!!!Bromo volcano

by Sergey Shandin and
Stanislav Sedov,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

21 July 2015

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

One of the most famous volcanoes of Indonesia is situated here, on the
island of Java. Its name is Bromo and it is an active volcano: its
crater permanently produces smoke and steam and occasional eruptions
take place every now and then (the last one was in 2012). At the same
time this volcano is quite easily accessible: one can get the foot of
the mountain by car and then climb the stairs to get the crater. Much
easier than the volcanoes of Kamchatka, we should say. And the altitude
of the volcano is not that high, only 2392 meters. That is why Bromo is
one of the most popular volcanoes, hundreds of tourists visit it every
day.

[{Image src='01_Bromo volcano, Indonesia.jpg' caption='Bromo volcano, Indonesia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='413'}]

Actually, four more volcanoes are situated inside the Tengger caldera:
besides Bromo there are Mount Batok (2,470 m), Mount Kursi (2,581 m),
Mount Watangan (2,661 m) and Mount Widodaren (2650 m), but Bromo is the
only active volcano among them. Outside the area of caldera there are
several more summits, Semeru (3,676 m) is one of them, the highest
mountain of Java Island and an active volcano as well.

[{Image src='02_Mist above Tengger Caldera.jpg' caption='Mist above Tengger Caldera' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='487'}]

Our way to Bromo started in the airport of Surabaya town. We loaded in a
bus, there was a long journey to Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. On
our way the weather was getting worse: while outside the window the
fields were changing to a serpentining mountain path, it started
raining. Then in an hour rain turned into a thick fog. When we reached
Bromo, we could make out only clouds of greyish mist on the edge of the
Tengger caldera. Somewhere behind them the volcano was hiding from us.

[{Image src='03_At the observation platform of the Bromo volcano.jpg' caption='At the observation platform of the Bromo volcano' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='601'}]

Locals convinced us that it was quite a typical weather; ‘It is always
raining in the afternoon', they said, and there was a chance that the
fog would dissolve allowing us to see Bromo. Meanwhile the rain was
getting stronger and we were not encouraged at all. But regardless of
the weather, we agreed to descend to the caldera.

It was dark when we left. Comparing to the heat of Yogyakarta and
Jakarta, we were quite pleased to feel the mountain coolness at first.
But very soon this cold began to chill our bones. Old but reliable Land
Cruiser was carrying us over the field of hardened lava. With his teeth
chattering to the rhythm of the motor, our driver was shivering and
wrapping in a blanket. I was trying to get a sense of how he managed to
find the road in this fog, but in vain: all the directions in this
greyish haze seemed to be the same for me. But soon we saw the
silhouette of a temple: we reached the place.

[{Image src='04_Pura Luhur Poten Temple.jpg' caption='Pura Luhur Poten Temple' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='542'}]

Hindu Temple of Pura Luhur Poten was built by the local inhabitants and
is situated right at the foot of Bromo. The temple is rather humble, one
can say even ascetic. Once a year the holiday of Yadnya Kasada, which
lasts for a month, takes place here. At the celebration, people make
certain sacrifices: they throw rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers, even
poultry together with small cattle into the crater in order to
propitiate the sleeping forces of the volcano. But despite the
sacrifices, the volcano awakes once in a couple of years. Lava traces on
the slopes of the mountain are the remainders of this activity.

The caldera's bottom around the volcano is covered with ashes,
practically no plants can be found here. Black waves of ashes create
dunes. This place is called the ‘Sand Sea'. No wonder: the sand was
easily getting into our shoes.

[{Image src='05_Sand Sea.jpg' caption='Sand Sea' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='512'}]

In the meanwhile the fog almost dissolved, the sun appeared. Stas
launched our drone and it made its first flight, making photos for
panoramas of Mount Batok and Pura Luhur Poten Temple.

With the appearance of the sun tourists filled the caldera. Very soon
the number of people grew and we had to climb the crater together with
the crowd. 250 steps of stairs lead from the temple to the top. The
ascend seems to be not that high, especially from below. But the
altitude and clouds of sulphurous fog seemed to add some weight to our
equipment that we were carrying upwards.

[{Image src='06_Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park at night.jpg' caption='Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park at night' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='601'}]

Being out of breath, we finally reached the edge of the crater where the
sculpture of Ganesha — Indian deity of wisdom — greeted us. Thick smoke
was coming out of the crater, we could hear something boiling down in
the depths. The wind again brought some clouds here, they quickly
surrounded the top of Bromo. Every now and then the sun was coming out.
Sulphurous evaporations did not let us breath properly. In a while the
wind changed and it became easier to breath. We launched our drone,
photographed the panorama of the carter and even flew over the very
throat of the volcano. The smoke of Semeru volcano could be seen in the
distance. That was a good beginning of the day!

[{Image src='07_Bromo volcano, Indonesia.jpg' caption='Bromo volcano, Indonesia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='525'}]

Having descended from Bromo and shaken all the black sand out of our
shoes, we got into the car and set off riding. It had been raining all
the previous night so that black sands wetted through. The sun was
warming this packed dense sand, and the steam rose from the ground. The
wind, in its turn, caught the clouds of this mist creating the visions
of ghosts flying over the ground. Soon the fog grew so thick that we had
to stop.

I used this moment to make several pictures with our Land Cruiser 40,
legendary crossover, at the foreground. It was almost 40 years old, but
still in good condition! This National Park has a good collection of
these cars, and they suit the volcanic landscape.

[{Image src='08_Land Cruiser 40.jpg' caption='Land Cruiser 40' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='596'}]

One more part of the caldera was still ahead of us — Savannah. The
landscape is absolutely different here: instead of black burnt desert we
could see grass and trees, clouds overflowing the edges of the caldera
and crawling down the jagged slopes. So here we made several panoramas
as well.

[{Image src='09_Savannas of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park.jpg' caption='Savannas of the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='474'}]

We spent several days at the foot of the volcano. The weather was
changing so unexpectedly that we could not foresee what would happen in
half an hour. Sometimes we had to spend several hours to catch the
proper light.

[{Image src='10_Bromo volcano and Batok volcano.jpg' caption='Bromo volcano and Batok volcano' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='601'}]

But, after all, Bromo decided to please us. In the morning the caldera
was covered by a layer of fog, the mountains were poking out of this
mist. The picture was incredible! The sunrise at the equator is very
swift because the sun is getting up almost vertically. But we were
already prepared and launched the drone at the first rays of the sun.

[{Image src='11_In the morning the caldera was covered by a layer of fo.jpg' caption='In the morning the caldera was covered by a layer of fog' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='431'}]

In the afternoon the weather changed again, as usual. When we were
leaving the caldera, the heavy raindrops sounded on the roof of our bus.
Rain on our way — a sign of good luck; we went on traveling around
Indonesia!

\\ \\
[18 Panoramas of Bromo volcano 1|Geography/Asia/Indonesia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Bromo_volcano_1]










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