Krakatau

 

Krakatau is a small island located between Java and Sumatra, in central Indonesia. This island use to host 3 volcanoes back in the 19th century, until a major eruption occured in 1883 which literally blew the island off in a blast that could be heard as far as Australia. The eruption of the Krakatau is ranked as one of the fiercest in mankind's history and still today, is one of the world's most active volcanoes. The pictures below were taken from the info panels on the island, and depict the amazing transformation of the island since 1883.

Before 1883, Krakatau comprised of 3 volcanoes. on the 27th of August 1883, after dozens of violent earthquakes, the volcanoes erupted, creating huge clouds of ash, projections of magma, and provoked a terrifying tsunami with waves of 40m high. The pyroclastic flows that followed generated burning winds traveling at more than 300kph ontop of the sea surface and onto sumatra, killing thousands.	On Java and Sumatra, the tsunami, the eruption and the pyroclastic flows wiped whole villages from earth killing tens of thousands of people.The volcano itself disintegrated, leaving behind three fragments.	Witness of the resisting activity of the place, it is only a few years later that "Anak" - Son of - Krakatau emerged from the sea as a result of ongoing sub-marine eruptions. What used to be flat sea is soon re-clamed by the resurating volcano, slowly but surely rising from the sea, at a rate of 5m per year. Today, the summit towers at 800m, and the volcano continues to grow!

The following .gif is extracted from the wikipedia page of Krakatau, and gives an interesting evolution of the topography of the volcano:

There are a lot of fascinating resources on internet about this volcano, and to know more, here are a few:
>>Documentary<<
>>Reconstruction by the BBC<<

 

Now, about the trip;
From Singapore, this trip is easily doable in a weekend, and I recommend the excellent guide Mr. Ofat Badak (ofatbadak@yahoo.com) who organised everything for us. He comes from North Java, and is actually into Rhino conservation so he can also arrange for treks in the jungle of Ujung Kulon National Park.

We basically contacted Ofat, who arranged a van with driver for the trip between Jakarta airport and Carita, for a night's stay in a hotel in Carita, for the boat ride between carita and Krakatau, and for the camping gear on the island.
From Singapore, we took an 8:30pm flight to Jakarta on friday evening. Once at the airport, the driver took us to Carita on the coast (3:30h drive). After a night's rest in Carita, we took the boat for 1:30 to cross to Krakatau. The crossing is a bit challenging because the boat is small, and the waves can be tough, but don't let this discourage you, and to be sure, choose a favorable period to go! (april-june)

We reached Krakatau island before 11am. We then made the short climb to the "viewing spot", the summit being forbidden to climb. The view is really fantastic, with a mix of pristine sea, very green vegetation, and apocalyptic porous red-volcanic rocks dropping all the way from the crater deep into the sea. The trek is very easy, and first starts in dense and healthy jungle, soon after progressing onto volcanic ash slopes.

In the afternoon, we took the boat down the coast to emjoy the fantastic snorkeling near the volcanic rocks. The diversity, colors and quantity of underwater life contrasts dramatically with the desolated scenary of the volcano on the surface. Thousands of fishes with a rare diversity, corals of all dimensions and shapes, the snorkling is just addictive!

The guides prepared an awesome dinner made of chicken, grilled fish and potatoes. After a night under the tents, we packed-up and went for a last round of snorkling before making it back to Carita at about 12. We were back at the airport by 6pm, and back to Singapore by 11!

Here are a couple of pictures of the view from the top, the diverse colors of the volcano, and the camping site.