Surabaya Tour of Adventure (Ranu Pane, Ranu Kombolo and Kalimati)

Ranu Pane is a mountain village very near to Mount Semeru (the volcanic mountain), and its cold, slight dusty and scenic (full with agriculture on mountain area). We can only reach there by 4WD (probably a few hours). The view is more amazing, with some lava formed mountain and a sneak preview of Mount Semeru. We stay at a basic home stay with no hot waters and extremely cold. We get to eat some local junk food and beer, and the ground nuts are tiny but nice. The sky is clear with lots of star, quite a serene place.

Home stay Kitchen

The Village

We reach Ranu Kombolo (lake) after 4 hours of trekking from the village. The trek is not too difficult, and the view at the lake is pretty refreshing. It is pretty nice, surrounded by small rolling hills. Too bad no boating is available there, thus we just lie on the grass to have some rest.

Resting Near the Lake

Ranu Kombolo

The Lake

Mount Semeru Erupting

It took another 2 more hours to reach Kalimati (the base camp of Mount Semeru). We have to pass through a small hill, go through some “dessert” land, and walk into some very dry jungle and hills before reaching the windy campsite. The campsite have strong winds and very cold, with sands blowing everywhere. We setup the camp quickly and hide in our shelter, until dinner time. Everyone is in full winter suite, and hide in the cosy sleeping bag. Places around Mount Semeru are very dry and windy, with sands and black soil all around. We had our dinner around the camp fire, having vodka to warm ourselves up, before trying to sleep until 1 AM where we were ready to climb Mount Semeru. Semeru is one tough volcanic mountain, which is sandy, windy, cold and steep. The environment is 2 times as hostile as Mount Kinabalu, and the experience is death-defying, no-second-try and priceless, muahahaha.

Nasty Semeru

Barren land near the campsite

Campsite

PS: Somehow, the volcanic area of Indonesia have some very un-auspicious name such as Malang (bad luck) and Kalimati (this time die).

Photo Links: Mei Ru's Multiply, Mich's Multiply