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Published: November 3rd 2008
Hiking Volcanos - by Ahmad Muslim & Chantal Hamel
Subject: Trip on Mount Tembora, Sumbawa, Indonesia
Time: Friday, October 10th, 2008
Location: Pancasila village, Mountain Tambora, Sumbawa Island
Selamat pagi/Bonjour/Good morning and welcome to my blog. How is everyone? Here I just posted a trip that Me and Chantal did on Friday, Oct. 10th of 2008. We just came a week from Canada to Lombok on Friday, Oct. 3rd before we went to the mountain Tambora. We had plan to climb the mount when we come to Lombok later, so here we go, we just went there. We knew that the volcano's 1815 eruption of mount Tambora was Indonesia's biggest and one of the world's most destructive in historical times, killing an estimated 50,000-90,000 people, destroying the kingdoms of Tambora and Papegat, and causing crop failures on neighboring Bali and Lambok. Lingering clouds of ash led to global cooling and created "the year without a summer" in many areas throughout the world, including France, Canada, the United States and etc.
We were at the mount for two days - go up and down and a night at post V. After that a few days later, we left Lombok -
my family, friends, and neighbour to Canada on the Oct. 15th 2008. Here is what we gained information during the trip from our trekking guide, Aris and porter, Herianto and plus a note about Mount Tambora from Pak Saiful, a park officer at Pancasila village, Sumbawa.
Mount Tembora is a 2851-m high active strato type A volcano, located on the Island Sumbawa in Indonesia (08°15’ latitude, 118°00’ longitude). The hike is not difficult. The place is pristine and beautiful. A succession of forest ecosystems of complexity diminishing with increasing altitude ends with an apparently dry and eroded land ecosystem on the top of Tembora. The forest protects you from the sun. It is a nice and comfortable hike.
Before its eruption, which created a year without summer throughout the globe in 1815, mount Tambora was more than 4000 m high, according to experts. People there believe that half of the mountain was projected in the sea during the eruption, which created the Island Satonda. This island, located at about 1hr from the beach by speed-boat, is a natural reserve and recreation park that should be worth visiting. There is a large salty lake on the Island, which is
My neighbour with Bule
My brother, Gazali with red sleeve and sister in law with the baby.
Many people at my family's house like to see a tourist like Chantal. 'Bule' is an Indonesian word for 'a tourist's name', so when people say "Disana, ada banyak bule - bule berenang di pantai Senggigi." So that's meant in English say "There are many tourists swimming in Senggigi beach."
Chantal is my friend. We live together in Swift Current, Saskatcewan, Canada over six years from now. She was visiting me on Friday, 3rd Oct. 2008 for two weeks and then we went back to Swift Current together.
I came to Lombok on Wednesday, 9th of April 2008, not just to visit my family, but I was working at Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort for a training or practicum from my study at Medicine Hat College in Alberta, Canada for a month at the hotel and then I have to come back to Canada on the 15th of Oct. also a holly place. We were told by local people that one can hang stones in the trees and pray to become rich. There are coral reefs in the sea at this location, as evidenced by a gift that we received from a resident of Pancasila: a piece of ‘sea flower’ (bugna laut in Indonesian language). The place is well worth a week of visit: two or three days on the mountain, one day on Satonda Island, one day on the beach. There is also a coffee factory, still as the Dutch made it back in colonial times, which is to be seen before it closes at 2 pm, and the remnants of an archeological site where a village was destroyed by the 1815 eruption of Tambora.
We were very well hosted at Toko Sidodardi by Ibu Darmo for 60,000 rupiah per day (about $6.00 per day for two). This price included breakfast and dinner, which were plentyfull and delicious. Arrangements can be made at +62 081 917 660 580, by someone who speaks Indonesian. Another place for room and board with very friendly people off main street it at Pak Bambang’s house (+62 081 933 179 571, Indonesian
A Motorcycle
We arrived at Mandalika Bus Terminal in Sweta, Lombok.
Lombok is a quiet small island in Indonesia and as a transportation wise, it's better to use a motocycle because its size is small as compare to a car's size, so you can go to a small road. The motorcyles are the most popular way of travelling in Lombok. language). Mr. Bambang, who works for the public transportation, informed us of that the fare from Mataram to Kandindi was fixed by the government and not negociable; we had payed 48% too much on the way to Kandindi. He went to talk to the people at the bus depot and, when we returned, the two best seats - beside the driver - had been reserved for us to compensate for the initial ripe-off.
Itinerary and Logistic Information
• We took the bus from the Bertais bus terminal (close to Mataram, Lombok Island) at 9.30 am to Kadindi, Sumbawa Island. This is a 19-hr bus ride which includes 2 hours on the ferry between Lombok and Sumbawa and a dinner stop in Plampang. The bus ticket is 120,000 rupiah per person, and arrival time is about 5-6 am. There are departures every day, at the same time.
• At the Kandindi bus terminal we looked for ojek (motorcycle-taxi) to take us to Mr. Charles (pronounce ‘Char’-‘less’) house in Pancasila. That was a short ride which cost 15,000 rupiah per person. Mr. Charles found us a guide, a porter, a tent, cooking utensils, and sent someone buy crackers, rice, coffee, sugar,
Motorcycle
Another motorcycles at the Bertais Bus Terminal in Mandalika, Lombok. noodles and water for a 2-day / four-person trip. Muslim figured that this should cost about 50,000 rupiah; we paid 73,000. The price of the guide was 200,000 rupiah and that of the porter was 175,000, according to Charles, but when we returned, Charles was not home and we were asked that price, but per day. We thought that this price was fair, any way (about $20 and $17 per day), especially that the tent and all the equipment was provided. We were also given breakfast when we arrived.
• At 8.00 am we departed for Mount Tambora Park with ojeks. We payed 50,000 rupiah (total for the four of us) to enter the park.
• We walked 6.5 hours up to post 5 that day. We had about a 1-hr lunch at post 2. At 4 am the next day, we left to the submit after taking a bowl of noodles. We were back to post 5 at 7am. We could have stayed longer on the submit if the weather had been better. We could not see the crater as it was filled with clouds, and as per Harris, our guide, toxic gases are coming out of the volcano.
Mandalika Bus Terminal
This is a way of buying a bus ticket at the bus terminal in Sweta, Lombok, we bought our bus ticket from 8 bus ticket agents and they were crookers because they sold the bus ticket with high price to us.
It should be a fixed cost, which was supposed to be Rp. 120,000 (CAD$13.50)/person/oneway trip to Pancasila village in Sumbawa, but I understood that this was the way people make money back in Lombok, Indonesia.
We used Sinar Rejeki, a minibus from the Mandalika Bus Teriminal in Sweta, Lombok to Kadindi village in Sumbawa and then only two of us went to Pancasila village in Sumbawa.
We took a motorcycle ride from Kadindi to Pancasila about 15 minutes and the cost was Rp. 15,000 Indonesian Rupiah (Rp.) (CAD$1.50).
When you travelling to Lombok or somewhere in Indonesia, except in big cities, it costs you nothing to buy goods, especially when you use with these currencies, such as Canadian, American dollars, British Pound, and Euro. The best time to hike on Tambora is in August, still dry season.
If you have any question on going to climb Mount Tambora, please call or e-mail me. I'm from Lombok Island, west island of Sumbawa.
Thanks. Have a wonderful day.
Chantal et Muslim
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Shyn
non-member comment
Trekking in Mount Tambora
Hi Chantal and Muslim, I hope you still check this blog. I came across an article about Mount Tambora, and am very interested to come by for a trek. Could you give me more information as to when's the best time to come, how i can get there and how i can arrange for accommodation/ guide and so on? Thank you. Regards, Shyn (Malaysia)