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| Bekol Savannah - Baluran National Park |
The
sky was dark with a beam of moonlight. The stars twinkled and were spread in
the dark sky. The urban traffic with beam of thousands of cars slowly
decreasing then disappearing once we drove onto two sides of road into nature
areas, which haven't been touched yet by concrete blocks and modernization. The
road was showing the shadow of tall trees which seem wanting to touch the
limitless sky.
I
opened the window and felt the cold breeze wind touching my bare face skin.
Enjoying all the natural beauty of stars, which I hardly see daily. Having been
living inside the jungle of skyscrapers, I am used to breathe hot air with its
pollution with foggy sky upon me. I turned my head to the back seats and
smiled. 5 sleeping heads followed this shaky car and it seemed their soul
travelling deep into their land of dream. The lands of adventurous stories were
made.
***
“Di,
wake up! There’s a security check and you should report our visit, and pay them
the admission fee.” I said to Adi, trying to get him completely awake.
Having
been seating in the car for almost 8 hour, finally we reached the border, and
the first security check was in Ijen Complex (there were 3 times of security
check). One hour more to drive before we could park our car in available parking
lots at Ijen Complex, surrounded by many
tents offering some hot beverages and some snacks (even it was almost
midnight).
***
“Are
you ready, guys?” “Okay, before we start trekking, let’s pray in our respective
faith for this trip.” Sam, the guide, led the final preparation.
And
two (to three) hours of trekking to Ijen Crater was beginning. The smooth track
ended at some point that we could see the volcanic lake of Ijen Crater.
Finished? Not yet, and we continued our trekking down, through a rocky steep
slope to the safe closest point that we could see the magnificent blue fire.
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| Check Point |
Blue
fire is a rare natural phenomenon in the world that can only be seen at Ijen
Crater, East Java, Indonesia and (some say) somewhere in Iceland.
All
the efforts and sweat of this trekking finally paid off when we saw the beauty
of the blue fire. I sat on some dirty spot and watched the fire, just enjoying
the natural beauty with dozens of other visitors. The beauty came with its
limit, the blue fire could only be seen before dawn and we were not recommended
to spend hours in blue fire areas because of the thick sulfur fogs.
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| The Blue Fire of Ijen Crater |
***
Back
to the top, the sky turned into bright, even the sun hid behind the clouds. The
panorama of the volcanic mountain and the lake were stunning and mesmerizing.
The turquoise of the lake, the grey of the magnificent cliffs and the
orange-pinkish of the sky, definitely created a masterpiece.
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| Ijen |
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| Ijen Crater |
***
On
the road again, and this time we went to Baluran National Park (around three to
four hour drive from Ijen Crater).
“Beach!”
I shouted with my finger pointed to the view outside and followed by 5 other
heads.
Watudodol
Beach is a narrow beach with a long coastline. The water’s in dark blue color
and forbidden for swimmers because of safety reason. The Beach has a unique sand,
which is a ferruginous (iron) sand and made the sand looks glittery.
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| Watudodol Beach |
***
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| Welcome to Baluran National Park |
Welcome to Baluran National Park, The Africa van Java.
Passed
the main gate of this park by midday, and we had to drive our car for another
15 kilometer to reach our destination: Bama Beach.
3
kilometer just before Bama Beach, we passed the famous landmark of Baluran
National Park, Bekol Savannah. Bekol Savannah during dry season (May to
October) has got this park nick-named as The Africa van Java.
 |
| Bekol Savannah |
Bama
beach at last, where we would spend one night on our road trip, taking a rest
and enjoying the beach, the savannah, and the forest before we got back to the
road again, to the west.
 |
| Bama Beach |
Bama
Beach is one of the famous beaches in Baluran National Park. It has a short
coastline with white sand and kind of a perfect place for sun bathing. Bama
Beach also offers you an experience of the beauty of its marine park with hard
coral domination. The marine park, once ever told, was destroyed before some
conservation actions were made lately to rebuild the park.
***
Drinking
the water directly from the pipe, running around the white sand of the beach,
fooling around and fought with others, hanged on the branches of trees, ran
again and then fell asleep. Yup, the monkeys did that. We call them sun
monkeys, which are so many around the beach and the cottages. The monkeys show
up when the sun rises and suddenly disappear just after twilight.
What
did we do? Nothing, just got lazy inside the cottage, had a little chit chats
and played on the beach.
Sometimes
doing nothing is the only thing you need to do to get relaxed and give your
soul some break.
***
“Damn,
the light gone out! The officer said that the light would be available until 11
pm, but it’s only 8 pm right now!” someone grumped when suddenly the
electricity in whole area of Bama Beach was turned off.
“Where’s
the flash?” someone shouted. Well, looked like there were some problems with
the generator, which is the only machine to supply electricity for the whole
area from 6 pm to 11 pm.
***
The
sun came out from the horizon and spread its wings of lights, turned this side
of earth into daylight.
“Good
morning.” I whispered to nobody, mesmerized by the sunrise and enjoyed the soft
of the sands and the chill of water beneath my feet.
 |
| Sunrise at Bama Beach |
And,
the monkeys also came out from the forest. They are the sun monkeys.
***
“Let’s
go!” I shouted to others and began the trekking session; crossing the forest to
Savannah Bekol with high expectation we could see some untamed animal in its
own habitat.
We
saw ……none haha.
“Seem
like that you guys haven’t got enough luck to see the animals. It’s none, even
for deers and bulls which are used to be laying down around those trees.”
Bambang, the guide, told us.
“Yes,
the best time to see wild animals is in dry season, because they would come out
to savannah looking for fresh water.” Bambang continued.
A
glance of a peacock flying into the wood with its sound.
A
glance of a black colobine monkey’s tail.
A
buffalo in a mud pool, from about a hundred meter or two.
A
partridge passed our path.
Those
were all animals we saw. We just had a bad luck. Even in Bekol Savannah, where
we saw a group of deers the day before, now was empty.
Well,
no problem. At least the trekking passed the wood went well and lots of fun!
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| The Buffalo |
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| at Bekol Savannah |
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| Bekol Savannah |
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| Mount Baluran |
***
Midday
came and after a quick break we had to go back on the road and drove all night
to the west for around 10 hours. Driving to where Tenggerese lived for hundreds
year in their puja (worship?) to The Brahma, driving to where Penanjakan
Mountain embraced the holy crater in view of Mahameru The Great.
***
“Beach!”
I shouted with my finger pointing to the view outside and followed by 5 other
heads.
Pasir
Putih Beach (means White Sand Beach) is a beach with long coastline, located
nearby Situbondo City. A beach where being lazy and water sport activities are
blended in a perfect place to sit and lie on mat, sail with wooden boat, see
the marine park, play jet ski, enjoy the sand and the gently wave, and of
course a perfect place to enjoy fresh young coconut while the sun is just about
to set in the west coast.
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| Couple hour before sunset |
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| Water Sport |
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| Eat Street - Chicken Satay |
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| Young Coconut and Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce |
***
We
passed the gate of Bromo Mountain in the night. Welcome to Cemoro Lawang
village, where all visitors (most of them) will start the journey in Bromo
Mountain area. Our itinerary was quite simple. We would start the journey by
chasing sunrise at Penanjakan Mountain then we went down to Bromo Crater which
was located in the same complex with Teletubbies Savannah and Pasir Berbisik
(whispering sand).
Chilly
weather and strong wind splashed. Jacket, gloves, scarf, trousers, socks and
shoes were mandatory around this area.
We
had to wait until three in the morning to start our journey. We headed to a
24-hour traditional resto, ordering hot beverages and fried platter. Yummy!
***
“Urip?”
I asked a man standing in front of ticket counter.
“Yes.
Harry?” he replied. Urip was the owner and the driver of jeep that we rent.
By
Urip’s jeep, we went to Penanjakan Mountain, which is one of the best spots of
sunrise in Indonesia.
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| The Red one :) |
With
thousands of other visitor, we were stunned and sighed because even the weather
was not that good (cloudy morning) and the sun hid behind the cloud, yet the
lights of the sun made the sky so beautiful and mystical with the blending
color of pink, red, orange, blue, grey and white. Well, it was a pretty
beautiful sunrise.
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| Cloudy Sunrise at Penanjakan - Bromo |
Bromo
Crater usually is one of the main sightseeing around this area. So, don’t be
surprised (especially during weekends, long weekends and high seasons), there
will be thousands of visitor climbing the dirt path and the stair to reach the
top of the crater.
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| Bromo Crater |
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| Bromo Crater |
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| The Horse for Rent and its Master |
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| Teletubbies Savannah |
Pasir
Berbisik (means Whispering Sand) is the other side of sea sand around Bromo
Crater, nearby the cliffs of the hillside. The sand, of course, doesn’t
whisper. The area got the nickname after became a place of filming “Pasir
Berbisik”, which was one of the hits local movies.
***
3
main locations with 2 additional beaches in our journey “On The Road Again”. 4
days 3 nights, mostly on the road, sat inside the car, ate snacks, chit chat,
fell asleep and day dreamed, what could I ask for more? It was awesome.
Some
destinations did not match our expectations and some were beyond my
expectation. Well, the bottom line of a
journey is the journey itself, so yes this trip was great and lots of fun. Now
it’s time to go home.
***
Sleep,
you traveler. You are full with good memories and adventurous stories. You will
tell your stories to others in happiness, because you saw it with your bare
naked eyes.
And
this is it, one more of my stories about my lovely Indonesia.
Special thanks to Resviana and AT
for my English translation review
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