Java Trip, Kawah Idjen

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Kawah Idjen is a remarkable volcano located in the south of Java Island in Indonesia. To get there, it is either possible to fly to Surabaya airport and get a driver, or include it into a longer trip from Bali to Yogjakarta (Which is what we did). As can be seen on the map below, we included Kawah Idjen within a great journey from Bali Denpasar to Yogjakarta on Java Island. We flew from Singapore and landed in Denpasar. We progressively made our way to the north-east village of Gilimanuk, crossing Ubud and Lovena. We then took a ferry to Katiplan were our guide was waiting for us. The guide then drove us directly to Kawah Idjen, were we stayed in a fantastic hostel in the middle of coffee plantations. The guesthouse use to be the house of Dutch family back in the colonial days, and it is quite fascinating to see how these people managed to reconstract such typical european lifestyles in the middle of nowhere! Wooden house, rocking chair, fresh coffee beans, hot springs and black/white pictures of the family give a good feel of what life could have been like at that time! From Idjen, we then moved on to Bromo and then towards Yogjakarta, but this is another story!

I highly recomend the use of Tommy's help for any trip in south Java. Tommy is a fantastic guide with whom I have organised many transports/trips, and whom I have recomended to dozens of people who all had great feedbacks! He can pick you up at Ketapang-if you come from Gilimanuk on Bali-, Surbaya or Yogjakarta and drive you to any volcano. As transports can be a bit hectic in Indonesia, that's the best option if you don't have the luxary of time! You can write to him at blueisland_024@yahoo.com

Now, about Kawah Idjen:

Culminating at 2800m; this volcano is one of the many active volcanoes in Indonesia. Its great particularity is the acid lake within its huge crater because this lake is the largest highly acidic lake in the world. The pH has measured to be of 0.5, which, to give an order of idea, is as acidic as the acid used in battery cells and is sufficient to cause serious burns. The chemical composition of the lake gives it a beautiful blue color, while the sulphur diluting in it generates bright yellow patches. The danger of the lake, its color, and all the smoke emanating from it gives a magical feeling to the place!

The smoke is mainly composed of the very strong Sulphur gas which is extremly irritating and is a signature smell of any active volcano - yes, that strong smell of rotten egg -. Sulphur fumes are irritating and suffocating, and were used in the composition of Mustard Gas during WW2 for these reasons. Guides do not reommend going down the crater because of the dangerous lake, and because of the strong suffocating fumes. Actually, many people go down the crater to see the fascinating lake directly, and if you are willing to brave the gases, the way down is not too bad, you just need to wait for a favorable wind to blow the smoke away and hope that the wind doesn't turn while you're on your way!

The other stunning sight at Kawah Idjen, and the reason behind the huge amount of sulphuric fumes, is the army of miners, making it down into the crater every morning to extract the pure Sulphur Ore. Every morning, reluntlessly, hundreds of miners make the trek from the entry to the park to the crater rim (2 hours), and then down the crater to mine between 50 and 100kg of pure Ore. They then carry their heavy load all the way up to the rim and then back to the entry of the park in small and calculated steps. The heavy loads are then scaled, and the workers get their pay. This trade has been ongoing for many years, and both the wages and working conditions have been criticized by numerous NGOs, to no avail. "Specialised" workers go down the crater in the middle of the night to dig the soil and allow gas to escape. These dug-up chambers allow sulphur to escape and solidify when in contact with air. As soon as these chambers are dug, and solid state sulphur is formed, workers flock towards the precious ore to fill their baskets. As the sun rises over the horizon, the first workers are already returning to the parc entrance with their heavy loads.