What to expect while hiking an active volcano?
I expected Lava, death, heat, gate of hell, skeletons, etc. Well, Ijen was the opposite of what I expected. Instead of shades of red, I found shades of blue and green. It was by far the most diverse landscape I have ever seen. It had Blue flames, turquoise Blue lake, lush green forest, black trees, red mud, yellow sulfur, bright white stars, you name it.
I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided to go a little outside of the touristy stuff of Bali and leave for Java. Java was rugged, no posh amenities, rare English speakers, but to balance it all, wayy cheaper and real.
I left Bali with no plans, just names of the places I wanted to go to, Ijen was the first of them, it being close to Bali. There was fear, cause what I was getting into was rugged and less safe, no guides and no tours, etc. things could go wrong anytime, but the optimist in me said "Things can also go right", and I listened to the latter.
I found a van driver outside of the Ship terminal who took me to a hostel in Banyuwangi from where most tourists start their hike for Ijen. The people over there were nice and helpful. Since it was not the tourist season, they had no other people in the Hostel, and also no tours, I decided to hire a bike and do the hike myself, which the person assured me was not that hard.
I had Hollywood like expectations while hiring a bike, I thought I would wear a cool jacket and drive a 1000cc bike all around the volcano, with a babe sitting behind me, making people turn to look at me with jealousy. But reality strikes again, all I could get for a bike at midnight without any prior booking was a 50cc Honda scooter and instead of the babe, I had my friend behind me.
Reaching the base camp was fun and scary, but over there I found the best thing about Indonesia, they have network towers on most of their mountains, which is a great thing for an internet addict like me. I quickly rented gas masks, made some local friends, and started the hike (they acted as a proxy to a paid guide haha).
We left the Hostel at around 2 am driving in the dark, the whole way the scooter wouldn't go more than 20 km/h, I could barely see anything, and there was no one else on the road (mostly because we were super late). The roads were good, the sky was full of stars, there were silhouettes of big trees and mountains all around us, the way was slippery and muddy, I saw 2-3 people slip while driving and ruin their clothes, guess the slow scooter was a blessing in disguise.
The way was mostly lit with flashlights of strangers, some people carry you to the top if you can't do it yourself, and Indonesian tourists, lots of them, the whole trek was filled with people, I couldn't believe the way here was empty. But the sky was full of stars, the way was properly paved and I had good company so nothing to complain about.
It took us around 2 hours to hike to the top of Ijen, then another 1 hour to hike down the crater to see the Blue flames, now it's not easy to hike in the dark without any flashlights or a guide, but it's manageable I can say, you will slip a few times, but follow the crowd and you'll make it.
There they were, surrounded by sulfur clouds and a crowd of people, the rare phenomenon known as the naturally formed blue flames, they were something else, nothing you can see easily, the gas masks help you breathe there, but the eyes burn a little. I would say it's all worth it. (My iphone camera can't do justice to the flames)
You can also see the hard working Sulfur miners over there, who work in these harsh conditions to mine Sulfur from the crater, they are truly legendary.
But the best is yet to come, you climb up the crater again, and you can see the sunrise above the blue lake between the mountains, truly a scene out of animated movies.
My newly formed friends showed me a bird's eye view with their drone, and also crashed the drone. Finding the drone was one of the best experiences ever, cause I had to walk 30 minutes into the lush greens of the volcano, doesn't seem like anyone goes there, it was a walk full of contrast, the soil was red, covered with black ashes, then green and red plants growing on top of it, with black burnt trees covering it all. I have never seen so many spiders all my life, it was truly out of my comfort zone haha. We found the drone at least, hard work paid off.
It was time to go back down, the way down was misty and green the drive back to the hostel was the worst drive ever, cause I kept nodding off while driving (i know scary right!).
But all in all, this was something out of ordinary, something you probably cannot find anywhere else. A trip I will never forget, an adventure for the books.
Had a great time singing Bollywood songs with the hostel owners afterwards (Indonesians love Bollywood!). Do check out this hostel if you ever go there, the guys there are amazing.
