount Bromo with a height of 2329 m above sea level is located in the eastern part of the Indonesian island of Java, 85 km from the large metropolis - Surabaya city, 45 km from the city Probolingo and about the same from the city Malaga. This is an active stratovolcano - the top of Mount Bromo crumbled during the eruption, and the open crater constantly smokes in the middle of a large, ten-kilometer caldera surrounded by mountains and vegetation. Bromo Volcano is part of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. Wonderful panoramic views and easy accessibility have made Bromo the most visited volcano in Indonesia. Bromo Volcano on the map of the island of Java or look in more detail on the interactive large map on the site below. All places are marked.

Bromo Tenggger Semeru National Park

On the territory of the park, in addition to the caldera with five volcanoes surrounded by a sea of volcanic sand, there are 7 more peaks. Mountain Seven- the highest on the island of Java and an active active volcano, 3676m high. In the photo, its peak is visible in the background. On the other hand, on the other side is Mount Penanjakan, where everyone usually goes to meet the dawn. In the caldera itself, in addition to Bromo, there are four more volcanoes. Only one of them - Mount Batok 2440m, spectacularly looking next to the Bromo crater - is sleeping, the rest are active. The total area of the park occupies 502 sq. km, there are many rivers, lakes, waterfalls, very beautiful nature and views around. It is best to come here for at least a few days, and not for one, as many do. Usually tourists come to watch the sunrise on the mountain and the crater of the Bromo volcano itself, and it’s interesting to walk around here.

On the volcano Bromo on your own

How did I get. She arrived from the city, on a regular intercity passenger bus, which dropped me off at the bus terminal in the city of Probolingo at four in the morning - (I was on the last bus). The ticket cost 58 thousand rupees. The bus was packed to capacity and people even sat in the aisle on small stools. And the seats in the cabin are not two, but three passengers side by side, narrow. I felt like I was in captivity. It’s good that I met a Christian nun next to her and sat next to her, at least she’s not fat and doesn’t smoke. I have already said that people smoke right in the cabin.

Night, dark, I went to the road. The outlets are all closed, the lantern is shining and no one is there. Sat on the bench to wait. At dawn, little Bemos (minibuses) will start running in Chemoro Lawang village is the closest to Bromo volcano. An hour later, some uncle appeared, offered to wait in the terminal building, I refused, I was afraid to miss the bemo)) ... After a while, he returned with a guy, also an independent traveler. It was an Italian about thirty years old, with whom we went together at dawn, for there were no other passengers at that time. It takes about an hour and a half to drive from Probolinggo to Bromo or Chemoro Lawang. The road to the mountains is very picturesque with awesome views, see the photo at the bottom of the article. Upon arrival, we found accommodation - I must say it is more expensive here than in other places, so we rented one room with two beds and divided the price equally. Everything is correct. The owner brought a thermos, drank hot tea and went to Bromo.

Hike to the crater of the Bromo volcano

From the village of Chemoro Lawang to the volcano Bromo is only 3 km, as indicated by the sign. You can get there on foot, by car or by horse. Local residents actively offer their services.

The riders are wrapped in hats and blankets, it seems they do not look like Indonesians. These are the Tengger people - the local population, who settled here back in the 19th century, representing the Hindu community of about 600 thousand people living in the vicinity of the Bromo Tengger Semeru park. They are probably descendants of the Hindu Majpahit empire which flourished in the 15th century. Now the name of the park has become clear.
They say that you need to pay an entrance ticket here, which the Italian warned me about, having read various guidebooks, but I am already an experienced fighter and saying that we are just walking and generally going in the other direction, we excused ourselves. Here, near the observation deck, durians were sold and I tried to find out how much they cost.
From here we started our hike to the volcano, overcoming a three-kilometer path through Laut Pasir sea of sand, volcanic sand, whose dust clouds stretch for hundreds of meters when the wind blows or trail behind a galloping horse and a passing car. But in spite of everything, it's more interesting, so you can feel everything yourself. We went straight ahead, not down the road.
Lucky, the weather is very good, despite the cool mountain climate. It was 20-23 degrees in the sun - this is February 22. Walk about 40 minutes. It was unexpected and surprising to see a temple here, but I will talk about it later. Near Bromo is Mount Batok, because of it, I didn’t even notice Bromo from afar at first.

There is not a single trace here, we were pioneers)) there are not many such crazy travelers. Then we were alone. Here in this photo you can see a thin line along the slope of the crater - this is a staircase to the ascent.
Equipped staircase to the mountain and, having overcome 250 steps we are already standing at the very crater of the Bromo volcano. Stunned, I have not seen this yet, although I have already visited 2 volcanoes and Sumatra, but this one looks like a fistula on the body of the Planet. Impressive. From it constantly erupt small and large clubs of steam formed by sulfur dioxide, therefore it is not worth inhaling this much and for a long time - it is harmful.

There is nowhere to walk here, only a narrow part along the edge of the crater, so look, take pictures and that's it, although the view is certainly amazing.

This is what it looks like independent traveler after spending 8 hours in a cramped bus, and then several more on the road, walking 3 kilometers through the terrible black volcanic dust and climbing 250 steps to look into the crater of the Bromo volcano on the island of Java in Indonesia. Where do forces come from to radiate joy and happiness. Such is the life of a traveller. The surrounding nature and space reward me and love me. I love them very much too.

It’s good that there is a fence, albeit a broken one, otherwise curiosity pulls to look deeper. We were lucky again, there were very few people, despite the Saturday. Or maybe it's just too early.

Hindu temple at Bromo volcano

At the foot of the Bromo volcano and Mount Batok, located hindu temple pura luhur poten Pura Luhun Poten. The local tenggers preach ancient Hinduism. This temple immediately attracted me and on the way back we went to it. Yes, he is so small in the photo in the middle of the caldera.
Actually, there are no special decorations, except for the gates in the temple. The temple was closed, but I said that I wanted to see and we climbed over the fence. It's just a yard inside and that's it.

Traditional holiday of Tengger people and legend

In summer, at the end of July, beginning of August, crowds of tourists come here to watch the celebration. Upakara Casada, a traditional holiday of the local population, accompanied by morning prayers and the illumination of gifts in the temple, and then everyone goes to throw their offerings to God in the crater of the Bromo volcano. Kasada is the name of the twelfth month of the year according to the ancient calendar of the Tengger people.

Exists legend, according to which the prince and princess, fleeing many centuries ago from the Islamists, founded their kingdom here, but they had no children and heirs. They began to pray, ask God, and then God, who appeared from the volcano, told them that they would have children, but the last born baby must be sacrificed. After they had almost 25 children, they did not want to sacrifice their child. God, understandably, was angry. A powerful volcanic eruption claimed the life of a baby and since then, people have been annually pleasing God and making offerings and symbolic sacrifices in the form of chickens, birds, rice, fruits. All this is thrown into the crater. The poor people are really looking forward to this holiday, they try to catch and get a chicken for themselves and even use various devices for this.
On the way back, we again went through the sands - there are whole sandy canyons and dunes. The views are very interesting in my opinion, I was very glad that we went on foot and saw so much. Although my sneakers and legs were completely black, everything was covered in volcanic dust.

Here is such an interesting independent excursion to the Bromo Volcano, it turned out. We returned to the village again. It's good that the room had a shower and a water heater, we managed to wash off this volcanic dust. Although the room was cool, and not hot at all in the mountains.

It was very cold at night, I could not sleep normally, I lay completely in clothes and even in a jacket, covered with two blankets and shivering. More and more often the noise of passing cars became audible. They took tourists to watch the sunrise. I overcame laziness, so as not to regret later on what I had missed, and I did the right thing. Picked up the Italian and we walked along the road, in pitch darkness, following the light of the cars, until we were attached to someone with a flashlight.

Dawn on Bromo

Dawn is met on Mount Penanjakan, which takes about an hour to walk from the village, especially when it happens at night and without a flashlight. True, a lot of cars with tourists from travel agencies go there, you can hire anyone you want in advance. There are two viewing platforms View point 1 and 2, the one is higher.

Of course, I would go there, but this Italian ... you can't. It was blocked there. On the observation deck, brought tourists crowded, and I moved higher. The guy wanted to stay, I told him, do what you want, and I will go higher. He replied that I was creazy crazy, but trudged along behind me. You can’t see anything in the caldera, but on the other hand, a wonderful view towards the village, just alien)) Damn, the people saw and also pinned down, though there were only 4 people. As a result, from my point of view, everything was visible without someone's head in the frame. Even though there was no space. A narrow path where you can stand on a small patch. I believe that in terms of level this place was between the first and second observation deck. The dawn over Bromo was accompanied by large clouds. While we climbed it began to get light, it seemed that the rising sun was about to scatter them, but no.
Nearby are ribbed mountains, overgrown with vegetation, like velvet.
This is where I slipped a bit from my position.
The clouds were approaching in a heavy dense mass and seemed to want to swallow everyone, so we had to start descending. Along the way, we stopped at an observation deck. All organized tourists have already subsided and you can safely take a photo against the backdrop of Mount Bromo.

Then we walked back to our village of Chemoro Lawang, it was already drizzling, we had to put on a raincoat, the same one that the Indonesian girl gave me after descending from the volcano. Along the way we enjoyed beautiful views. However, in the middle of the way, we were almost blown away by the wind, especially me. The raincoat puffed up like a balloon. It's a pity I deleted the photo, I decided that it was ugly.

On the same morning we left Chemoro Lawang, back to Probolingo. True, they probably waited an hour until people gathered in the bemo. I sat in the seat next to the driver to take photos from the window because the views are amazing. I even filmed a video.

What kind of work is the processing of these gardens, which, like a patchwork mosaic, look so impressive on the mountains and in the valleys. It’s necessary to drag everything up there in order to build a house and drag the necessary garden equipment and so on. These views are still remembered no less than the trip to Bromo itself.

For a trip to the Bromo volcano, it is desirable to have:

raincoat and windbreaker in case of bad weather or a jacket in the evening and in the morning it is cold
drinking water (I didn’t have it, so I recommend it, I wanted to drink)
something that protects against dust - a scarf, a mask ... if you dare to walk on a sea of sand
hat for sunny days
flashlight if you go to meet the dawn

How to schedule your time is up to you. You can meet the sunrise early in the morning, and then go see and climb the crater of the Bromo volcano. It all depends on your route, where and what time you arrive. If time permits, stay at least a couple more days to walk around the Bromo Tenggger Semeru National Park - it's beautiful there.

eat you can in a cafe, restaurant or an ordinary small warung. The prices are reasonable, there are even European dishes in some places.

Housing can be found in the village or if the season is to book a hotel or guesthouse or stay in a private house. There are also normal hotels, of your choice, wallet and desired conditions.

If you get to Mount Bromo from, it will take 10 hours, by bus more than 12 hours, including a ferry crossing. Ticket for a regular passenger bus from Probolinggo in Denpasar cost 58 thousand Indonesian rupiah. Bromo - Probolingo 35 thousand rupees on bemo.
If from the city of Surabaya, then about 3-4 hours. It is a huge city and has an international airport. There is also a local small airport in the city of Malaga.

Well, when I arrived in Probolingo, I fell for the shout of the barker from the bus and continued my journey across Indonesia further east, to the island in the town of Candidasa, which you can read about in the next article.

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