Journey to Mount Ijen

Hello, I've been hiatus for awhile because of some businesses in my life. Recently, i went to the Mt. Ijen in the border of Banyuwangi - Bondowoso. Long story short that place was amazing.

Mount Ijen is one of many Mountains in East Java, located in the border of Bondowoso - Banyuwangi. With the height of 2443 M from the seas, Ijen is anactive volcano. The volcano has largest acid lake in the world in its crater and you will find sulfur excavation there. Mount Ijen is famous for its blue fire phenomenon, the volcano emitting blue fire from its crater. You have two route to go there, from Bondowoso or from Banyuwangi. It's up to you which route you want to choose. If you choose Bondowoso route you will find another site called "Kawah Wurung". I went to Mount Ijen from Banyuwangi Route.

We went there at midnight from Banyuwangi, using motorcycle. You can go there using a car but do not do it at midnight. Because the mist is so thick, you will barely see anything. After rode for 2 hours, we reached the parking spot. The gate opened at 1.00 A.M. You can buy hot coffee or hot tea from merchant around but if you are a foreigner you'll be charged more price. I suggest if you go there, better have local friend. When its rainy season, you can bring your coat or buy coat there. But i will not recommend you buy coat there. The quality of the coat is so bad.

Before you go to hike, make sure you bring a masker or gas mask, because you will find so much sulfur smell in the top, and its smells suck. The trip from parking lot to crater is just 3 hours with some rest. If you are a pro climber i think you can go there in one or one a half hour. After all the climbing route is not difficult at all. If you are exhausted on the way, you can rest or you can rent "gerobak" to bring you to destination.

If you want to see the blue fire, you have to start climbing at 1.00 A.M. Because the blue fire only can be seen at 2.00 - 4.00 A.M. I do not know why, but that's the reality. You can go down to the crater, but be careful with the gas (use your gas mask). Do not swim in the lake, because it's highly acidic. There is some photo when we were there.

The largest acidic lake in the world

The cloud behind actually was a sulfur gas

There was a little to none vegetative on there, many had burned down because of  fire

You could see Mount Raung or Mount Argopuro from here