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Indonesia: Merapi – Mountain of Fire

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Juni 2014

The vulcano Merapi (meru = mountain, api = fire) is one of the most dangerous and active vulcanos in the world. It is situated 35 km north of Yogyakarta and easy reachable for a small adventure. A friend of mine from the froghouse and I grab a tent, warm cloth, some food and water and make our way to Selo, a village situated at the foot of the mountain.

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Merapi is covered in thick clouds when Shireen and I arrive by motorbike at the basecamp in the afternoon.

 

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The soil here is very fertile, the path leads us through tobacco plantations and vegetable fields
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After walking up for a few hours we are exhausted and pitch our tent for the night. In safe distance from the crater.
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It gets really cold in the night. Fortunatly some other guys make a fire and invite us for some hot tea.
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At sunrise we continue to the top. It is very foggy. On the left photo a measurement station from the vulcanologist department.
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The landscape is rocky, formed by the last big erruption at 2010.
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The last meter to the crater we have to climb, it is quite hard and a little bit dangerous
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Other trekkers coming down already, in the background another vulcano.
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The morning fog is mixed with sulfur fumes fron the vulcano, the visibility is not very good.
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Merapi can explode without warning, at least smaller eruptions and emission from ash and stones is possible at every time.
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At the crater at 3000 meter. Don´t fall in and go back down soon. The sulfid fumes make breathing hard.
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The descent is easy. You can slide down on the debris and after a few minutes we are down again.
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We celebrate the succsessfull ascent with a beer. It is seven in the morning. In the background the crater, we were at the top.
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The rest of the descent is harder than the ascent. The path is washed out by rain and you have to use both hands to climb down the rocks.
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But the view is nice and we can watch some wild monkeys.
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Back in Selo, now we will return to Yogya.

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