Kawah Ijen

Kawah Ijen, the Ijen volcano complex is a group of stratovolcanoes in Banyuwangi Regency of East-Java province, Indonesia. It is inside a larger Ijen caldera, which is about 20 kilometers wide. The Gunung Merapi stratovolcano is the highest point of that complex. The name of this volcano resembles that of a different volcano, Mt. Merapi in Central-Java, also known as Gunung Merapi; there is also a third volcano named Marapi in Sumatra. The name "Merapi" means "mountain of fire" in the Indonesian language.

West of Gunung Merapi is the Ijen volcano, which has a one-kilometer-wide turquoise-colored acid crater lake which now more famous as 'Blue Fire Crater', after BBC television documentary Human Planet and National Geographic mention it. The lake is the site of a labor-intensive sulfur mining operation, in which sulfur-laden baskets are carried by hand from the crater floor. The work is low-paid and very onerous. The sulfur miners earn around $5.50-$8.30 (Rp 50,000 - Rp 75,000) per day and once out of the crater, still need to carry their loads of sulfur chunks about three kilometers to the nearby Pultuding Valley to get paid.

Many other post-caldera cones and craters are located within the caldera or along its rim. The largest concentration of post-caldera cones forms an east/west-trending zone across the southern side of the caldera. The active crater at Kawah Ijen has an equivalent radius of 361 metres (1,184 ft), a surface of 0.41 square kilometres (0.16 sq mi). It is 200 metres (660 ft) deep and has a volume of 36 cubic hectometres (29,000 acre·ft).
The lake is recognised as the largest highly acidic crater lake in the world, and since it is also a source for the river Banyupahit, resulting in highly acidic and metal-polluted water, it has a significant detrimental effect on the downstream river ecosystem. The pH of the water in the crater was measured to be 0.5 due to sulfuric acid.

Since National Geographic mentioned the electric-blue flame of Ijen, more tourists have come to see it. The phenomenon has occurred for a long time, but beforehand there was no midnight hiking. A two-hour hike is required to reach rim of the crater, thence 45 minutes to hike down to the bank of the crater, a guide necessary. The blue fire is not lava, but the ignited sulphuric gas, which emerged from cracks, with temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit) and up to 5 meters (16 feet) high; some of the gas condenses to liquid with the low alpine temperature and is still ignited, leading to the common assumption that it is lava. It is the largest blue flame area in the world and local people refer to it as 'Ijen Blue Fire', because it easier and more understandable to say 'fire' than 'flame'.

Which tour program can we have?

1. Regular Ijen Tour

• Get up at 04:30 and prepare yourself and everything that you'll probably need during the tour.
• Meet your guide and driver at the lobby of the hotel.
• Drive to Paltuding Ranger Post and parking-area at 05:00 by 4WD Jeep about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Hike up to reach the peak of Ijen.
• Have a look around and take pictures of the incredible turquoise green lake and the sulfur mining activity.
• Hike back down to the Paltuding Ranger Post and parking-area.
• Drive back to the hotel.

2.  Midnight Ijen Blue Fire Tour

• Get up at 00:30 and prepare yourself and everything that you'll probably need during the tour.
• Meet your guide and driver at the lobby of the hotel.
• Drive to Paltuding Ranger Post and parking-area at 01:00 by 4WD Jeep about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Hike up to reach the peak of Ijen.
• Hike down carefully to the bottom of the crater to have a closer look and take pictures of the blue fire.
• Hike up to the sunrise view point to see the beautiful sunrise.
• Have a look around and take pictures of the incredible turquoise green lake and the sulfur mining activity from the rim of the crater.
• Hike back down to the Paltuding Ranger Post and parking-area.
• Drive back to the hotel.

 3.  Midday Ijen Blue Fire Tour

• Prepare yourself and everything that you'll probably need during the tour.
• Meet your guide and driver at the lobby of the hotel.
• Drive to Paltuding Ranger Post and parking-area at 13:00 by 4WD Jeep about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Hike up to reach the peak of Ijen.
• Have a look around and take pictures of the incredible turquoise green lake and the sulfur mining activity from the rim of the crater.
• Enjoy the panorama from a higher point until the sunset.
• Hike down carefully to the bottom of the crater to have a closer look and take pictures of the blue fire.
• Hike back down to the Paltuding Ranger Post and parking-area.
• Drive back to the hotel.