Bromo volcano – What on earth might Volcano boarding be?

The early morning trip to the Bromo volcano (Gunung Bromo) is more like a tourist race. And early in the morning this is not exactly pleasurable.
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For your travel planning

For this Indonesian volcano one has to, for better or worse, become an early riser. I made the decision to start out for the Bromo from Malang.

How to organise your tour

In the centre of Malang, right next to the train station, is a roundabout. From there walk – just next to the Splendid In – into the Jalan Majapahit. After crossing the river, there is on the left and right side respectively a travel agency. I went for the one on the right to book my tour to the Gunung Bromo. The price came to about 70 USD, since two more people had booked the same tour. On your own you can expect to pay 200 USD.

Now the only thing you need to do

is manage to get up at 1.30 in the morning to board the Jeep that picks you up. And one should also remember to put on some warm clothes.After the arrival at the viewing platform for the sunrise – which is the reason for the early start – we had some coffee in one of the restaurants. That was a mistake! One ought to walk up immediately in order to secure a good viewing spot! The viewing platform is located on the Gunung Penanjakan at 2770 meters (9088 foot) above sea level. The railing that has been installed up there is a faulty construction! It is made up of half a meter of wall on top of which the railing is mounted. The people who get there first climb up on the wall and obstruct the view for the people behind up to 2.2 meters (7 foot). Indeed, further back the platform is arranged as stairs leading up, but I still hope that one day that wall will be taken down. This would make the whole thing much more pleasant.
The sunrise itself is a magnificent experience, as the images readily attest. These were taken, by the way, by me pushing my arm up somewhere among the people, pressing the shutter and hoping for the best. 🙂
The wait was worth it for everyone.When the sunrise spectacle was over, a procession of Jeeps set off for a visit to the Bromo volcano. En route we stopped to take in and enjoy the perfect view of the Bromo volcano.

The Bromo volcano is the one not covered by vegetation back towards the left.

Upon our arrival down in the valley I managed to get this snapshot of our Jeep with the driver in a pose that only made me think: Too cool for this world! 🙂

The Gunung Bromo – at 2329 meters (7641 foot) above sea level – itself is one of Java’s most impressive volcanoes. Its special appeal comes from the fact that it is actually a whole volcanic plate. The Bromo’s last eruption was in 2011, which is why the area surrounding this Indonesian volcano resembles a lunar landscape (moonscape). Even a temple near the Bromo, which I could not even identify as a temple, was still largely covered by ash.

A picture of the crater, which, by the way, is filled with water and not lava (as I had read somewhere).

Crater wall

View back towards the temple

Together with the German dentist couple, with whom I was travelling on this tour, we had the idea to go boarding in the ash down the volcano’s cone. This was a lot of fun as the following picture proves.

Said dentist couple had gathered some information on attractions in the surrounding area, which is why we visited the Coban Pelangi (rainbow waterfall) on our way back.

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