Mount Rinjani ; Do's and Dont's
Mount Rinjani, the hidden gem of Indonesia.
It is truly hidden because in order for you to reach the beauty, you have to hike for 8 hours at least every day! Still, it was one of my most epic, unpredictable & most memorable experience of all our travels so far. From amateur hikers, here are our Do's & Don't at Mount Rinjani, Indonesia.
Do ;
Bring a light luggage as you will eventually have to hire a porter that carries all kind of food & beverages you can ever think of while going up. It's Indonesia's law. International hikers are compulsory to hire a porter (in our case we got 3) at Mount Rinjani. Ours were splendid. They cooked incredible meals, carried around 5-6 litres of drinking water & has been a fantastic guide.
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| Burgers at 2600m above sea level anyone? |
We booked them through an acquaintance who has been to Rinjani before. The person in-charge is Ahmed (+62 817 5720076). Ahmed even arranged return airport transfer AND 2 nights accommodation at base camp before and after the hike for only USD150/person. Awesome.
Don't ;
Carry big luggage/backpacks. It's not worth the exhaustion. Even the fittest person we met there said he regretted bringing a huge luggage as the tracks were too challenging to handle. Smaller luggage, one less thing to worry about.
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| Prepare to carry a huge physical (and emotional) baggage up. Pun intended. |
Try to reach early at the Sembalun base in order for you to enjoy sunset with hot lemon tea as this...
Tips;
If you could, do travel in smaller group (3-4 person). Smaller group tend to move faster than bigger ones which enables you to reach your camp (which has been set up by your porters) early and rest. Eventually, enjoying a view of a lifetime such as this!
Don't ;
Stop at a checkpoint too long. Bukit Penyesalan (literally the name of the hill translates to Remorse Hill) has a lot of checkpoints. Which I get it, after 6 hours of steep hiking when the top was still nowhere to be seen, it was easy to feel remorse and leaving you wanting to sit & rest your legs longer. But no, avoid sitting at checkpoints for more than 5 minutes, otherwise you will reach the top when it was already dark.
Do ;
Enjoy midnight stars when you are at Sembalun base. This is why reaching there early is important. After you are able to rest, you can start enjoying what nature has to offer at night over at Sembalun!
And get up early & fresh for you to shoot envious photo such as this. Hehe.
And this.
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| View from before descending and ascending again. The end of the crater on top of the hill was our next destination of the day. |
Don't ;
Set your camp/tent too near to each other. You have to set in mind that there are zero washroom facilities up there. Hence, to do the number 1 & 2, you have to do it in a dug up soil. Request your porter to find a golden spot (ours surpassed platinum even!) to set up the tent. If you are close to each other, emm, well...
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| Not our tent luckily. Imagine the *smell* and *fossils* you can find when you are too close to each other! |
Do ;
Continue your journey after Sembalun base to Senaru base even if you can't feel your legs anymore after yesterday's vigorous hiking. The journey was this amazing. Please stop by Segara Anak & enjoy the steaming volcano while having your lunch.
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| This was actually after lunch & we have started our journey to Senaru base. |
Forget to wake up early, and take photo of the summit (Rinjani) and it's volcano from Senaru base.
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| The summit & it's baby. |
Get a good rest after you have travelled down & enjoy the local view around Senaru villages in Lombok.
Pro-tip;
We do not continue to the summit because we are a pair of amateur with zero training in hiking.
Please do not be afraid to take Ibuprofen/Paracetamol for your aches before you sleep. It works wonder for the next morning in order for you to continue your journey.
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