Indonesia Triple Crossover Climb Series 2: MT. BROMO

After our successful Mt. Semeru climb, we stayed overnight for the second time in our transient house in Ranu Pane. After spending a very good evening of talking and laughing with Pin and Dockie, we called it a night at 10:00 PM. Just when we thought we could take a nap for an hour, Amit called us up for an early morning breakfast at exactly 1:00 in the morning and we headed immediately to our second mountain destination, Mt. Bromo.

  

Mt. Bromo is the most popular mountain in East Java as it is flocked by thousands of tourists every day. Unlike Mt. Semeru, our trekking to Mt. Bromo was effortless. Standing at an elevation of 2,329 meters above sea level, Mt. Bromo is an ecotourism destination that is hiker-friendly. It is an active volcano situated in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park.

Our tour started on May 13 with a 4-hour 4x4 jeep from Ranu Pane. We were initially dropped by the view deck of Mt. Penanjakan (2,770 masl) to watch for the gorgeous sunrise. The temperature in this area is also very cold. There were already a lot of people waiting for the sunrise even before we arrived there and I witnessed how alive ecotourism is in Penanjakan. A lot of vendors selling souvenir stuff in almost all perimeters of the park.

While on top of the Penanjakan view deck, we saw the beautiful landscape of the Bromo range, including the magnificent sea of clouds surrounding the top mountains which include Mt. Bromo itself and the dominant Mt. Semeru.

After taking several sunrise shots and selfies, we proceeded directly to the basecamp of Mt. Bromo in an hour jeep drive. Mt. Bromo is another unique mountain in Indonesia known for its amazing view for which I only saw it in movies. The rock formations are captivating. Another scene stealer is the Buddhist temple erected within the Bromo range. The hike to the crater view is only about 45 minutes or lesser although the heat of the sun is another challenge for hikers. There is a wide stairway built along the way to the crater and peak. A horse-ride can be an option on the way up the middle of the Bromo trail, but none of my companions tried the ride. They ran along the stairway instead, indeed, they were runners (hehe). Before our actual hike we took a light snacks in one of the stores within the Bromo base.

The crater of Mt. Bromo is huge. And because it is an active volcano, we saw the volcanic activity of the crater when we were in the summit. As per record, its last eruption was in 2011 and it can still erupt anytime.

Mt. Bromo gave us another great experience onward to completing the pending trilogy. The easy trekking allowed us to recharge energies for another interesting climb the following day.