Mt. Ijen is an active volcano situated in the very east of Indonesia's island Java. This place is famous for its phenomenon of "Blue Fire", sulfuric gases that escape from the volcano at extreme temperatures. When these gases hit the air, they ignite creating electric-blue flames that can even appear to “flow” like lava. It’s not lava though, it’s burning sulfur.
You can only see this in the dark, which is why most hikes start around 2–3 AM. By sunrise, the blue flames disappear in the daylight
We were still a little sleepy while waiting with many other tourists at the entrance gate of the National Park in the middle of the night. They advised to rent gas masks due to sulfur vapours in the crater area. The crater rim of Mount Ijen is at 2386 m (7800 ft). It is a steep hike and takes around 1,5 to 2 hours. You should bring head lights and warm clothes, because it is pitch black and the temperatures can drop really low. We only had 5°C (41°F)
In the first kilometers the crowd was spread, but the last part into the crater ended in a huge queue of people. It was a very narrow path and among the many tourists, the miners were still carrying heavy baskets of sulfur.
Depending on the conditions it is not guaranteed that you can see the “Blue Fire”. However we were lucky that night. We could clearly see the blue glow between noisy columns of smoke and steam. In this area was an extreme smell of sulfur all around. We wouldn’t have needed the masks until this point, but they were useful to observe the blue fire. Despite these hundreds of tourists, it was a great spectacle.
A little bit further down the track, we could see the miners breaking sulfur and the acid lake. However you shouldn’t take a dip here. The lake has a pH value of 0.5 - truely a "Deadpool"!
After a while it was time to return to the crater rim for sunrise.
Many tourists were already descending back into the valley. Unfortunately they missed the phenomenal sunrise. The sunlight gradually moved over the milky-turquoise crater lake and the new morning began. Absolutely fantastic!
On our way back to the car park, we met one of the sulfur miners and he offered us to try out the weight of his filled baskets. Two baskets were connected with a wooden pole. They put it on one shoulder to carry the sulfur down into the valley. It sounded quite easy so far. However I needed a second try to get the baskets on my shoulder. What the hell is the weight of this load? The small, wiry man explained that this should be around 70 kg (154 lbs). He carries this weight twice a day from the crater into the valley. When I ask him, why he doesn’t at least wrap some cushion around the wooden pole, he started laughing. He got used to it over the years and had broken his collarbones a few times. A pad wouldn’t make much difference anymore.
After we reached our bikes, we had some breakfast and rode slowly towards the port, where the ferries left to Bali. Obviously we felt a bit exhausted for the rest of the day.
Mt. Ijen is an allover fantastic experience. It can be easily done in an overnight trip coming from Bali, but it is also worth staying longer in this beautiful region
