Selling the charm and the danger of Mt. Merapi
Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Mount Merapi is spectacular to look at but hazardous at its heart. Even when it spurts out red hot lava at night, the volcano is mesmerizing, from whichever side you look at it, attracting tourists from far and wide.
One day a few years back, 14 overseas tourists had an unforgettable experience while trying to enjoy the beauty of Mount Merapi up close. The volcano suddenly billowed hot ash. They had to run fast to avoid the hot fumes. There were no lives lost but the terrified tourists left their belongings behind in the forest two kilometers from the top of the mountain.
That was the worst experience Christian Awuy, 55, has ever had as a tourist guide on the volcano.
"I thanked God that everyone escaped safely. If we had been there just five minutes later, there would have been no knowing what would have happened," he said.
The next day, Christian, also a member of Yogyakarta's Search and Rescue (SAR) team, returned to the location. He expressed gratitude to God when he saw what had happened to the tourists' belongings. Items such as camera tripods were found lying under a pile of hot ash. The foreign tourists, most of whom were journalists, returned to the site along with Christian. They were speechless at the thought of the extraordinary incident they had been so fortunate to escape.
One of the world's most active volcanoes, Mt. Merapi's behavior is irregular. That's why Christian always contacts the Merapi Observation Station in Kaliurang every time he takes tourists up the mountain. His long association with the staff at the station has led to a high level of mutual trust.
A Manadonese, Christian first settled in Kaliurang in 1978 after abandoning his job as a sailor. Here he runs Voegel Hotel with his wife, Masako Tanaka. Used to an adventurous life as a sailor, Christian quickly became accustomed to Merapi and its terrain and became a member of the province's SAR team, helping those in trouble on the volcano.
As a hotel owner and SAR team member, many of his guests ask him to take them up Merapi. Christian is only too happy to comply, as he knows the mountain very well, having climbed to its summit hundreds of times.
Inspired by these regular requests, he introduced the Merapi tour package in 1984. With this, Christian seized the opportunity to expand his business and today Voegel is considered one of the few well-managed Merapi tour companies.
He has six Merapi tour packages on offer: Merapi Daily Lava Tour, Merapi Daily Lava and Villages Tour, Merapi Off-the-Beaten- Track Tour, Merapi Birdwatching Tour, Fascinating Overnight on Merapi and Merapi Super Trekking Tour.
Merapi Daily Lava Tour is a five-hour tour package to Merapi where participants are able to view the red-hot lava. The group start from Voegel Hotel at 3:30 a.m. and walk past villages dotted along the slopes of the mountain.
Before reaching the top, tourists are given something to eat in one of the cottages he has built at the slope of Kali Kuning. This package costs Rp 40,000 and includes a meal and a guide.
The second package, Merapi Daily Lava and Villages Tour, takes about 10 hours. The first five hours is spent in the same way as the Merapi Daily Lava Tour. The next five hours are spent walking through the villages that hug the volcano's slopes. This package costs Rp 75,000 per person.
If you want to do a bit of bird-watching on Merapi, there is a special package called Merapi Bird Watching Tour at Rp 40,000 per person. It lasts for five hours. Reaching the viewing sites and the return trek takes an hour each way, the bird watching itself lasts about three hours.
Exploring Merapi's slopes is possible if you take the Merapi Off-the-Beaten-Track Tour, where you are taken to nearby villages at the slope of the mountain and have breakfast at Turgo village, some six kilometers from the volcano summit, before returning to the hotel.
Tourists wanting to experience what it is like at the top of the volcano at night can take the Fascinating Overnight package. This package is more expensive at Rp 100,000, but includes an evening meal.
The last package, Merapi Super Trekking Tour, which costs Rp 100,000, takes tourists on a trek across the slopes of Merapi up to Deles village in Klaten, where they spend the night at the homes of villagers.
The most popular package is the Merapi Daily Lava Tour. "Every month there are about 300 tourists taking this package," he said, adding that he had taken some 120,000 tourists to Merapi since he began this business back in 1984. These six tour packages have now found their way into the Lonely Planet title Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, a must-read guide for foreign tourists traveling in Southeast Asia.
Christian said that foreign tourists were mainly drawn to the area wishing to see some sort of volcanic activity.
"Mount Merapi attracts foreign tourists because of its frequent volcanic activity. The problem is how to allow them to get close enough to have a fantastic experience, while at the same time ensuring their safety."