Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park

A package tour from Yogykarta in Jave to Denpasar in Bali included a quick stopover at Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park.

A pre-dawn trek (starting at 3:30am) to the viewpoint to see the fume-belching Gunung Semeru, Java’s largest mountain (3676m).  We waited about two hours in minus temperature for the sun to rise – which was absolutely beautiful – but it was too cloudy to get any postcard pictures.  The cone blew every 15mins and each time the damn clouds covered our view, we did manage to get one photo which we have included below.

Having warmed up with a few hot cups of coffee it was into the jeep and onto the smoking cone of Bromo. As we climbed up the steps the sulphur choked us and left us breathless at times, but having reached its perimeter we could see the steep walls plunging down to a vast flat sea of lava and sand, somewhat surreal.  The desolate landscape had a distinctly end-of-world feeling.

After a half hour on the top it was back to the hotel for a measly breakfast, a quick shower and pack for our tour bus to Denpasar, all a bit rushed but worth it!

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 10:28 am and is filed under 10-Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.