Two Days Trip in Bromo

Hi there…

How have you been?

In this time, I’m going to share with you about my experience in Bromo, one of the active volcanoes in Indonesia.

History

The name of Bromo derives from Sanskrit means Brahma, one of three main Gods in Hindu. This mount locates in five regencies East Java, Indonesia and those are Probolinggo, Pasuruan, Lumajang and Malang. Bromo has attracted both domestic and international tourists because its beauty and its tradition.

It is said that this mount has erupted periodically every thirty years and the last eruption was in 2015. Tengger ethnic lives in this mount and every year, they celebrate Yadnya Kasada ceremony in the Bromo temple.  This ceremony is to give an offering to

the God as the way to thank for everything that they get for a year and the offering could be vegetables and live stocks.

Travel

When you go to google, you will find many accommodation around Bromo and the price is vary but you can adjust it based on your budget. My suggestion is to stay as close as possible to the Bromo. But why? First, you will get cheaper price for the jeep to go to caldera and for the sun sets. For your information, it was cost Rp 400.000,- to go to point 1 for sun sets and caldera; and about Rp 500.000 for four attractions (the sands, caldera, the hills, and the sun sets). Second, even it is close to the main attraction, you will find an affordable guest house as well and it will costs about $14 per night for the cheapest one.

We decided to go to the main attractions in Bromo, which are caldera and sun sets. We woke up at 2 am and left the hostel about 2.30 am. We left for early because we want to get the parking lot as closer as possible to the gate, so we do not need to walk that long. When you enter the gate, you need to pay entrance fee and it is about Rp 27.500,- per person. Make sure you bring your own jacket, hoodie and gloves. But if you forget to bring them, don’t worry you can rent it in the venue or buy it. For example, rent fee for mat is Rp 10.000,-, while Rp 20.000,- is for jacket. There are some street vendors where you can buy hot coffee, grilled corn, instant noodle, fried tofu and many others.

We were sitting there for about two hours and then finally the sun rose at 5 am. There were number of people who want to enjoy the beauty of Bromo in the early morning and we got some beautiful pictures. After spent hours in this place, we decided to go down and on the way down, our view was better than before. We could enjoyed the green trees and adventurous trails. It took about 45 minutes from Sapi Kerep village, where our hostel locate is, to this place.

On the way to the caldera, we stopped by near the hills to take some pictures and then we continued our journey. Unfortunately, the jeep cannot go closer to the temple, so we stopped little bit far from the temple. The jeep parking lot is not quite far to the stairs gate but for you who do not want to walk, there are number of people who offer their horses. The price is vary, start from Rp 50.000,- from one way and Rp 150.000,- for return. The dust is everywhere, so make sure you bring some mask the day before. There are 250 stairs to go to the caldera but you want to go up faster, you can take a short cut. Always be careful when you decide to take the short cut. After took minutes to climbed up the stairs, we finally reached the top and the sound is like plane’s sound. Too loud. And the wind is too strong.

In the top, you can see water in the crater and smoke which goes there and here because of the pressure, I guess, from inside the mount. I was amaze and afraid in one time. Amaze because it is so beautiful. Afraid if I fall down because the fence is not high enough. This made me not to walk that many in the top area. Took some pictures and videos, then went down through the same way that I passed before when I climbed up.

On the way back to the parking lot, we met an international family who visited this place and his daughter has problem with her knee. There were five of them but one of them already went down with their guide. I offered help to translate what the other guides try to help. They tried to contact ranger to help them to rescue the girl. After helping them, we decided to go down, to go back to the hostel. After a while, we saw the rescue team pass by. In my view, it was quite long for them to come to help the kid, why the guide did not try to make an emergency tool to bring the kid down, for example using the existed bamboos and sarong.

Anyway, we arrived in the hostel at 10 am and then continued to have our breakfast, late breakfast though.

Visiting Bromo is worthless because you can see many beautiful things there, sun sets, sun rises, fields, and the hospitality from local people. But, there are some points that you need to bear in mind that always prepare what you need before you go there. Last but not least, it is important to improve the safety and emergency help for visitors who visit Bromo.

Cost

1.       Jeep      : Rp 400.000,- (for two point attractions)

2.       Jacket   : Rp   20.000,-

3.       Mat        : Rp   10.000,-

4.       Ticket    : Rp   27.500,-