Famed for its great beauty and eerie isolation - surely one of the most magnificent volcanoes of the Indonesian archipelago - Mount Rinjani towers over every corner of the Lombok, the first in Indonesia’s exotic southeastern island chain.
With its fertile alluvial plains, evergreen rainforests and picturesque, finely crafted rice terraces sloping down to the sea, this non-commercialized island lies just east, only a few hours by ferry or a mere 20-minutes by inter-island plane from its more famous neighboring island of Bali.
Lombok is only slightly smaller, but occupies the same time zone, shares a similar climate, and even has an east-to-west volcanic range as its “sister island” of Bali. The four-kilometer-deep oceanic trench that separates the two islands has for millennia hindered the natural migration of hundreds of species of plants and animals.
This trough marks the legendary Wallace Line, the literal divide between Asia and Australia, the storied faunal realm of Wallacea. As the Balinese say, looking across the gusty, swirling and dangerous body of water: “Here the tigers end.”
Sacred Mountain
The whole island of Lombok is dominated by the monolithic, reticular-ringed Rinjani which rises in solitary glory 3,726 meters above sea level, the second highest volcanic peak of Indonesia’s celebrated “ring of fire” that comprise 17,508 islands sprawling across one eighth of the globe.
The sacred mountain is a major pilgrimage destination for thousands of Hindu Balinese and the native Muslim Sasaks, the island’s two main ethnic groups who offer up rice, fish and betelnut to the deities of the lake and mountain twice a year. Imbued with curative powers, the hotsprings below the crater rim are believed to be able to regenerate body and soul.
The Rinjani Trek Management Board
An ecotourism program, The Rinjani Trek Management Board (RTMB) (http://www.lombokrinjanitrek.org/), funded and supervised by federal and local government agencies with private sector and community input, has literally put Rinjani on the map as a premier trek destination.
Out of a pool of 100 applicants from 40 countries, the grueling but awarding climb up the steep forest-clad slopes of Rinjani won the prestigious World Legacy Award several years ago for a tourism destination that best demonstrates effective protection and sustainability of its natural and cultural environment.
Villagers have more than just a passing interest in keeping the mountain pristine. Their economic future depends on it. Virtually the whole 400-square-kilometer montane complex that stretches 65 kilometers across the north of the island was declared a national park in 1997, one of 40 throughout Indonesia.
For trekkers and pilgrims, the two-day ascent of Rinjani is an extreme physical and spiritual adventure unmatched by few others in eastern Indonesia. More than 20 community-run cooperatives offer village lifestyle walks, tours of local farming techniques and daily religious rites, guide assistance and porter services to climbers, as well as food, handicrafts, woven products and postcards for sale.
Ecotourism is the engine that makes it all happen. Revenues and entry fees from tourism are directly invested in conservation, reforestation initiatives, on-site training and management. A Rinjani Trek Center and a Rinjani Information Center have also been established to educate tourists and villagers alike.
Professional guides, trained in English, park regulations, mountain safety, rescue and evacuation procedures, basic first aid, cooking, hygiene and radio handling, are registered and licensed by HPI (Himpunan Parawisata Indonesia), the officially recognized tour guide association.
Working hand in hand with the RTMB to keep the environs of this national treasure intact, cleanup patrols are regularly dispatched, rubbish cleared up, shelters rebuilt, trails constantly maintained and improved. For safety and security purposes, all park rangers carry mobile phones while on the mountain.
Climbing Rinjani
The Rinjani climb is without doubt one of the most awe-inspiring adventure trek experiences in the whole of Indonesia and among the best walks in all of Southeast Asia.
The ascent is steep and arduous, but the award is solitude and overwhelming beauty. The destination for most climbers is not the soaring summit, but the spectacular blue-green Segara Anak (Child of the Sea) one kilometer below the rim, a crescent-shaped lake lying like an emerald jewel in a massive wasteland of volcanic debris.
The classic trek is two nights and three days from Senaru in the north to the rim, then a descent down to the crater lake. More adventurous trekkers aim for the summit - the highest and steepest point on the edge of the caldera – which affords amazing views of the Indian Ocean.
Inside the massive 10-kilometer-wide crater is an otherworldly habitat of rare waterfowl, boiling hotsprings, cascading falls, towering walls, dramatic gorges, steep slopes covered in scrub and dense forests, and the small perfect cone of Gunung Baru (New Mountain). At this elevation, without the competition of electric lights, the moon is bright as a wafer of ice and the stars brilliant and countless.
Many of the hard-eyed, leather-skinned Sasak mountaineer guides - Tenzing Norgay’s Indonesian counterparts - have made over 100 assaults on the mountain. They will not only lead the way, but lighten your pack, provide companionship and do the cooking!
Camping equipment, flashlights, sleeping bags and enough provisions and water to last three days are all provided. Bring warm clothes, and stout shoes for good traction. The trails are well used with shelters along the way. Great camping spots are also found on the shore of the lake.
