East Java, Indonesia #3 Kawah Ijen | 印尼东爪哇之行#3 宜珍火山
Ijen volcano is one of the volcano groups in Banyuwangi Regency of East Java, Indonesia. It has an elevation of 2799 meters (9183 feet) and it has a the largest highly acidic crater lake in the world which is one-kilometer-wide and turquoise-coloured. Most tourists come here for the blue flame and the crater lake, so do we.
After 3 hours driving from Mount Bromo, we reached a homestay at Bondowoso Regency at 4pm. Nothing much to expect but only a place to rest for a few hours and shower even it's just cold water.
In order to admire the blue flame, we must reach the entry not less than 1.30am since 2 hours hiking is required to reach the rim of the crater and followed by 45 minutes to hike down to the blue flame and crater lake.
We started our hiking journey at about 1.50am. The path was totally dark and we can see thousands of hundreds of stars clearly in the sky even the milky way. We were prepared with headlamp, glasses and gas masks. At first it was flat but gradually became deep slope. We had to take a short break after every five minutes on the steep road.
When we were half way of climbing down to the blue flame ...
The blue fire is ignited sulphuric gas and a gas mask turns to be necessary. There was a sulfur mining operation at the edge of the lake. The miners are working under no protection and have to bear the numerous respiratory afflictions, which makes us to be humble and grateful to our life.
When dawn appeared ...
While they were taking time lapse video ...
People were appreciating sunrise at the rim of Ijen ...
On the way back back to our base ...
This is the most unusual adventure tour in my life. See you next time, Kawah Ijen ~
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://jes.vornix.blog/2018/06/27/east-java-indonesia-3-kawah-ijen-%e5%8d%b0%e5%b0%bc%e4%b8%9c%e7%88%aa%e5%93%87%e4%b9%8b%e8%a1%8c3-%e5%ae%9c%e7%8f%8d%e7%81%ab%e5%b1%b1/