Katya K Travelogue • Episode 4 • A Sulfur Mine in the Heart of a Volcano - Welcome to Solaris

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Hello, everyone! Good to be back here. Sorry for the absence, but it was a busy catwalk season in Jakarta for the past month. There were no travels, no time to write - only full immersion in Jakarta Fashion Week and a few other big shows around the same time. Later I might make a post about it too. But for now my thoughts are all about that special adventure I went on a few days ago and I have to share it with the world.

Since I have made Indonesia my second home, naturally I have already trekked a few volcanoes before - it is infamous Ring of Fire after all. Statistically there are about 400 volcanoes in Indonesia, 127 of which are active - that is one third of all active volcanoes around the world. Same as with the waterfalls, none of volcanoes is the same, each is unique - challenging and rewarding you in its own special way.

So far, I have trekked Gunung Agung (my first one and the toughest to conquer, it tests your will power more than anything), Gunung Batur (the smallest one in Bali, with the spectacular Lord of the rings - like scenery) and Gunung Kelimuntu in Central Flores (magical place with 3 acidic lakes of different colours that are said to be changing colours over time).

Gunung Ijen in Eastern Java has been on my list of must-visit places since the day I first found out about it, so when my other travel-obsessed friend offered to go there, my reply was an immediate "yes". We recruited one more friend and in exactly 3 days we were on the way to Ijen despite thunderstorms forecast.

It takes about 6-6.5 hours to get from Bali to the foothill of Ijen. First 3 hours is a quite monotonous car drive to Gilimanuk harbour, about 40 min by ferry to Banywangi harbour in Java and then about an hour more of a car drive. We have arrived to hotel in time to have an early dinner and a nap before ascending the mountain.

Trekking usually starts at 1 am, the goal is to reach the crater by 3-3.30 and hang out there till sunrise before going back down. It is relatively chilly in the area, so sweaters and beanie hats are a must at the beginning, but most probably you won't feel cold after a while due to constant walking uphill - its a great cardio that should feel moderately challenging for regularly fit individuals. For those who are not so on a sporty side and find it hard to continue by foot there is an option of a guy with a small trolley that will basically roll you up the whole way. It is priced from 25$(way up only) to $40(return:)).

So, what is so special about Ijen and why are we hiking it? Gunung Ijen is an active volcano, with a largest highly acidic crater lake in the world. It is a sulfur mining site and here you can witness a so-called Blue Fire or Blue Lava phenomena. To sum it up, you are in for a very ethereal trip.

In about 1,5 hours of hiking you will reach the crater rim and here is where all gets more interesting. Another half an hour you will be walking down the steep rocky terrain, stepping from one stone to another, curving your way around the big light-colored rocks that are pleasantly cool and smooth to the touch, occasionally meeting the miners that are carrying loads of sulfur up. It will be a good idea to wear your gas mask at this point (you will be equipped with gas mask and head torch light from the very beginning) - you are getting closer to the mine and toxic sulfur clouds are going to be covering you occasionally. Crazy enough none of the mine workers are wearing the masks, using just scarves instead. Each worker is carrying about 85 kg of sulfur on his shoulders making about 2 trips down the crater per night.

At the very bottom of the crater you will see (and smell:)) the puffing and smoking light litted mining site. It is mostly illuminated with the beams of head torchlights from all the crater's visitors, who are staring into it. Clouds of yellowish plume are gushing from the ceramic pipes, which are dripping with reddish substance that turns golden when sulfur cools down and solidifies.

Amidst that smoke you can see the dancing blue fire.

This natural phenomena has been scientifically explained: ignited sulfuric gas escaping through the cracks in the rock at extremely high temperature. Some of the gas is condensed into liquid and that is where the effect of Blue Lava comes from, perhaps @timsaid can give a more in-depth scientific summary.

But despite this rational explanation I personally could not shake off the feeling of witnessing something magical, something from alien or post apocalyptic world (I did spend the weekend watching Soviet sci-fi movies, so that might have put me in a mood too:))

Can you see a spirit of the Cheshire cat in the dance of smoke and blue flame?

Our guide Luki took my friend's iPhone and went on to take the photos of the blue flames up close, from the side of the rock not accessible for tourists. These are the shots he returned with:

The first sun rays lightened up the sky, skipped over the crater rim and it all got even more off-planet. The whole crater area started popping out of darkness, revealing otherworldly scenery in lime, mint, blue and turquoise hues. Colour scheme was changing by minutes as more and more light illuminated the area.

Now we were able to finally see the crater lake in full glory. The turquoise colour of the water is caused by its extreme acidity and a high concentration of dissolved metals. The temperature of the water is said to be around 34 degrees celcius, but even without any statistics info you can feel the heat when you are standing next to the water, see the surface occasionally bubbling and steam rising for the surface.

It was time to head back up, but i could hardly make myself stop taking photos - the scenery was just too fantastic and seemed absolutely unreal.

All the time up to this point we were blessed with perfect weather: we had clear starry night sky above us when climbing up at night, beautiful sunrise and hardly any wind. But I guess the volcano spirit wanted us to experience full range of conditions and half way up the huge cloud of sulfur plume filled the crater, making it hard to breathe even through the mask, stinging our eyes and reducing the visibility.

Our trio looking all cool and victorious less than a minute before the pungent plume cloud fills up the crater

We have reached the top in about 20 min and hung out their for a while, enjoying the views. The last time Ijen erupted was in 1999 and of course lots of vegetation grew back, but the outer slope still has the dead burned trees standing on it, so we were treated to the cosmic views on our way back down.

photo by @duunka

It was probably the most surreal adventure I have had so far. I am extremely grateful for this experience and I am still in total awe. If you are ever in Indonesia and especially if you are a sci-fi fan like myself, Gunung Ijen is a must do trek. You are welcome :)

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• All photos and videos are by me, unless stated otherwise.

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