Tour program:

Tour itinerary map (click to enlarge) - map created using Voyager Map Server featuring Face of the Earth (TM)
 

Day 1 (Sunday August 28, 2005)
Arrival to Surabaya by plane (connecting domestic flight from Denpasar). In the early afternoon, a private minibus picks you up and brings you to the amazing Tengger-Bromo-Semeru National Park, where you stay in a comfortable hotel, beautifully located on the rim of the caldera with amazing views onto Bromo volcano. Group dinner, introduction to the volcanoes of E-Java, and briefing about the following program.

(Included: connecting domestic flight Denpasar-Surabaya (other airports on request; if arrival to Surabaya is arranged privately, a small discount is given, but you should make your way to the airport at the meeting time (after lunchtime, exact time will be announced later), minibus transfers, entry to the Tengger-Bromo-Semeru National Park, dinner and night in hotel).

Day 2
This day  is normally free for you to relax. An optional easy walk (ca. 3 hrs round trip) from our hotel to the crater of Bromo volcano (its last eruptions in Nov. 2000 and June 2004) at around sunset is suggested to round out the day.

(Included: breakfast, hotel night; not included: lunch and dinner).

Day 3
Today we get up early with our backpacks already packed. After a hot coffee or tea and a small breakfast, equipped with only the necessary gear for 3 days trekking (the rest can stay at the hotel) off-road jeeps are waiting for us to bring us driving to the beginning of the trail to Semeru.
With the spectacular light of sunrise, we cross the table-like flat bottom of the caldera, pass by Bromo volcano, and climb the opposite rim of the steep caldera. From here we have a first view onto the ash-belching volcano Semeru. After a short time we reach a small village at the start of the trail, where a hearty breakfast awaits you in a simple restaurant. In the meanwhile, porters will take care of our food and equipment and start going first.
With only water, snacks and cameras in our backpacks, we start our first long trekking day. The path is in most parts easy to walk and goes through thick bushes and rainforests, that finally thin out, until the volcanic wildernes at the base of the steep summit cone is reached. Including stops and walking at normal pace, it will take us about 8-10 hrs to reach the base camp at about 3000m elevation. A fully cooked warm dinner at the campsite will restore our energies.

(Included: breakfast, permit to climb Semeru, jeep transfers, all meals and drinking water, porters, camping equipment).

Day 4
After a hot tea or coffee, we start well before sunrise to climb the final, but demanding way up the very steep, loose slope of Semeru. As it gets light, the stunning spectacle of the volcano's eruptions gets slowly into sight.
Finally, we will stand on Java's highest top where one has an incredible view over Java and Bali, with many other volcanic peaks around and below us. A bit further,- in fact very close,- Semeru's crater belches out its curling clouds of ash. This is a highlight in the true sense of the word, that certainly will remain as a vivid picture of our trip. Extreme caution, however, must be exercised while being on the summit plateau,- an approach to the the proper crater rim is off-limits - people have died there!
After some time spent on or near the summit plateau, we head back to our second camp, near a lake, where we can relax.

NOTE: Depending on the fitness of the group and weather conditions, we might go down all the way to Ranu Pani already today, and skip the second camping night. In this case, day 5 would be completely free and an easy extra program will be proposed for the afternoon.

(Included: breakfast, all meals and drinking water, porters, camping equipment).

Day 5
We hike back to Ranu Pani, where we have lunch; afterwards, jeeps will bring us to the village of Cemoro Lawang, crossing the sand sea of the Tengger caldera. In Cemoro Lawang we will take our rooms in the same hotel as on days 1&2. The rest of the day is for you to relax.

(Included: breakfast, lunch, porters and guides, tips, jeep transfers, good middle class hotel; not included: dinner).

Day 6
For those who feel fit enough to get up early in the morning, a jeep excursion to Indonesia's most famous viewpoint is offered: Before sunrise, we drive to the summit of Mt. Pananjakan (2775m) on the E rim of the caldera,- the most famous viewpoint of Indonesia. The sunrise over the caldera with the steeming peaks of Semeru and Bromo in alignment is a truely unique spectacle.
After a late breakfast back at the hotel, we leave the area by minibus, driving through beautiful scenery until we reach the Ijen Plateau by afternoon. Here, we spend the night in the middle of a large coffee plantation, in a charming, old-fashioned hotel (middle class, built by the Dutch colonialists as the headquarters of the coffee plantations). Before we have our dinner in the colonial-style dining room of the hotel, we can take a bath in natural hot springs: this is guaranteed to be an unforgettable, and very relaxing experience - imagine the hot water pool, the sounds of forest, the fading light of day and starshine...
Before going to rest, a briefing about the following excursion to Ijen volcano – its activity and hazards ,- is given.
PS: The hotel owners will not miss the opportunity to sell the plantation's excellent Javanese coffee (a 250 gr pack will go for around 1 EUR): this is your chance to bring home original "volcano coffee", with the label of the Ijen volcano plantations !

(Included: breakfast, jeep excursion, minibus transfers, lunch, dinner, entry to hot pool, middle class hotel).

Day 7
Early in the morning, well before sunrise, we drive a short way to the start of the trail that leads up to the active beautiful crater of Kawah Ijen volcano (about 1 hr climbing) with its famous blue acid lake (which is the most acid in the world!) and the hot, partly liquid sulphur deposits. The fumaroles are so hot that sulphur comes out as green vapour. The vapour is collected by large pipes, through which the vapor condenses, and at the exit you see red rivulets of liquid sulphur, that then freeze to solid deposits, which are quarried, in order to obtain huge blocks of pure sulphur.
jen’s sulphur deposits are infamous for the local workers who quarry the sulphur with primitive, health-devastating methods,- an incredibly hard job. Gas-masks are provided for the visit to the crater. After plenty of observation time, we leave the Ijen Plateau and drive down to the coast facing Bali, where we have a good lunch in a nice restaurant overlooking the sea.
After lunch, our program ends with arranged transfer by ferry and shuttle bus to any desired destination on Bali (or E-Java).

(Included: breakfast, bus transfers, entry fees to Kawah Ijen, guide, gas-masks, lunch, ferry crossing, bus transfer to Bali or E-Java).