Mt. Ijen was the last
mountain of the 3-mountain series we climbed on May 14. We had to travel some 7
hours from Mt. Bromo using the Malang highway to Banyuwangi where we stayed at
a cozy Arabica homestay. We arrived in Sempol Banyuwangi early in the evening
and took a good dinner in preparation for another very early Mt. Ijen assault. It
took us 45 minutes van travel from Arabica homestay to the jump off point where
we started trekking at 3:00 AM.
From the trail head we
hiked an uphill 3-kilometer of wide trail to Mt. Ijen summit and
another 15 minutes decent to the sulphur vent and the popular blue fire. The
elevation of 2,799 was hardly a factor for us to survive the climb because for
the second time, we did it effortlessly.
As an active volcano,
Ijen features an active crater where sulphur deposits are in abundance. Porters
in Ijen volcano earn a living out of sulphur mining. They usually carry their
sulphur from the crater to Banyuwangi and sold it at an unreasonable price. To
be honest, I pity the porters who do the mining because to me it was another
form of slavery, them being allowed to carry 70-80 kilograms of solid sulphur
in exchange of a little payment. The wide crater lake of Ijen volcano is
considered as the most acidic crater in the world and the smoke coming from the
sulphur vent is deadly.
One interesting
characteristic of Ijen volcano is the presence of the so-called Blue Fire, a
blue-colored flame only visible in the evening. According to our guide, this is
one of a kind in the world that catches the interest of National Geographic. Since
then, tourists flocked to this place to see the blue fire. Other people tend to
fall in love with taking selfies near the blue fire rim and the sulphur vent
without knowing that it could harm them anytime. Pare Dockie and Josephine had
the same experience.
The sulphur smoke was
getting wild and we could no longer bear the noxious fumes we decided to head
back to the summit. We stayed for an hour in the summit and commune with some
residents in Banyuwangi selling souvenir items in there. Josephine had some
good buys but unfortunately the authorities of Surabaya airport never allowed
us to travel with that stuff as sulphur are naturally flammable.
Nonetheless, our Ijen
climb completed the Indonesia trilogy. It was very successful we had some
exceptional experiences. Thank you very
much Indonesia. Thank you very much Pin and Dockie for the great outdoor memoirs.
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