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This morning the group successfully traipsed to the top of the Ijen Crater, and three of us managed to get about 2/3 of the way down into the crater to witness the blue flame, or Api Biru…

This part of the trip is particularly special because 1) It’s Mt. Ijen – a well-known tourist destination and goal for many photographers. 2) Our group leader had to get some VERY special permissions for us to climb.

For more about Mt. Ijen itself (#1), see here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen

There are also LOTS of travel blogs about it, as well as tourism web pages to check out. It is a very well-traveled mountain.

So, in answer to #2 above, I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about it, other than to say that foreigners are not allowed to summit Mt. Ijen at this time (COVID). You can try to wrap your head around that fact/ rule/ policy a thousand different ways, and it doesn’t make any sense. But our group leader did a ton of negotiating and contacting of people who could help us with this journey, and was successful. We had to start our ascent at 2 am, so we were up at 12:30 and in the car by 1. This got us to “the front of the pack” of climbers.

There were people camping in the parking lot at the base of the mountain.

And as you can see the moon was almost full. It was a great night/ early morning for climbing!

I was surprised by the quality of the trail and the lack of difficulty. It’s a wide but steep trail; about a 2 hour/ 2.6 mile (4.2 kms) hike to the top of the rim of the crater. The texture of the trail is very flat and nicely compacted – not full of rocks or “rollie-polie” things – quite easy to walk on. Yes, it felt a bit long, but not as long as I expected it to feel. We took a pretty moderate pace and summited the crater without even knowing it.

THEN, as if we were kidnapped, our guides started directing Carolyn, Anita, and me down to the Api Biru – the sulphur pit near the lake where you can observe the “blue fire” that the mountain is so famous for. This was strange because we all thought that we would stop at the top of the crater and then decide whether to go down or not. Personally, I would have chosen NOT to go down. The trail was very steep, loose, full of boulders, big rocks, switchbacks, and otherwise hairy moments. Carolyn navigated alone, while Anita and I were both assisted by our guides. We had no idea why the guys in our group weren’t with us or what we were doing until about ten minutes into the downward climb. It finally dawned on us that we were going down, and then we just kept going. One of the guides said it would be 800 meters to the bottom where the blue flame is best observed – inside the sulphur mine. I would estimate that we stopped about 200 meters from the bottom. It’s at this point that you must wear a gas mask. We could smell the sulphur strongly and see the blue flames in the distance, but just barely.

Carolyn gave her phone/ camera to our guide for him to continue to the bottom to take a photo for us – none of us were game to go any further. Here’s “the money shot” the guide took down near the blue flame:

To say that the sulphur miners here have a horrible, rotten job is about as much of an understatement as you can make. While we were on the rough trail down to the lake, miners were on their way up with their baskets full of 40 kilos PLUS of sulphur rock – balanced on their shoulders, with no room for error.

Carolyn got this amazing shot of two miners on the way up to the rim of the crater. You can see the baskets they haul in the upper left corner of the photo, and that they wear Wellies on their feet. Their balance and stamina is a feat to behold. A miner told David today that he receives about Rp100,000 for each load of sulphur he carries out of the mine – and he can make three trips per day. That’s about $6.78 USD per haul at the moment. So for this horrendously dangerous work, a miner can make a whopping $20 USD in a day.

We were in a bit of a hurry to get back up to the crater rim to see sunrise. The walk up this path was steep and difficult.

Again – I probably would have chosen NOT to do this part of the trek, but I’m so happy I got to do it kind of by accident. If there was a crowd (I read that there can be up to 300 people on this narrow trail on a given morning) it would have been crazily dangerous. Thanks to COVID, we had the experience with only some parts of the danger LOL.

When we got back to the top of the crater is was cold and windy. The sun was up, and I snapped a few photos.

But honestly, I was really cold. And this was YET another time when I felt like taking in the view through my senses, not through my phone/ camera. There were quite a few people at the top of the crater by now and my back was a bit sore from bending down to tie my shoelace…

After freezing for a little while, we headed down to the bottom of the mountain; the hike down took about an hour, and again, it felt very steep but was not slippery, which made it quite easy. There were hundreds of Indonesians on their way up the trail as we were on our way down, but as far as I could tell we were the only foreigners on Mt. Ijen today. Indeed, it was a spectacular trip. HIGHLY recommended. This is one mountain I would definitely climb again.

We have covered a lot of ground yet again. Will give a quick recap and hopefully revisit and add more later…

On Monday we were up early (well, every day we’re up early!) to catch a boat to a deserted beach near Red Island – Pantai Wedi Ireng. It’s referred to as “Black Sand Beach” but there was no black sand here as far as I could see!

https://www.eastjava.com/tourism/banyuwangi/wedi_ireng_beach.html

The women sun bathed and looked for shells while the guys took photos and relaxed. The beach was pristine, and we were the only group there.

Carolyn took a LONG swim around into a little cove where Anita and Tommy had walked. I enjoyed the scenery, which is really unbelievable. It’s difficult to imagine that we could find beaches so beautiful and so deserted just a few hours’ car trip from Bali. It IS COVID time, and people aren’t really traveling, but I get the feeling that this place doesn’t get “crowded.” Definitely a gem to check out in East Java when you’re there.

Back to the hotel for a quick freshen-up, and then a tour over land for lunch at our tour guide’s home. Our main destination on this afternoon was Green Bay or Teluk Hijau.

https://travellingto.asia/green-bay-beach/

It’s a slog down to the beach, but this one is also beautiful, and again – there was no one to be seen. It took about 20 minutes to get down to it – the path is mostly wide pavers spaced awkwardly, then a bit of a walk over loose stones. It’s enough to get you winded, but 100% worth it. We did it in our all-terrain flip-flops. Had a nice swim, then headed back up.

Dave flew his drone a bit from the top, and when the mosquitos got hungry we headed back to the hotel in Red Island for another night.

We were supposed to go see sea turtles on this night – to relocate to a homestay in Sukamade. But apparently they have not met COVID-ready tourism standards yet, so we had to skip that part of the trip. In the future I’d make sure to get there to see the turtles.

https://www.eastjava.com/tourism/banyuwangi/sukamade-beach.html

<COVID is a WHOLE OTHER topic for this blog. Let’s just say it doesn’t look like much of a factor here, which I realize is a statement that will bring up all sorts of controversy and arguments. In the long run, it doesn’t really seem to mean much here except our hosts at all of our hotels and restaurants have been wearing masks, and there are hand washing stations everywhere.>

Tuesday was a travel day and we didn’t have that far to go. So we had a bit of a leisurely breakfast and then were on our way.

We stopped at a very mystical place that is a “don’t miss” if you’re ever in East Java – De Djawatan in Benculuk.

Set right next to a very active little town, this forest is a feast for the senses. We stumbled around here for about an hour and a half, just looking up in awe of the trees and snapping photos.

Next we were back to Banyuwangi, to Taman Gandrung Terakota Resort (Jiwa Jawa).

https://www.pegipegi.com/travel/taman-gandrung-terakota-daya-pikat-banyuwangi-yang-unik/

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g317103-d10520060-r696770502-Jiwa_Jawa_Resort_Ijen-Banyuwangi_East_Java_Java.html

This is our “base camp” as we get ready to climb Mt. Ijen tomorrow morning. It’s a super-unique place established by a businessman/ photographer from Jakarta who is dedicated to showcasing the indigenous Osing culture of the area. Here is a blog post I found about East Java that has a good description of Osing culture:

Locals of Licin, East Java

This morning we were up before sunrise to observe the light in the rice fields overlooking some volcanoes. Although we didn’t quite make the early morning light, the scenery was still pretty spectacular.

After quite literally stumbling around the rice paddies, resort grounds, and people’s back yards, we were back at our hotel for breakfast, and then to watch the Gandrung dance of the region.

https://www.indonesia-tourism.com/east-java/tourism/banyuwangi/gandrung-dance.html

This is the same dance we saw a few days ago in the forest on our way to Alas Purwo. It’s very famous in the region and even has a version that’s performed in Bali, but which, of course, is a little different:

https://nowbali.co.id/the-gandrung-dance-a-java-bali-cultural-connection/

I wanted to be in the moment and watch this dance carefully, so I didn’t take any photos. During the performance I was struck by the idea that every region and culture of Indonesia has its own traditional costume(s) and dance(s), which makes Indonesian culture so different from U.S. culture (well that and many other things!). It’s a part of Indonesia that I cherish and always enjoy learning more about.

After the group had lunch we took a rest, charging up for our early-morning walk up Mt. Ijen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen

(I’m not a huge fan of Wiki links, but the rest of the links I found were by bloggers and tour companies and don’t give “just the facts”).

We’ll leave the hotel at 1 am for the trek to the rim of the Ijen crater. I don’t think we will make the dangerous climb down into the center of the crater to see the blue flame, but you never know… Photos and blog of the experience to follow.

Thanks as always for traveling along!

Wow – where has our time gone? It’s now day 4 and we have covered some territory!

After we arrived at the hotel on day one we dropped our bags, ate lunch, then headed off to Baluran National Park. Known as “The Little Africa” of East Java, this park landscape is largely savannah. We climbed a watch tower to get some incredible photos of the Baluran Volcano. There were many deer and peacocks, and of course monkeys. Got to put our feet in the ocean. Lovely, unexpected scenery.

You can read more about this park here: https://www.indonesia.travel/us/en/destinations/java/baluran-national-park

On day two we were serenaded at 3:30 am by not one but at least FIVE mosques competing for air-time. This went on for at least a half an hour, canceling my plan to sleep a bit more before observing the sunrise at 5. Everything starts early in Java due to early prayer and sunrise. By 5:30 am everyone in the hotel was out of their rooms, enjoying the hotel grounds, pool, etc. It always amazes me how awake people look at this time of day – with the time and sunrise change from Bali time, this scene was a bit surreal to me.

I was pretty exhausted from the day before, so opted out of the trip to the fishing port. I’m happy I did, as the report was it was VERY chaotic and smelly. But David and another group member went and got some fantastic photos. Their descriptions of the scene were great – and that was enough for me. I enjoyed resting and catching up on my blog at the beautiful Solong Hotel.

After lunch our fifth group member arrived we were on the road to Alas Purwo.

https://www.indonesia.travel/gb/en/destinations/java/banyuwangi/alas-purwo-national-park

One thing that’s great about traveling with two photographers is that they are always on the lookout for “special” scenes, and we certainly found one on this day. We were on our way to our accommodation to watch sunset, when someone spotted a small group of young women practicing a traditional dance in the forest, next to a very important temple. Of course we had to stop, watch, and take photos and videos.

We were then on our way to take in sunset, which we could spy through the forest. It looked like a massive red sun setting into the ocean… we did all we could to get there in time, but were ultimately disappointed to miss it.

I was surprised to find out that we were spending this night in the famous G-Land surf spot. I’ve heard about this place for years from friends from Bali who surf, and have always wanted to go there because of their descriptions and stories of this place. And here we were!

We spent the night here amongst the deer and the super-cheeky monkeys.

After a morning of shell gathering and photos, we hit the road back to the temple where we had seen the dancers the day before. This temple is actually called Pura Luhur Giri Salaka, and it’s a very important one in Hindu culture. We had a blessing here from a mangku and enjoyed the mystic beauty of the area. Definitely a very special place.

We had a quick look at the savannah in this park (not nearly as impressive as Baluran!), then got on the road again to our next destination: Red Island, or Pulau Merah. https://www.indonesia.travel/gb/en/destinations/java/banyuwangi/pulau-merah-beach

After a quick bag drop at our cozy hotel, we headed down to the beach for sunset. The beach was packed with locals enjoying their Sunday.

This is another place I’d been told about many times but never seen, so it was a treat to have this be a destination on this tour. The sand was SO clean and soft, and it really is a picturesque place.

While relaxing here, David happened to meet a man who is a bit of a legend in the community. He lives in the area with his family, but lived and worked in Bali for many years. Here he supports local surfers and helps keep the beach clean. But he also protests the copper and gold mine that is a stone’s throw away from this beach, and has been arrested six times. Apparently the mine owners regularly offer locals who protest sums of money to “go away” and relocate their families elsewhere. While this man has refused this payout, he relayed that many protestors had taken up the offer and left the area. A little bit of research about the mine led me to this: https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/indonesian-mine-stolen-from-intrepid-could-come-back-to-the-asx-20170809-gxsfau

So, although it has improved the lives of many in the area, similar to all projects like it, the mine is full of controversy.

Back to the hotel for dinner and sleep. It was a long but great day.