Trip to Ijen Crater, East Java – Indonesia (Part 1)

The road trip to Catimor Homestay, Jember

Travel time on the road from Madakaripura Waterfall to Catimor Homestay which is located at the coffee plantation took about 9 hours ( I think so ).

We were back on the road again after the waterfall at about 1ish pm and we headed straight towards Ijen.

We had lunch at a restaurant along the way at about 3-4pm and by then we were famished. Some of us had Nasi Ayam Penyet, one person had Cat Fish Rice while myself and another friend got ourselves Nasi Bebek – which was a 'not so smart' choice. Hehe. But then again, we were super hungry and you just have to chow it down man!

Nasi bebek, Indonesia

Maybe somewhere around 6pm in pitch black we began to travel through the rough, gravel road which seemed to be out of nowhere. We were heading straight to the coffee estate and surprisingly in the dark, there were big lorries passing through the road, one stray dog and even people with overloaded motorcycles commuting on that very same road. Did I mention it was pitch black and it felt almost like we were in a jungle somewhere?

Arrived at the Rest House somewhere around 9ish pm, we got our keys to our rooms, shortly after we feasted on a lot of things on the dinner table.

After dinner, I showered while my roommate collapsed on the bed out of exhaustion. She had a hard time with all the crazy, rocky motions in the car (motion sickness) and she hardly had anything for dinner. While being me, I just can't really sleep and started repacking my bag, drying up the wet clothes from the waterfall and doing other nonsense instead. I slept for maybe 2 hours or so and woke up just before the alarm rang at 4am. Great!

Breakfast was a choice of black coffee ( not Luwak Coffee though) or tea, one hard boiled egg and a bread sandwich of butter and chocolate rice – which was not technically everyone's favourite but we (some of us) chowed it down anyway. My roomate got with her a Maggie Cup – Chicken flavour and I ate a bit of that too. :)

Next, we checked out of the hotel, loaded bags into the car and after a short drive through the coffee plantation and one guard post later (which the driver 'gave' some money and one hard boiled egg. There were probably about 5 to 6 guard posts that we passed through since last night and imagine the amount of 'token' the driver had paid which was of course billed on us. Simply unbelieveable!

Arrived at the entrance of the park – Taman Wisata Alam Kawah Ijen. The registration counter was closed and the crater is supposed to be closed anyway – at least it was closed for the suplhur miners. As long as we, visitors do not get down to the crater, we 'should' be fine and safe.

Next, the beginning of the hike up towards Ijen Crater which will continue in the next post.

Photo Travel : Madakaripura Waterfall, Probolinggo, Jawa Timur, Indonesia

Madakaripura Waterfall in Probolinggo, Jawa Timur ( East Java) has to be one of the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen up until now. For those who make a visit up to Mount Bromo, I would really recommend for you to add a visit down to Madakaripura Waterfall in your next itinerary.

[caption id="attachment_2896" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Madakaripura Waterfall - view from afar"][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_2899" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Madakaripura water pouring heavily"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2901" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Super murky water and the camera lens got a bit of water on it. Murky water = leave ASAP because water level is rising and that's dangerous!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2902" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="It's getting cloudy, murky water, heavy water flows - few more last snaps to go and leave quickly people!"][/caption]



Madakaripura Waterfall - it is simply beautiful. I know the camera work here isn't really fabulous but we are really thankful for the waterproof digital camera that Miss M brought along with her other camera. All in all, it was a great short trip to the waterfall. Maybe in total we spent about 15 minutes max around the waterfall and since the weather wasn't looking good, the water getting totally murky and the amount of water falling from above was immense, it was a good call that we didn't spend a lot of time around the waterfall and thankfully we all got back to the car safe and well.

*** Note:

- If the water level would have been on a safe level, the water at surrounding the waterfall will be in a hue of green-ish blue in colour. Even though we brought along a so called guide, he didn't mention a single word about getting out of there quickly what more briefing on the track. Hence, do come with some basic river or water level knowledge along with you.

- The walk towards the waterfall is fairly easy. It takes probably about 30 minutes or so ( wasn't really timing the walk) to get to the waterfall. However, do be aware of local men who would be asking to guide you (with a fee of course) or some men who seemed to be really nice to help you along the way (wading through the streams) because in return they will be asking for some money. In our case, our tour operator had already assigned a person to guide us which in my opinion was totally unnecessary.

- Do come prepared to be extremely drenched  and there will be locals trying to rent to you umbrellas. So yeah, you can come equipped with a raincoat, proper sandals, umbrella and a waterproof casing for your camera or a waterproof camera. Water is also essential and make sure you pack that in your bag.

- Safety first and it was certainly one of those ' heaven on Earth' moment as you reach the waterfall.