Hello all Hiveans, let me tell you about my Mount Batur climb in Bali. I was with a group of Chinese tourists for this early morning adventure. We started from our hotel near the volcano and drove to the mountain base around 3:30 am.
We had seven local guides who knew the safest tracks up the mountain. Our group consisted of nearly 30 people, each guide leading about five climbers. Most were families with kids under ten years old—14 children and 13 adults in total, including myself as the lead guide on this exciting Bali trip.
It was dark, so we used flashlights to navigate through a challenging path filled with stones and gravel. The path is constantly ascending making it hard for me to walk. Probably I was a bit over-weight, that's the only reason. I have prepared myself for this climb for the last two months by walking for about an hour or so every day.
We began our hike up Mount Batur from a higher starting point, making the trek only about 2 hours. After walking for roughly 1.5 hours, we reached a spot perfect for viewing the sunrise. Many people were already there, facing east and eagerly waiting.
The location was stunning, surrounded by lake Batur and smaller mountains, and Mount Agung (the highest volcano in Bali) visible in the distance. As clouds delayed the sun's appearance, everyone waited patiently until it finally emerged at around 6:15pm.
There was joy as people took photos of the sunrise and each other. Once they'd seen this spectacle and had some coffee, our volcano guides directed us to continue on to another spot. Gathering everyone together again, we embarked on an even more challenging part of our journey.
After this walk, we reached a sign marking the peak of Mount Batur at 1770 meters. Yet, we were only about 1600 meters above sea level. The clients took several photos in front of this sign. Nearby, monkeys could be seen lurking around.
Close to us were the volcano's craters. They looked deep but I didn't see any lava or hot elements there. After exploring this spot, we moved on to another area where we planned to cook our breakfast using steam from the ground.
Around 8 o'clock, we reached the flat top of a volcano. It was an amazing spot for visitors to enjoy the breathtaking view. The volcano guides pointed out areas where steam rose from the ground. They took eggs from their backpacks and placed them near this steam along with some sweetcorn we had brought up from the market near volcano's base. Yesterday, we'd also bought tomatoes, potatoes, and sweet potatoes too. We wrapped these in plastic and buried them in the warm earth.
In about 20 minutes, our steamed eggs were ready. We took them from the ground, cleaned them up and shared with everyone. We also cooked sweet corn there which made the experience fun. Breakfast was served atop the volcano using steam for cooking. The volcano guides provided local fruits like snake skin fruit and mandarins for dessert. By 8:45 am, breakfast ended, we tidied up and began our descent.
Thanks for reading my post.