Java, volcanoes

The Journal of my trip to Java

Day 1, Sunday, 22nd February 2009

We started the trip to Java on 22nd February 2009. This time I was guiding 2 young and friendly Canadians that I was recommended to by one of my customers who did Semeru trek with me in 2006.

They originally wanted to go to Lombok but for some reason they had to cancel that trip. Both have just graduated from university. Stephanie studied tourism and hotel management and Marie is a biologist now. Waiting for the date of my trip schedule, they agreed to stay in Lovina. I picked them up at one of the hotels near the dolphin statue. It took us only 1 hour 40 minutes to get to Gilimanuk. Unlike Padang Bay to Lembar, ferry crossing from Bali to Java and vice versa is very convenient. You do not have to wait for the ferry as there are at least 5 ferries waiting for you, and it only takes 1 hour to get to the other harbor. We had lunch at one of the workers%26#39; home at Taman Sari village near a sulfur depot in Banyuwangi, the nearest city to Ijen. Whenever I do my Ijen tour I normally have lunch at the workers%26#39; home, and they arrange who will host the meal. It was Mrs. Budi%26#39;s turn to provide us lunch. Mr Budi works at the so called Solfatara (the crater where sulfur is produced). He was the one who arranged the porters to help Nicolas HULOT make the documentary on Ijen. For the French, Nicolas is quite famous as an environmentalist, but hey, one of my customers who happens to be his neighbor says he often gets disturbed by the roar of his helicopter engine when Nicolas goes home.

After lunch we drove up through the rain forest of Ijen Baluran National Park. I used to see many black monkeys before 1990. I wonder where in the world they are now, and the other animals,... Rangers believe that there are still some leopards in the thick jungle. Scientists still pay a visit to this area and find out some footprints of the animals as well as their droppings. No rangers have ever spotted one since 1989 but last year a deer in a cage near the ranger%26#39;s park was missing and people are still speculating who would be strong enough to break into the cage and drag this deer out?

The space for the animals in most of the jungles in Indonesia is decreasing. In Sumatra, tens of people are killed by Sumatran tigers every year. Two people were killed on 2nd March 2009 and 1 on the day I hiked to Ijen, and 2 on 21st and 3 on 31st January 2009. The local people said that the old tigers do not have the ability to compete with the young ones to catch the prey, and some get angry because the humans catch their baby tigers and many of these beautiful felines feel threatened by all these illegal lodgings. I notice that most of the victims are those who stay at the settlements near the area where they cut a lot of trees. There are only about 250 tigers now. In 2000 there were more than 1,000 tigers. Sumatran tigers are just an inching away from extinction. I am sure the leopards in Java are following their Javan tigers’ extinction. The last Javan tiger was reported shot in 1970.

If you really look at the area before entering rain forest of Ijen, you will notice that the government has extended their coffee plantation by cutting down so many trees. When floods occur in non metropolis areas, villagers wonder why it happens.

We had a break at the 1st sulfur depot near the starting point of Paltuding. The management decided to move the depot and process the sulfur there due to some complaints from the people around the factory. It just makes sense because the sulfur stinks when it comes out of the earth%26#39;s tummy through a volcano or when people boil it in a big frying pan in the factory.

At the Arabica hotel, I saw some tourists sitting and having some drinks after a long drive from Bromo, Bali or Kalibaru. Doing a trip in Java is quite different from that of Bali. In Bali, you can see 7 - 10 places of interest in one day, and that you do not have to go through such a long drive. In Java, you may see only one place a day, but that single place is really spectacular, and that the memory will stay for such long time. Ah, may be I am just exaggerating. Of course people have their own way of spending their holiday. Some tourists feel good staying at a hotel and goes to the same restaurant and pub everyday for 2 weeks in a row. Some people like to spend their holiday by counting how many thousands of miles they make, some like to do the ';let%26#39;s get to the point%26#39; stuff and do not mind missing the experience of the places around the site. It always challenges me to design a good itinerary for some independent travelers to see the beauty of the island without having to drive long. My trip is not suitable for those who fancy luxury. Get back to Bali if that’s what you are looking for. For accommodations in many places of interest in East Java, very often you have to take it as it comes. At Ijen National Park, there are only 3 places for tourists to stay . They are Arabica Homestay, Catimor and Jampit Guest House. Jampit is normally empty, even when the other hotels are fully booked. Apparently the location is a bit far from the main road. You do not feel like driving one more hour after a 5 hour chaotic drive. I am a safe driver myself, I only crash 2 or 3 dogs a year in Bali, chickens in Java and pigs in Flores.

In terms of ambiance, Jampit is one of my favorites in Java. Near Arabica, I suggested Steph and Marie see one of the real villages at Ijen National Park. Yes, to the best of my knowledge, the tour to this charming village where most of the inhabitants work for the coffee plantation is not scheduled by any other tour operators. The coffee business is not fair trade, and the inhabitants who live in simplicity are busy only at harvest time, which starts from July to November. What about the rest of the year? They have to survive by cultivating some vegetables like onions, strawberries, potatoes and cabbages. They also breed goats to get an extra income. Having finished the trip of the day, I was welcomed by Pak Awi and he showed us to our rooms.

Steph and Marie occupied the best room at Catimor. They did not seem to have the time to indulge themselves at the Jacuzzi. After dinner, I showed them one of the documentaries on Ijen and was ready to answer questions. Ibu Mur of the hotel asked me if my customers wanted a cup of Kopi Luwak. I am not a coffee drinker myself but I know the most expensive coffee at the classiest place I have ever been in Bali would cost me less than US $ 7.00. Here in Ijen, a cup costs you 100,000 (US $10.00), wanna try?

Day 2, Monday, 23rd February 2009

We got up around 05.00 and started the trek in a cool morning. The hike is one of the easiest in Indonesia. I would say you do not really need a guide to get to the summit as these incredible workers carry the sulfur that weighs between 40 - 120 kg from the deep inside the volcano back to the base at Paltuding twice a day. They balance a piece of wood across their shoulders with a basket on both ends. They have to strategically wriggle under the balancing bar and then stand up. We were shown one man’s shoulders under his shirt to see the permanent scarring from the load. When it comes to going down the crater, Ijen is really not a toy volcano at all. That%26#39;s when I am needed by my customers. There used to be a sign that says:'; Il est absolument interdit de descendre dans le crater à tous sauf les travailleurs'; (it%26#39;s prohibited to go down the crater except for the workers). A French woman fell off the cliff and died in 1997. 5 months ago 2 French women passed out and I heard that their guide from a reputable tour operator had let them go down alone. Why French ? Yeah, Ijen has been mostly visited by the Francophones since 1997 after Nicolas Hulot produced a TV documentary on Ijen.. Before then, I met a lot of Dutch. In my opinion, the Dutch visited the National Park for the coffee plantation, and soon found out that there was something else to see.

I think it is fair enough for the rangers to put this prohibition sign because when the toxic smoke comes to you, there is only little oxygen and you had better know how to anticipate this tricky situation. No wonder an American writer, named Bill Dalton, who I believe has been to more than 100 islands in Indonesia put a title ';what planet is this?'; on his Ijen section. The word %26#39;Ijen%26#39; in Javanese means “alone”. Ijen is a lone volcano, may be people thought nobody would go there because it stinks. It is interesting that a French man in his documentary on Ijen calls it %26#39;cratère vert%26#39; which means green crater. In Javanese “ Ijo” means green and the noble word for Ijo is Ijem (with an m at the end), and the color of the sulfur lake is green.

The trip down the crater is, in fact, the hardest part of the trip. On our way between the shelter and the top of Ijen, we came across a couple of Dutch who had almost been down the crater and finally quit on the way down as the toxic fume ';attacked'; them. In the end, they followed us and did the crater trip under my supervision. Just a quarter way down to the crater, one of the porters acting as my assistant (for a maximum security I always go down the crater with at least an assistant) shouted at me and asked me to reconsider taking Steph. She cried and said that she was afraid. I came to her and asked how she was feeling and after a while made sure she would manage the situation. I personally took extra care of her until we all got back to the top. In my career as a guide, 95% of my customers get down to Ijen crater without big problems and I have been careful in making decision on who will go down with me. Safety is my top priority. Once I used a bandage from my first aid tool, but that was for a tourist from another tour operator. The guide said he had forgotten (#?§!) to bring along the first aid stuff .

We-Steph, Marie, the Dutch couple and I- managed to get the bottom of the solfatara and stayed there for a while. We got thicker smoke to contend with. Probably their chests were aching at that stage..

After that-quite an experience-trip, we headed down and had a little break at the shelter Pondok Bunder. I guess they were all happy to be alive! During lunch, I had to tell Steph and Marie that the trip to Semeru was not going to happen as I stated before on the itinerary. Steph later asked if I cancelled the trip because of her and I said it was not the case.

We drove to Mount Bromo and checked in at the hotel. At dinner, we discussed all the options to replace the Semeru trip. We were supposed to do Semeru trek on day 3 but were eventually prohibited to climb that majestic volcano due to the significant change of the eruption interval. Semeru normally erupts 50 - 130 times a day and it%26#39;s still considered normal when the interval of the eruption goes down to 40 times a day. It happens almost every year. This time it erupts every 10 hours and it has been like that for 4 weeks. According to one of the vulcanologists that we met at Gunung Sawur observation center, the seismic data said that the activity was still normal but it could become dangerous when the frequency of the eruption does not occur as usual. Some villagers say it is normally caused by the thick magma that blocks the Jonggring Saloka crater. What worries them is that when it explodes, it%26#39;s going to be big and probably violent.

Day 3, Tuesday, 24 February 2009

3.45 a.m. .Wake up door knock. We took a 4.2 liter engine jeep to the Bromo look out point called Mount Penanjakan. Very bumpy ride, the view point was not packed with tourists this time, so I told the jeep driver to take us to the touristy point, not to my usual secret place for my customers to take pictures without any other tourists blocking the view.

The sunrise was an okay one. There were two perspectives, one being the sun rising over the horizon and the opposite directing to this breath-taking view of Mount Bromo, surrounded by many towering mountains, and one of them supposedly erupts every 15 - 25 minutes. On a clearer day, the sun light is supposed to be pouring over the slopes of other mountains, making it a colorful scenery. I see Bromo several times a month, so I enjoy more the sounds of everyone getting excited. The sweet melodies of Javanese singing in their language and the eeewwwww%26#39;s and ahhhh%26#39;s building up as the sun rise got closer.

Back in the Jeep for another rocky ride to Bromo not too far away. When we got there I had to deal with all those horse masters who wanted the tourists to choose their horses for riding. I finally chose the big ones for them. Steph came back to me and said that her horse kicked the other ones and I chose another one for her. It happens when these horses are physically too close to one another.

Looking at the volcano, I recalled the time when the last eruption occurred. I left the volcano on 8 June 2004 at 07.30 , and at 15.26 that day it erupted, killing a couple of tourists, one from Surabaya and the other from Singapore. I came back a few days later and saw many big rocks, some of them weighed more than 150 kg scattered on the sea sand more than a kilometer away from the volcano. The locals told me a strange story that the tourists who got killed were wearing flip-flops. They said that had they worn proper shoes, they could have managed to escape like the others.

This tour to Bromo was quite an easy one for Stéphanie and Marie. We went back to the hotel to have breakfast, and after that we were off to one of my favorite places in Java, the hidden paradise Mada waterfall. I like this place partly because there are very few tourists who go there. Most of them come from the cities nearby.

I provided a plastic crate with all Stéphanie and Marie%26#39;s stuff in it and we started a walk through a nice landscape on a small zigzaging path - a river coming from the waterfall.

Along this path we went under some falling water which was just freezing cold. The screams of excitement began, the end of the track was a massive cascading waterfall with a pool of water at the bottom. I led Steph and Marie across to the side. We entered the water slowly and then walked through the water and stayed directly under the waterfall!

The local people say that the waterfall is known for its healing qualities. It rained the previous day so the water was pounding heavily on top of our heads. Then we plunged into the pool of water to swim about. Water relaxes me. I was filled with utter joy, pleasure and amazement. I could happily have stayed there forever.

We decided to go to the Semeru observation center at Gunung Sawur. We did not see any lava from that view point and decided to move to Supit Urang, the closest spot, to see the lava on Semeru. The chance of us seeing the lava was pretty small as it had been cloudy all afternoon.. I decided not to set up tent at Ayou area. We stayed at the house of the chief of Supit Urang village. His wife told me that less than 2 weeks before they had a volcanic earth quake, a small one though.

When everybody was asleep, I went out to see mount Semeru from the distance. I saw part of the slopes of this majestic volcano among the clouds and I suddenly felt scared thinking about the devastation that a volcano could create. Is it going to explode violently some day ? Even scientists can never guarantee that an active volcano will not erupt violently. My beautiful country is located on the Pacific ring of fire, lots of volcanoes. Islands in Indonesia lie above two tectonic plates, one of which is being pulled underneath the other at a rate of 6cm per year.

The volcano in front of my nose is considered to be one of the most active in the world. Maybe the people who live here do not have to fight against the eruption every day like the Icelanders, but at least they are aware that one day they will have to deal with the consequences. Numerous deaths have occurred. On 14 May 1981 heavy rains created mudflows and killed 252 people, 152 were injured and 120 missing. On 3 February 1994 six people were killed and 275 people were evacuated. In 1999, two German climbers died near the crater on 2nd September after being struck by large ejected ballistics. A scientific team was caught in an eruption at the summit of Semeru on 27 July 2000. An explosion resulted in two deaths and injuries to five other volcanologists near the crater. Some students got lost attempting to climb Mahameru without a guide. In 2004, when I was at Bromo, a ranger from Semeru called me and told me that a man from a group of 11 French people died of heart attack and that they were climbing without a guide. I called my associate Joe to ask if he knew the group. Joe said that he was the guide for Merapi trek in Yogya. He asked if the dead man had white hair and the ranger at Semeru confirmed that that was the one. The director of the travel agency once asked me for a quotation to guide this group.

Not far from here-still in East Java-, lies mount Raung that that killed around 1,000 people. Mount Kelud 10,000 people and here in East Java we have other volcanos such as Welirang, Arjuna, Argo Puro, etc. Back home in Bali, Mount Agung erupted in 1963, killing 1,147 people.

In Central Java, Mount Merapi killed 1,000 people, Papandayan more than 2,900 casualties, Galunggung 4,000 people. The last major eruption on Galunggung was in 1982, which killed 68 people. This eruption also brought the dangers of volcanic ash to aero planes and managed to attract worldwide attention, after two Boeing 747 passenger jets flying downwind of the eruption suffered temporary engine failures and damage to exterior surfaces, both planes being forced to make emergency landings at Jakarta airport.

A British Airways aircraft carrying 240 passengers, accidentally entered the ash cloud during night time in June 1982, about 150 km downwind of the volcano. All four engines failed and the aircraft descended for 16 minutes, losing 7500 meters of its 11500 meter altitude, until the crew managed to restart the engines.

The following month a Singapore Airlines aircraft with 230 passengers aboard also inadvertently entered the cloud at night time, and three of its four engines stopped. The crew succeeded in restarting one of the engines after descending 2400 meters. Both aircraft suffered serious damage to their engines and exterior surfaces.

A scientist says that Indonesia leads the world in many volcano statistics. It has the largest number of historically active volcanoes (76), its total of 1,171 dated eruptions is only narrowly exceeded by Japan%26#39;s 1,274, and these two regions have combined to produce 1/3 of the known explosive eruptions. Indonesia has suffered the highest numbers of eruptions producing fatalities, damage to arable land, mudflows, tsunamis, domes, and pyroclastic flows. ... Four-fifths of Indonesian volcanoes with dated eruptions erupted in 20th century ..

And my country has experienced at least 3 global disasters, two of them were caused by volcanos, and the last one was the tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004.

First in 1815,

The summary of volcanos in Indonesia that I was reading says that Tambora eruption was the greatest volcanic disaster in all of recorded history. Located on the island of Sumbawa,Indonesia, gave about 3 years of warning prior to it%26#39;s eruption in the form of small phreatic eruptions and steaming. The eruption killed 12,000 people due to pyroclastic flows, but that was not the main killer. The eruption caused a world-wide famine that resulted in the death of an additional 80,000 people. This brought the Tambora death toll to a staggering 92,000 lives.

The eruption also ejected a big amount of material to 50 cubic km. . The aerosols that was released into the air by Tambora caused a global climate change that rocked the world. It dropped global temperatures as much as 3 degrees Celsius and is responsible for ';the year without a summer';. An article says that Napoleon Bonaparte failed uniting his soldiers due the significant change of climate, and he lost the war there. Global cooling often has been linked with major volcanic eruptions. The year 1816 was a time of significant weather-related disruptions in New England and in Western Europe with killing summer frosts in the United States and Canada. These strange phenomena were attributed to a major eruption of the Tambora volcano in 1815 in Indonesia. The volcano threw sulfur dioxide gas into the stratosphere, and the aerosol layer that formed led to brilliant sunsets seen around the world for several years.

The second one, Krakatau.

Like Tambora, Krakatau exhibited several years of seismic tic activity before its eruption in 1883. The final eruption blew away the top three quarters of the island and the explosion was heard 4,500 km away, making it the loudest noise in history. The eruption killed 5,000 people in pyroclastic flows and killed an additional 31,417 people in tsunamis.

This earth-shattering event became the greatest natural disaster of the 19th century: the sky was bathed in an unearthly red glow and the fallout was felt around the world.

The force of the eruption created the loudest noise ever recorded: it was heard 4,653km away on Rodriguez Island in the Indian Ocean and some 4,800km away in Alice Springs; shock waves traveled around the world seven times; and the force of the blast was some 10,000 times greater than that of the hydrogen bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The volcano left 36,000 people dead and the survivors battled to cope with tsunamis,

As the volcano erupted, a plume of ash swept 80km into the sky, the hot gas became unstable and raced across nearby islands at 150km. ';Those who weren%26#39;t killed by the intense heat,'; says Dr Dave Rothery, from the Department of Earth Sciences at the Open University, ';would have been sandblasted to death. It was hot enough to carbonize everything in its path.';

The real killers, though, were the giant tsunamis that were unleashed, reaching heights of 40m and which were so violent that they flung sections of coral reef ashore, some weighing as much as 600 tons. Like the Indonesian tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, these tsunamis destroyed everything in their path.

The BBC re-examined the impact of one of the world%26#39;s largest volcanoes in a factual drama, Karate - The Last Days, and in an accompanying documentary, Karate Revealed. Human tragedy aside, Krakatoa was important because it was declared a ';modern'; disaster and became one of the first global media events.

It produced a wealth of first-hand survivor accounts: a German quarry manager recounted being hurled by a wall of water from the top of his office block and swept into the jungle below. To his astonishment, he saw a crocodile being carried alongside him and incredibly he leapt on the animal%26#39;s back and rode it for 3km before being deposited, unharmed, on the rainforest floor

The rest of the world heard such stories almost instantly because a series of underwater telegraph cables had been recently laid traversing the globe. For the first time, operators were able to communicate stories to their counterparts across the globe using morse code. As Professor Nick Petford, from the School of Earth Sciences and Geology at Kingston University, London, and presenter of the BBC documentary explains, ';This is the first time a volcano had exploded and was known about instantly. The underwater telegraph cables were a network for communication, the precursor to the internet.';

This new technology meant that Krakatoa also generated the first modern scientific study of a volcanic eruption. ';At the time geology was a lively academic discipline,'; says Petford. ';A Dutch scientist, Rogier Verbeek, got there very quickly and recorded everything and his report was an astoundingly inspired piece of work.';

And now Anak Rakata (the son of Karakatau) is growing up. The summit of Anak Rakata has now reached 230 meters above sea level, and it keeps on growing up to 4 cm per year.

That late evening, before I went to sleep, I was puzzled with a very simple question: ';which explosion was bigger? Tambora or Krakatau? The Guinness book of record says that Krakatau eruption was the most powerful bang ever recorded in history, and the experts say that the VEI of Krakatau was one level LOWER than Tambora. Tired, I put back my book. Just before sleeping, I could still remember reading the last sentence in my summary on the VEI 8 of the super volcanos : Yellow Stone (overdue), Lake Toba, etc... I hoped I was not going to have a bad dream that night... Cause the following day I would take Steph and Marie to my off-the-beaten-track places. They are the undiscovered Angels Tear-drops and Konmer beach and the after we would do some island hopping including Poepoe island.

Thanks for reading. I do hope this will not discourage you from climbing Indonesian volcanos.

For any information regarding volcanoes in Indonesia, where to start the climb, what to bring, etc please contact me at balijava@hotmail.com or info@lintasalam.com

Java, volcanoes

Hi MasPaul,

I loved reading this post even if it was a long one. Loved the way you wrote about the trip and weaved history into the article as well.

Well Done. Have just sent you a Private Message.

Pamela

Java, volcanoes

Yes, I got your message, thank you. I also sent you the pics of Bromo, Ijen, Mada and the Angels Tears. Sorry, I had a problem compressing the file.

Dear Paul, nice story. I hope one days we can meet on Road. I%26#39;m also very interesting with Volcanoes.

regards

ARIS

odesya @ exploredesa.com

Hi Aris,

May be we have met before. Did you go to Semeru between 27 - 29 September 2009? You live in West Java right ? Which volcanoes in Indo do you often hike on?

I meant 2008.

Now, I can remmember you. we meet in RanuPane Lake for Lunch. I hope we can Meet again, I will be in Bali this Month.

enjoy your jobs..

ARIS

Ha ha, you were wrong. We met at Ranu Kumbolo at lunch time. You were preparing watermelon for your customers. My customers and I were on our way back to Ranu Pani and you were on your way up to Kalimati.

We were lucky to have a clear morning that day, 3 eruptions for 30 minutes. There was this bloody BADAI just after Cemoro Tunggal, though. It was a critical moment for me to decide what to do. After discussing for a while, I decided to SPEED UP and in the end we found a simple spot to prevent from this hard blown wind. You can imagine that I had both my legs cramp. It%26#39;s good that my porters did not forget to bring his wood so that we could make some fire to warm up our bodies. My thermometer said it was 4°.

Anyway, gimme a call when you are in Bali. I will be in Java doing a long trip by motorcycle with my customers.

Hi Mischka,

I got your message. Which place you want to see. Bromo ? Ijen? Semeru? Angle Tears? Konmer? Poepoe?

Where do you want to start from ? Bali or Surabaya ?

Mas Paul,

How wowuld I love to be touring with you on motor cycle that would be just so fantastic.

You will definitely have to do a write up on that adventure for sure.

Pamela

Dear Pam,

Yes, it would be fun... My customers and I clean forgot about NYEPI (day of silence) that will fall on 26 this month. That is supposed to be the day we start the tour ! It%26#39;s my mistake for sure cause I am the organiser. We%26#39;ll work out something. When shall I have the pleasure of taking you around on a motorbike ? No, it%26#39;s not a big motorbike, only 250 cc, but good enuv for all over Java...