I have heard quite a lot about Ijen crater. I have read about it in several blog posts other travel bloggers. I have seen a lot of pictures of the Ijen Crater in search engine search results. It’s beauty is captivating, yet for those who work in the Sulfur mines it is a hard life. It is these contrasts that made me so passionate about visiting Ijen. I told to myself I have to see it.
Ijen was my first touristy destination on my motorbike road trip from Yogyakarta to Flores. I read online that you can reach Ijen from Banyuwangi or Bondowoso. I was thinking of taking the Bondowoso route, since the scenery was bound to be beautiful. There are the coffee plantations and the open fields, all far away from the traffic and the big trucks. Well.. in the end I went via Banyuwangi because there is no decent accommodation around Bondowoso. In the end I decided to stay around Ketapang port. From here it took around one hour to reach Ijen crater by motorbike.
Have you heard about the blue flames of Ijen? I am sure that the blue flames are one of the most magical things about Ijen, but that is not the reason that I was looking forward to visiting in Ijen. Oh anyways, if you want to see the blue flames you need to arrive at the crater of Ijen before sunrise. From Paltuding camp to Ijen crater is a 4 km trek (I reached it in almost 1,5 hours). If you are fit enough, I think it wouldn’t be a difficult hike at all.
I started the hike around 9 am. At this height the suns rays were strong, but the weather was fresh and breezy. I walked to the crater with two foreigner tourists and a lot of sulfur miners. I also had a light chit chat with two of the sulfur miners who talked to me about what life is like for the people who work at Ijen as sulfur miners.
The experience of visiting Ijen was definitely a lesson about life and it enriched me as an individual. I will share more about it with you in the next post. In the mean time please enjoy the beautiful view from around Ijen crater!
