Anak Krakatau: Getting into the spirit of adventure

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Sertung Island, Lampung

It was not a classy resort this time. No fancy hotel, no comfortable room, no hot water, no king-size bed. In fact, no bed at all.

We were going on an adventure! The sky was our roof, the ground was our bed and we dined on coconuts.

The real adventure that I was on was the Krakatau Camp and Trek at the invitation of Adventure Indonesia, a travel agent specializing in adventure trips.

It was a three-day trip to Anak Krakatau (literally, "the child of Krakatau"), a volcano island in the Sunda Straits, which would involve setting up camp on Sertung Island and heading off for day excursions to hike up the volcano.

We went there for the long weekend at the end of March, leaving early in the morning by bus to Carita Beach in Anyer, West Java, two hours from Jakarta.

At the beach, a motorboat was waiting to take the 14 participants, most of them expatriates, to Sertung Island.

Aboard the blue wooden fisherman's boat, we sailed along the Sunda Straits, which divides Java and Sumatra, for some three hours.

Fortunately, the weather was fine. Most of us preferred to sit on deck rather than stay inside, trying to catch the sun, the sea breeze and the blue waters. Beautiful.

We passed several small islands before sailing past Anak Krakatau itself.

There it was, standing tall and proud, dark and mysterious, unlike the green and luscious islands surrounding it. Hugging its slopes, however, were plenty of green pines.

My mind drifted back to when I was at elementary school, where we studied the grand and ancient Krakatau volcano.

This included how an infamous, violent inferno blew itself apart 119 years ago, how the explosion was so big it caused a tidal wave 40 meters high. And how this was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, with a force 2,000 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, killing 36,000 people.

This great natural occurrence actually belongs to us, this debt-ridden developing country. This country that ranks among the most corrupt countries in the world. Wow!

Anak Krakatau itself emerged from the sea in December 1927 and continues to expand. It has now reached approximately 200 meters above sea level with a diameter of two kilometers.

Half an hour from Anak Krakatau, we finally arrived at Sertung, a beautiful small island.

This island resulted from another great eruption of Krakatau way back in 416, which created three islands: Rakata, Sertung and Panjang.

Since there is nowhere to dock at Sertung Island, the boat had to stop some 100 meters from the beach. We then took turns to go to the island on a rubber dinghy.

As the staff of Adventure Indonesia set up our tents, we went swimming, snorkeling or diving off the island. The tents were placed just a few meters from the edge of the sea.

"The last time we were here was in October. There was a spit here and we could still play volleyball or soccer on the beach. But now, look, no spit and the beach line is narrowing. It is because of erosion," said Jeffry Sembiring from Adventure Indonesia.

We had a beautiful view from the tents as we faced Anak Krakatau, side by side with the much bigger Krakatau Island.

We spent the first night at Sertung. The major bummer, however, was that the water was not very clean. There was oil from boats, and garbage as well.

It rained on the first night so we all retreated to our tents early.

The rain stopped the next morning and the beach was full of white pumice stones. Hmm, I thought, I might as well haul plenty of it to Jakarta and sell it to the Body Shop.

We bathed in a nearby spring, some 200 meters up a hill. Again, despite its clean water and green trees, there was garbage scattered around the spring.

We then sat in front of the tents, having breakfast while enjoying the view of Anak Krakatau. It was a bit cloudy, but beautifully still.

Around 8 a.m., we sailed to the volcano island. Approaching the island, the water gets rougher but, fortunately, no one got seasick.

Half an hour later, we arrived at the beach of the volcano island, where the sand is black and spongy, softer than the white sand on Sertung.

We walked through the pines, where the soil was wet and reached the treeline, where the pines end and the soil becomes arid.

"There are no water sources here, but it's really amazing that the pine trees can grow here even though the soil is really dry," Jeffry said.

We walked toward the volcano, passing one or two pines whose dry yellow leaves lay sprawled on the ground.

The air started to feel hot but it was fun to step on the dry and crispy soil.

"We're lucky it rained last night. Usually, it's hotter than this," Jeffry said.

We climbed the north side of the volcano, only to its lower peak. We could not continue because the soil was too soft and it would have been dangerous to attempt to go the whole way.

On the lower peak, halfway to the peak, 100 meters above sea level, the view was fantastic. We could see the three "feet" of Lampung, the luscious islands nearby and the blue sky. The wind was quite strong but it did not prevent us from staying on the lower peak for over an hour.

Up on the peak, smoke billowed from the volcano. We then went down to the valley where the air was hot and humid.

The hot soil and the rain the night before made the air humid. The fun thing was that every time we rolled a rock over, steam would rise from the ground. Sulfurous rocks were everywhere.

We finally descended so that we could go back to Sertung for lunch. In the afternoon, we sailed to nearby islands to swim, snorkel or stroll.

When we got back, the water was quite rough, but it felt great. It gave a sense of real adventure and the sunset was really pretty.

We returned to Jakarta the next morning fresh, reinvigorated and with skin that was two shades darker. Sunburn and all, it was definitely worth the trip.