Blue Flames

Today, we embarked on perhaps the most extreme tour of our journey. This was a boundary-pushing experience in many ways.

At 12:30 AM, after three hours of sleep, we got up to hike to Kawah Ijen with guides and a small group. This is a crater with a sulfuric lake (the most acidic lake in the world), where blue flames arise at night due to burning sulfur fumes. Miners extract sulfur here by hand and transport it up the mountain in baskets weighing up to 90kg. The working conditions are extremely poor, and there are frequent accidents, some of which are fatal, as the path is extremely steep and slippery, and gas eruptions occur regularly.

We were overwhelmed by the influx of tourists. Together with probably thousands of others, many of whom seemed to have little hiking experience, we started with several kilometers of steep ascent in a duck march and then descended with gas masks and safety goggles to the crater. We had never experienced anything like this!

There was then a dense crowd around the blue fire. The sight of the lake after sunrise was incredibly beautiful.

Back at our accommodation, breakfast consisted of fries, fish, and mushroom soup. There was nothing else available. Then we went back to bed.

In any case, this was a unique experience!