Ijen Crater - Banyuwangi - East Java - Indonesia

The Ijen Plateau lies in the centre of the Ijen-Merapi Maelang Reserve, which extends over much of the mountainous region directly west of Banyuwangi and borders on the Baluran National Park in the north east. As at Mt. Bromo , the caldera is best viewed from the air. Fortunately, almost all commercial flights operating between Denpasar - Surabaya, Yogyakarta or Jakarta usually fly, if not directly over, then close by Ijen plateau, where the seemingly luminous blue/green crater lake forms an unmistakable landmark. It is a beautiful scenery and located about 32 km to the north west of Banyuwangi.

The principal attraction at Ijen is the large, sulphureous crater lake which lies hidden between sheer walls of deeply furrowed rock at more than 200 meters. The Ijen crater itself lies at approximately 2,300 meters above sea level. It forms a twin volcano with the now extinct Mount Merapi. The enormous crater lake, which is 200 meters deep and covers an area of more than meters, a million square meters, contains about 36 million cubic meters of steaming, acid water.

Ijen crater shows a special type of volcanic feature common to Indonesia, about 1 kilometer in diameter and 175 meters deep. The floor is covered completely by a warm lake, milky blue green in colours held back by a dam built many years ago by the Dutch, in order to keep the hot, mineral laden water from raining the crop lands below.

The crater can be reached from either the east or the west by any kinds of vehicles, but the second part of the trip covers distance 3 km on foot (jungle track). However, the latter is more popular approach, since the climb from the road's end to the edge of the lake is only one and a half hours. And a walk around the lake takes a full day.

The temperature drops at night, near the crater rim it can fall to about 5° Celcius. The road ends at Jampit, where very basic shelter is available. It is also possible to sleep in the old vulcanology station further up the hill, now used by sulphur collectors, but permission must be obtained in advance.

The sulphur is transported entirely on foot. In the past, horses were used but they were found to be less practical on the hazardous terrain. Today, the mine yields nine to twelve tons of sulphur per day.

Individual loads of up to 70 kg are carried by men, often barefooted, up to the rim of crater and then 17 km down the mountainside to a factory near Banyuwangi. The porters are paid by weight. The most important advice if you are travelling to Ijen is: "If you lose your way, just look out for the sulphur trail". The meaning was clear, since a continuous flow of two way traffic,carrying the sulphur down the mountainside from the lake and trudging up again to re-load, had left a yellow trail on the well worn path. The best time for seeing Ijen Crater is at 8 to 9 am.

ABSTRACT TECTONIC STUDY ON A POSSIBILITY OF THE LEAKAGE OF TOBA LAKE, NORTH SUMATERA.

The research has been carried out to localize the possibility of the suspected leakage area based on microtectonic study. Toba Lake is the largest lake around Indonesia Archipelago; surface water area is about 1.072,16 km2 that was occurred by volcano tectonic depression. The lake is an important asset of North Sumatera Province for tourism and drinking and irrigation water resources. During the last decade the water level of Toba Lake was decrease until 2,86 m th in 1994. There was a hypothetic that the decreasing of the water hypothetic that the is caused by water leakage within the base of the lake that probably resulted from young tectonic activities. This second research period consists of a geological mapping, tectonic element identification and element data collecting, microtectonic analysis and geological & technical synthesis. The results of this research indicates that the fault N 154 - 164 and N 99 - 111 as relatively young age faults and cut younger and older lithology, but the fault do not cut the old river deposit and the alluvial deposit. At one of the locations of the old river deposits was found soils with thickness 0,20 meters, it means that the youngest tectonic were occurred at about two hundred years ago. Some spring water which are found at Tiga Dolok - Pematang Siantar - Kisaran area probably related to the recharge area around of Toba Lake or related to the leakage of Toba Lake.

* Staf P2BGGN
** Staf ITM, Medan

Watu Ulo

Watu Ulo have beautiful nature. there is about 30 km from jember.

Hello folks !

I have started photography when i was little. Actually it was my grand-grand father who sponsored me my first camera. I have always been fascinated by the interaction of light, colours and lenses !During a couple of travels i have taken a lot of pictures ( slides ) but unfortunately i dont have a scanner to upload them. Travelling is my main passion, and it has been since I was a kid. With my parents I travelled through Marocco in a Toyota Hyace when I was just 4 years old, I visited most of the European and South East Asian countries, but so far, the country fascinating me the most is definately Indonesia.
In July 2006 I was given a panasonic lumix digital cam, and finally i can upload pics to trekearth as well. i hope u can give me useful advice, because i ain't a pro, and i am thankful for any kind of support or any hint to do better !

thanks and see you on trekearth ...

bye cepekdong ...

p.s. "cepek dong" is indonesian slang and it means: "give me 100 rupiah!"

by Daniel Schmitt

Sunset In Bali

There is only one word to describe the sunsets in Bali: spectacular. In winter solstice in December, when the sun is close to its lowest point, a large, bright orange, red sun will approach the horizon of Kuta, descending ever so slowly. Brilliant shadows are cast everywhere, golden reflection on the water, and strips of clouds march as if to curtain another day. One light strip of cloud will probably march straight into the view, stealing the completeness of the sun, as if to accessorize it with a flowing silk scarf. Millions pairs of eyes are fixated, as the sun's bottom touches the horizon, and, in a matter of minutes, vanishes from the sight, as if it was never there.

Or, in Tanah Lot. A several hundred years old temple stands erect, solemnly guarding the land from the wilderness of the sea. Yet, as the sun begins its journey to its nightly resting place, the brilliance of an orange, red sun softly falls onto the side of the temple, raising its mystique even more. As waves break into the natural stone foundation of the temple, teasing the hundreds of little snakes in the cave in front of the temple, the sun marches down slowly. The millions of people it fascinates do not disturb it, for its ritual must flow. As it draws near the horizon, a magnified shadow of the temple is cast upon your eyes, as if to whisper good night. And in a couple of minutes, the sun rests, leaving traces of the day that has just passed.