The Blue Dance of Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater)

The Blue Dance of Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater)

Source : Google Image

The only one place in Indonesia that presents unique crater of a volcano is Kawah Ijen. From here you will be served by an amazing view of the dancing flames from the crater whose color is blue, or better known as the Blue Fire. Kawah Ijen saves a million of gracefully natural charm and it will make you wonderstruck by its beauty.

For those of you who have never visited or directly seen the elegance of these blue dancing flames, this following article probably will provoke and raise your intention to immediately go to visit Kawah Ijen.

Gunung Ijen View

The first uniqueness of Kawah Ijen is the crater is from the most acidic mountain in the world that has caldera wall up to 500 meters with its area reaches over 5,000 hectares. Meanwhile its crater is more than 20 kilometers and it has a depth of approximately 300 meters below the caldera wall.

This comely crater has been known to the world since 1971, it began with the arrival of a French journalist who wrote about the charm and beauty of Kawah Ijen, the inimitable ambience in the world, along with an article about the hard struggles of the sulfur miners. And now a days, it is the main attraction for tourists, journalists and photographers.

Not only that, KawahIjen’s natural beauty is not in doubt. The magnificence feeling that comes from seeing the natural charm when the sun rises is a moment that will bring you float off in the romance of nature. And when you are up there, it means that you are witnessing one of the natural beauties that only 2 in the world, one of them is in Indonesia,and it is only in Banyuwangi. People there are always grateful for the God’s gift that gives them an abundance of natural beauty.

Sunrise in Kawah Ijen
Courtesy by Google

Imagine when the sun rises and it illuminates the crater then the light will be reflected and formed turquoise sparklesfrom its surface, and the charm was enhanced by the cool breeze in the morning. 

You can see picture on the left side to describe the beauty of sunrise

Kawah Ijen can be enjoyed from early morning precisely at 3:00 am, because at this time you will catch astounding scenery which is from the sulfur liquidthat flows endlessly, and then it raises the blue flames. This is the charm of blue dance of KawahIjen, or well-known as Blue fire.

In addition, around KawahIjen precisely at the southeast side, there is an awesome solfatara , and at the west side there is a water dam that becomes the head ater of the river “Kalipait”, it is a place that needs to be captured to your happy moments.This dam is a concrete building since the Dutch East Indies government, you can imagine how big the history that were abandoned. This dam was built with the aim to regulate the water level in order to prevent the acid flooding.

The crater of Mount Ijen which is still active with the altitude reaches 2,443 MASL (meters above sea level),from the top of it we can enjoy the natural scenery and also the views some mountains such as Mount Raung,Mount Merapi,Mount Suket and more. Also, with the softness of the morning sun you will feel in peace and dissolved intoits beauty.

KawahIjen which is on top of Mount Ijen is located at the border between Banyuwangi district and Bondowoso district. (You can see on the map below for ijen location)

Source : Local goverment

HOW TO GET THERE

•  .       using rail transport service, you should get off at Karangasem station then continued to Licin sub-district and Banyusari villageby using public transport either ojek or other local transportation. After that, from Banyusari you have to go to Banyuwangi city bus station and then followed by going to Paltuding, since the main gate of Kawah Ijen is there.
•  .        If you use a personal transport, you can use many alternative routes that are provided. If you are from Bondowoso, you have to go to Wonosari then go to Tapen, from Tapen continue to Sempol, in Sempol you can go directly to Paltuding.

From the main gate you can walk as far as 3 kilometers, in the first 1 kilometer you will be faced by steep track with a slope between 25-35 degrees and you will arrive at PosBunder (a climbing post that is unique because its shape is round). After pass the post, the track has been more sloping with a view of surrounding mountain range that you can enjoy during the climbing.

HOW MUCH IS THE ACCOMODATION

Since this trip is generally done in the early morning or at 02.00 am, so for those of you who need place to sleep in Paltuding, there are many comfortable accommodations with a very affordable price. It starts from Rp. 50.000,- to Rp. 200.000,- and also there are many places that sell your climbing needs.

Banyuwangi local governmentis now being intensively in holding some events related to KawahIjen tour,there are Tour de Banyuwangi Ijen, Banyuwangi’sIjen Jazz and many more. 

KawahIjen is the creator’smasterpiece for us to enjoy and preserve. Many say that traveling to KawahIjen will make us learning a lot about gratitude, it is because the view from the sulfur miners who look so persistent when carryingthe sulfur which as we know it is not easy. However, whatever it is, traveling to KawahIjen is a thing that you must-to-do to enjoy a scenery that only exist in 2 places in the world, one of them is in Indonesia, exactly in Banyuwangi. You know, it is too far to go to Iceland, another place that has the Blue Fire.



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