Mount Semeru in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, Indonesia
May 29th, 2006
Also called Mahameru or “Great Mountain”, Mt. Semeru is one of the world’s most beautiful peaks and at 3.676 meters the highest mountain on Java……..
History - Before declared as a national Park, mountainous highland of Bromo Tengger Semeru is a forest area with many function like Strict Nature Reserve, Recreation Forest, Protection Forest and Production Forest.
Declaration of Bromo Tengger Semeru area as a National Park is based on some considerations, i.e : rare and endemic flora, habitat of migrant wildlife, unique ecosystem, active volcano, scenery of nature, cultural and traditional lives of local people, as a catchment’s area for water resources around the area, etc.
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Facts
The area of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park covers 50,273.30 hectares of mountainous highland and vertile valley, between 1,000 - 3,676 M above sea level. Beside the area is dominated by mountainous, there are also 4 lakes inside, namely : Ranu Pani (4 Ha), Ranu Regulo (0,75 Ha), Ranu Kumbolo (14 Ha), and Ranu Darungan (0,50 Ha). Geografically the area lies between 7°54’ - 8°13’ South Latitude and 112°51’ - 113°4’ East Longitude on the globe. Administratively is situated in four regencies, i.e : Probolinggo, Pasuruan, Malang and Lumajang - East Java Province.
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Climate
According to Schmidt and Ferguson there are four climate types, i.e : A, B, C, and D. The monsoon showers fall from late October through the end of April when the dry season commences. The temperature ranges from 3 degrees to 20 degrees average with frequent intense heat waves that cause bush - fire in the June - August period and stifling humidity of 80 % can be felt during the wet season. Ă‚Â The activities of Bromo Tengger Semeru sometimes have great effects in the freak weather. Ă‚Â Winds with the velocity of up to 60 km can become intolerably cold.
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The trek
In Yogyakarta we decided to climb mnt. Semeru instead of the touristic mnt. Bromo. There was little information we had about climbing Mnt. Semeru but we were sure that there was more info to get in Malang so we got our self a bus ride to Malang. In Malang we found soon an organisation who could bring us to the top and we would leave already the next morning and the trek would take 3 full days. In the evening we bought a hat because at 3676 meters high it could be cold.
Day 1
After a horrible night sleep Romy, our guide, and Justin, an English guy, picked us up at 6 in the morning from our hotel to go to Tumpang to get some food for on our way. This was also the meeting point for other hikers to climb mnt. Semeru. A small truck picked us (about 10 men and our luggage) up and drove us to GubugKlakah where we had to check in at the office to tell that we were going to climb mnt. Semeru. From here we went to Ranu Pani, the last village to the top, by truck, at least tried to. We faced a small problem underway. The steering wheel got stuck and drove us right into the bush. We were really lucky because if it would happen a bit later there would be no bush anymore just the abyss. After fixing the problem we drove on and we could see mnt. Semeru in the distance. From here it was the first time I saw the ash eruption of the volcano. I was amazed… I knew that the volcano was still active but that I would see the ash eruption for real I could never image.
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At Ranu Pani we would get some food, pick up our 2nd tent and start walking. But another problem occurred. The tent was not really a tent anymore, it was in a too bad condition to still call it a tent. So now we had only one tent with us for the four of us. We started to walk and just out of Ranu Pani we saw this sign and in the very distance Semeru. Ranu Kumbolo would be our next stop. This is a 14 Ha. crater lake and this would be our point to spent the night. The walk to the crater lake was not hard and not steep but with sometimes amazing views. We arrived at 4 pm at the lake. Here we filled our bottles of water (the lake didn’t look clean enough to drink out of but Romy told us we could). We only had 6 small bottles of water for the four of us because Romy told us we didn’t need more, but already from Ranu Pani to Ranu Kumbolo we found out it was not enough and this was the easiest part of the track.
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Romy gave us the option to walk further because it was still daylight and to try to get all the way to Arcopodo the last stop before the top. This could save us a day and use this day to walk thru the sea of sands to mnt. Bromo. This sounded great and we were not tired at all yet so we moved on. The first part was ok, it was not really steep and it was not dark yet. We had a small stop at Kalimati to refill our bottles with water and have some food but moved on quickly because it was already dark. Now the hard part came. We only had 2 small flashlights with us to see where to put our feet andĂ‚Â the track got quite hard. It was really steep now and hard to follow the track. Romy was getting really tired and we as well but he stopped almost every 5 minutes to rest. At 10 in the evening we arrived totally exhausted at the last stop, Arcopodo. It was freezing here and we did not feel like setting up the one tent we had. Romy throw some braches on the ground and told us that this was our sleeping place. I got in my sleeping bag with all my cloths on and I was still freezing but somehow I fall a sleep.Ă‚Â
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Day 2
At 3 in the morning Romy woke us up again to get to the top. We started as the first group but because we felt our legs big time from the day before, unlike everybody else who took 2 days to get to Arcopodo, other people passed us. We arrived soon at the last trees and from this point on it was just ash we walked on and we still had only 2 flashlights to see where we were walking. This was the heaviest part. Every step you took you sink away most of it in the ash. It was hard to climb and we had almost no water what made it even worse. The small ash stones got all the time in your shoe what was hurting big time and made you almost stop every 5 minutes to empty it. It was me most of the time who hold up the group. I was totally exhausted and feeling sick but I could not stand with the idea of missing the amazing view with sunrise so somehow I got myself together and moved on.
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When I finally arrived at the top the only thing I could do was lay down. I was not feeling good at all, but this stopped soon when I felt the mountain shaking. I jumped up and ran towards the crater rim and there it was! The ash eruption just in front of my eyes. This feeling was amazing and I did not feel the pain in my legs anymore. The 2 hours being on the top was indescribable.
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Being this high above the clouds standing on an eruption volcano overlooking the sea of sands and in the distance mnt. Bromo seeing the sunrise…… no words can describe this.
It was freezing as hell up here but when the sun comes up it can get really warm also because of the ash so it’s not possible to stay on the top too long.
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These pictures just can give you an idea of what I have seen and experience and the fact that it was so hard to get on the top makes the great feeling even better. We also realised that the idea of walking all the way to mnt. Bromo was not an option anymore. Once more I had overestimate myself again.
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Going down was much easier. It was more like gliding down on the ash and the only problem was the dust that comes of the ash when you glide. Another problem is finding the right way down. When we were at the tree line Romy told us that we were at the wrong place and had to go up again to get on the right track. At this moment we all felt like hurting him big time but he was luckily for him not in our range! Going up again and with hardly any water…. But we found our way finally back and we walked to Ranu Kumbolo where we sat up the tent and tried to get some sleep.
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Day 3
We only had to walk back to Ranu Pani but this was already hard. We all three were totally exhausted and could only set one foot in front of the other and find our way back to Ranu Pani. In Ranu Pani we got picked up by a truck to get to Tumpang from where a van brought us to our hotel were we got our deserved rest and sleep.
Source : www.backpackingforlife.com
Entry Filed under: East Java News
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