Mt. Bromo and Coban Pelangi Waterfall

SAND! It’s bloody everywhere! Combined with some pretty strong winds this is much harder going than I thought it would be. At least the temperature’s a little cooler up here on the climb to the top of Mount Bromo’s crater. In case you didn’t know, Mt. Bromo is one of Indonesia’s most famous active volcanoes, last erupting in 2011. It’s part of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park located in East Java and I just had to go check it out.

One 1960s Land Rover with some poser standing in-front

The journey begun, like any other, in Jakarta with a flight across to Malang. Why there? Well, two reasons; it’s the closest major town to Gunung Bromo and it where my local friend Bimo lives. He’d invited me ages ago to come and visit him and his family, so I finally took him up on the offer.

Shear drops on occasions en-route to Mt. Bromo

We’d arranged to travel to Bromo from Malang at 5am in a 1960s Land Rover. Being English the idea of doing the trip in a Land Rover was much more appealing that some Indonesian build Japanese rubbish (Toyota Kijang anyone?). The reason for the early departure was because the winds around Bromo pick up late morning and help prevent us getting stuck in sandstorm.

Someone thought it’d be a good idea to climb this for the view

Nice view

Not a fan of heights!

The route to Bromo was a bumpy, steep two hour ride along some of Indonesia’s typical back-roads which got progressively worse before eventually dissipating into nothing as we reached the so called “Sea of Sand” at the base of Bromo. This desert was the main reason for using a 4×4 on the trip and I was relishing the fact everyone else seemed to have chosen a Mk. 1 Toyota Land Cruiser. Whilst it’s certainly a fine choice the fact they everyone had chosen one meant our Landy was somewhat more unique.

Blatting our way through the “Sea of Sand”

There must have been 100+ Land Cruisers parked up here

The climb up to summit wasn’t too tricky. You can hire a horse to take you up there but that seemed lazy to me so we opted to trek up on foot. The climate up at 7000 or so feet is pleasantly cooler than the normal 32 degrees Celsius but still plenty warm enough not to need a jumper. The locals seemed to disagree with most wrapped up like they were attempting a climb up Everest!

Locals dressed for the chilly 20 degrees Celsius conditions

The view into the crater was well worth the climb though. It’s massive! In places we were walking along a sandy knife-edge with a shear drop one side off the volcano or a shear drop into it on the other side. The strong winds didn’t exactly make walking any easier.

Edge of Mt. Bromo’s crater

Bimo trying to keep the sand out of his lungs

Bit of a drop down there….

Did I mention the sand? Or maybe it’s volcanic ash. Either way, there’s a lot of it in and around Bromo and it gets everywhere! Luckily the package we’d booked also included a trip one of nature’s showers in the guise of Coban Pelangi waterfall which was just over an hour’s drive from Bromo.

The walk to the waterfall

Coban Pelangi waterfall

You just can’t beat nature for a decent shower although the temperature was somewhat cooler that I’d have liked. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever found a warm waterfall yet! Suitably free of sand it was time to head back to Malang for some well earned food and rest.