Sulfur miners walk down the Ijen crater path…
Around 30km north-west of Banyuwangi – East Java, there stood mount Ijen with its huge crater lake located at 2380 meter above the sea level, one of several tourism attractions in Banyuwangi area. Mbak Iin – a friend of my sister-in-law living at a village nearby the mountain – invited us for a visit, so there we went on this holiday season…
Mount Ijen actually can be reached from two cities in East Java. The first route is from Bondowoso via Sempol village, and the second is from Banyuwangi via Licin village – the village where our friend lives. Most of people said that the second route is the easiest one, and also the shortest one if we consider the distance of the basecamp from the nearest city. From Banyuwangi, we can also drive until around 3km from the peak before hiking to the peak of the mountain. So, lucky us, I guess…
From Banyuwangi, the last two villages before Ijen are Licin and Taman Sari, 14km west of Banyuwangi. We stayed at our friend’s house before heading to the basecamp early before dawn. At this village, there is also ‘Ijen Resort and Villas’ that can accommodate tourists who want to explore Ijen and its surrounding areas, that will cost you around IDR 650,000 for Indonesian citizens or USD 115 for foreigners. Unfortunately, not like at Wonokitri village nearby Bromo where we can easily find villagers houses for rent, it seems like it is not a common practice here at both Licin and Taman Sari village. So you will not easily find such places here…
At four in the morning, we were ready, gearing ourselves up and drove up to the basecamp at Jampit – around 18km or 1 hour drive from Licin village. From there, it’s the next part of the trip which covers 3km distance on foot to the rim of the crater. After 2km of a steep jungle track, we will arrive at an old vulcanology station that is currently used as a station by sulfur collectors employed by a company. The last 1km after the station is not as steep as the first part, so it is easier and also more relaxing, thanks to the beautiful sceneries…
View of Mount Raung, from Ijen trek path…
And after 1 and a half hour of hiking – it was 2 hours in my case due to lots of break thanks to my short breath – we will finally reach the Ijen crater. And once you are there, you will soon forget how weary and exhausted you are, ignoring the pain on your legs. The scene is just so beautiful…
Along the way up the rim of the crater, you will find men carrying loads of sulfur in two baskets connected with a bamboo stick, some of them even barefooted, heading down to a station at Jampit where they load the sulfur to the waiting trucks that will take the sulfur to a factory depot in Taman Sari. These men carry individual loads up to 70-80kg – some young men can even carry up to 100kg – from the bottom of the crater where the sulfur is mined, 200 meter up to the rim of the crater before taking it 3,5km down to a station near Jampit. The younger men can do the route twice a day, but the older men usually only do it once a day. You may think it is easy to carry that loads down the mountain. But just imagine the first part first: 200 meter of extremely – not to say ridiculous – steep path up from the bottom of the crater to the rim. And they only get IDR 550 per kg to bring it down to Jampit station!
A sulfur miner walks out the Ijen crater…
I met Pak Harto, one of those sulfur collectors and got the chance to climb down to the sulfur mine at the bottom of the crater, just beside the lake shore with steaming hot – milky blue green in colour – acid water. It was amazing to see how they can work in such condition with a very traditional technology to mine the sulfur, how they can endure the smoke and the extreme smell of the sulfur from the mine just by biting a scarf! It’s not end yet since they still have to carry it up to the rim – it took me ages and lots of break to climb back up the crater, and I only had a barely 7kg of my camera gears on my back…
I really saluted Pak Harto and his fellow super-humans. And after the experience, I was really ashamed of my self for not cherishing my life and not being thankful to God enough for everything that He already gave me so far…
After all, it was a real worth trip. The trekking, the beautiful sceneries, the stunning crater lake, the experience. For you who have plan to visit this area, you can simply get a reservation with ‘Ijen Resort and Villas’ for accommodation there. They also provide guide service to accompany you exploring Ijen and its surrounding places. Or you can simply go to Licin villagers, ask for Mbak Iin – an English teacher and also a tourism pioneer for Banyuwangi area – who is residing at Licin village and get more information from her for a homestay in the village…
*More photos from my Ijen trip can be found at:
http://www.ismawanismail.com/gallery/index.php?/category/ijen
