Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen volcano, located near the eastern tip of the island of Java, is a relatively ordinary volcano during the day. Granted, it’s kind of scary, as most volcanoes are, but there’s nothing externally separating it from any of the hundreds of other volcanoes in this island country.
To find out why, you will have to go to the base of the volcano just after midnight, and walk to the crater of the volcano. It’s not an easy task – you’ll hike over four miles and ascend to heights of nearly 10,000 feet, with just the moonlight to guide you, and that’s if it’s outside.
Inside the Kawah Ijen volcano
You will also need a gas mask – when you start descending into the crater, toxic sulfur gases will blow on you, impairing not only your ability to breathe but also your visibility. (It’s for this reason that you should probably bring a local guide as well, but more on that in a minute.)
Around the time the clock strikes three or four, you will have reached the bottom of the crater and you will have set your eyes on one of the strangest sights on our planet: the blue fire rising from the ground. The vibrant blue hue of these flames, which results from heavy sulfur deposits on the volcano, is best seen during the darkest part of the night, therefore you need to wake up well before sunrise.
The dark side of blue light
As you continue to marvel at the blue beauty unfolding in front of you, you might notice dozens or even hundreds of men around you, moving feverishly and without gas masks. These are sulfur miners, residents of small villages around the base of the volcano, employed by the Chinese company that owns the mine.
Do you think your trip was difficult? The miners carry approximately 88 pounds of powdered and toxic sulfur at a time, in two baskets connected by a bamboo beam and suspended over their shoulders, at the same distance, and probably faster than they walked. They also earn less than $ 7 (yes, that’s US dollars) for their effort, despite the fact that sulfur has an extremely high market value.
The miners won’t mind you being there (although, again, you should probably bring a guide), but it is customary to tip them 10,000 to 20,000 Indonesian rupees so they can buy cigarettes; Smoking is the comfort of your favorite creature, which is perhaps ironic given the damage that sulfur fumes almost certainly inflict on your lungs. Hopefully, in the future, local people won’t need to do this backbreaking job, and the only reason to descend on Indonesia’s blue fire volcano will be tourism.
Kawah Ijen Guided Tours
When it comes to guides, several Indonesian companies offer tours, but the best way to see the blue fire of Kawah Ijen volcano is to hire a local guide. A highly recommended guide is Sam from Ijen Expedition, a young man who resides in the Taman Sari township at the base of the volcano.
Not only is Sam passionate, professional, and fluent in English, but he invests the proceeds from his tours into education in his village, which will decrease the locals’ reliance on mining jobs, ultimately increasing the quality of their lives. One day wait, no sadness will be felt at Kawah Ijen volcano, just amazement!
How to get to Banyuwangi
As for how to get there, you have a few options. The Blimbingsari Airport near Banyuwangi has recently opened for limited flights, but if you can’t catch one of those, you have two relatively easy options.
The first is to fly to Denpasar Airport in Bali, Indonesia’s busiest tourist hub, then take a ferry to Java Island, which drops you directly in Banyuwangi for easy pick-up from your guide. The second option is to fly to Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, and then take the roughly six-hour train ride to Banyuwangi from there.
No matter how you get to Banyuwangi, make sure to keep in mind that your trek will probably start around midnight. While some tourists prefer to arrive around this time and do so, others prefer to arrive early in the morning and spend the whole day resting in preparation.
