Trip to Lombok: Rinjani Trip
Day 1
It was Saturday 9th June I departed to Lombok to begin my trip to hike mount Rinjani, one of the tallest mountain in Indonesia stand at 3726 meter tall above sea level. Let’s begin from the very start.
I took online taxi to get to the nearest train station, located only 20 minutes away from my workplace and continued my way to the airport. Arrived at the airport I only needed to wait several minutes before boarded to the plane and took off. Plane trip from Jakarta to Lombok roughly took 2 hours and there’s one hour difference in time zone whereas Lombok got 1 hours early than Jakarta. When I arrived at Lombok International Airport I waited to collect my baggage. It’s 11.30 PM local time and I didn’t have any place to sleep so I decided to sleep in airport instead. “Why?” You asked? because I pre booked my Rinjani trip for the next day and the guy who will pick me up didnt show up until next morning, so instead of spending more money to book hotel room, airport area seemed nice to me.
It’s 3.30 AM in the morning. The driver called me and already outside of the airport. I walked outside, greeted the driver and off I go. He needed to pick up other passengers as well as their customer so I just followed them along. I slept most of the time in the car because I was too tired and it’s too late. I arrived at the Rinjani Trekking Centre office at around 6 AM.
Rinjani Trekking Center offered many choices of days trip to Rinjani and neighbor attractions such as waterfall or hills you can check them out on rinjanitrekkingcenter.com . I choose 3 day 2 nights trip to Rinjani which I think was too short to explore but it was okay. Headquartered near Senaru village Rinjani Trekking Center located just by road side.
First thing first I checked in at the office, filled out form and paid for the trip. After checking all of my belongings and needs for the hike we were taken to Rinjani basecamp at Sembalun. I was companied by one foreign girl from Denmark named Sophia, one guide named Ali and two porters. And our journey began.
We started at 8.30 AM and it took roughly 8 hours trekking from Sembalun basecamp to Plawangan Sembalun Crater Rim with one stop for the lunch at Post 3. The track was mostly flat surface from the basecamp to the Post 3 and kind of steep and a little climbing from Post 3 to Plawangan Sembalun. We were served with a view of vast grassland, hills and clouds roll over the hills. It was sunny day and the sun shined really bright. I got thirsty quite easily from the scorching sun. Pro tip: start trekking as morning as possible to avoid hot sunny weather at the grassland because really there were no trees here to give you shade and prepare sun screen or long sleeve jacket to avoid sunburn.
Fast forward to Plawangan Sembalun we were arrived at 5.30 PM. Porters were setting a tent for us to rest and cooked dinner. I watched the sun set outside our tent as the clouds rolled over the hills reflecting sun lights between the hills and clouds to the Segara Anak Lake. It was magnificent view to witness.
It was exhausting but the view was worth every single drop of sweat. We had dinner — a humble dinner and hot cup of tea before we took a rest to prepare our next climb to the summit the next morning.
Day 2
Ali woke us up at 2 AM in the morning and served us with a little snack and cup of hot tea to fill our body with food and energy to prepare trek to the summit. It took 3 hours and half from Plawangan Sembalun to Rinjani’s mountain top. The track were soil and dirt for a few meters, rocky surface for another and small rocks and sands all the way up which was the hardest because it needed extra energy to climbed up because every step you take forward it dragged you behind. The weather was of course very cold and I came under prepared (my bad judgment). I was only wearing jacket with no hoodie or head wear whatsoever, wearing short pants, got no face mask and gloves and the result I lost my body heat from my leg and my head and it really annoyed me. So cold that I barely feel my nose and ear and of course my legs were freezing too. Pro tip: come prepared. Get all of your stuff, warm jacket with wind breaker or hoodie to avoid chill winds, long pants to keep your feet from freezing and face mask to keep your face warm.
The wind was very cold and harsh and gave chill to my body. I almost got hypothermia and I knew I was being very stupid. It is really dangerous to get hypothermia because you can lose your sense of balance, delusion and sometimes fell unconscious. Never be afraid to tell your trekking partner if you feel cold and need extra hands, your life is more precious than the summit
The way to the summit was quite extreme. The more you get to the top the more steep it can get and not to mention steep chasm and cliff on your both side. It is really important to watch your step especially when you summit attack at night with limited lights only with the headlamp.
It’s nearly sun rise and we were yet reached the top and unfortunately for us when we reached the top it was blanketed with clouds so no view for us. But we managed to take a photo instead before climbing down.
It took us another 2 hours and half to climbed down back to our camp at Plawangan Sembalun and we had our breakfast there before trekking down to Segara Anak lake. And it took us another 3 hours to trek down to Segara Anak lake. We had our lunch on our way. It was quite a view to have for our lunch.
After having our lunch we continue our way down to Segara Anak lake. As we arrived we are served with magnificent view of the lake with active volcano in the center. It would make a great place to camp because the surface was quite even and flat and of course the lake was really gorgeous.
Ali also took us to hot spring near the lake. A great time to relaxed a bit. The hot spring come from the active volcano through the rocks between the spring and nearby waterfall. It was really hot but yeah I could use some hot spring in the cold place like Rinjani.
After taking relaxation at the hot spring for quite some time we continued or way up to Plawangan Sembalun. We circumnavigated the lake and went into the forest and climbed up really steep rocky track. This track deemed to be my hardest ever, my legs just turned into jelly after climbing up to the summit and down and now I need to climb up to Plawangan Senaru. It’s like a torture to me, I needed to take break after few steps and our way up was really still long way to go. Thanks to Ali for his patience to accompanied and cheered me up to the top I reached Plawangan Senaru just after sunset (other might get there as soon as 3 hours while I took even longer). Our porters have set a camp for us and cooked dinner. Sophia already waited in a tent and I greeted her. We had our lunched and went to sleep because I got really tired.
Day 3
It was a good night sleep but my feet and body still hurt and exhausted. The sun was already shined from the edge of the hill and Ali woke us up with breakfast. Nothing much to do here, we had breakfast and started trekking down to the Senaru. I managed to snap few photos on our way down.
It was another 5 hours trek down and through the woods, we stopped once to have lunch and continued. In no time we arrived at Senaru entrance.
At this Senaru entrance — or more like exit, we have to checked out or signed out at the guard post. From this we still need to walk another hour to get to the village and wait our car to pick us up back to the Rinjani Trekking Center office.
I would like to say thank you to Rinjani Trekking Center to make this trip possible. Also to Ali whose patience is impeccable to accompanied me through the hardest track. He is a funny guy and I like to have a chat with him, he make the journey a lot less boring. Thanks to Sophia my newly friend from Denmark who share the tent with me and bear with me along the track. And to the porters who bring all of our stuff for 3 days, you guys really are the champions.
