Ijen Crater
An Active Volcano Holding The Largest Highly Acidic Crater Lake In The World; Burning Sulphuric Gases Produce A Blue Flame Visible Only In Darkness, And Sulphur Is Still Mined By Hand From The Crater Floor · Banyuwangi, East Java
Ijen does two things almost nowhere else does. The first is the BLUE FIRE: sulphuric gases escaping from vents on the crater floor ignite on contact with air at temperatures above six hundred degrees, and the flames - which can run five metres high - are ELECTRIC BLUE AND VISIBLE ONLY IN DARKNESS, which is why everybody climbs at one in the morning. The second is harder to watch. SULPHUR IS STILL MINED HERE BY HAND. Miners break solidified sulphur from ceramic pipes at the vents, load baskets weighing SEVENTY TO NINETY KILOGRAMS, and carry them up out of the crater and three kilometres down the mountain, twice a day, for a few dollars a load, breathing gas that destroys their lungs. Below the vents lies a turquoise lake of concentrated acid, the largest of its kind on earth, and it is beautiful and would dissolve you. The two halves of Ijen sit a few hundred metres apart, and most visitors photograph one without registering the other.
Ijen volcano complex, Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia
THE GATE OPENS AROUND MIDNIGHT TO 1 AM for blue fire climbers and the ascent takes ninety minutes to two hours; THE BLUE FIRE IS ONLY VISIBLE BEFORE DAWN, so arriving later means seeing a crater lake instead, which is fine but is not what people come for. A PARK ENTRY FEE APPLIES with DUAL PRICING and HIGHER WEEKEND RATES. GUIDES ARE EFFECTIVELY MANDATORY and gas masks are hired at the base - THE CHEAP CLOTH AND PAPER MASKS ARE USELESS against sulphur dioxide; insist on a proper respirator with cartridges. DESCENT INTO THE CRATER TO THE VENTS IS PERIODICALLY BANNED depending on gas levels and has been closed entirely at times, and the whole volcano closes when activity rises. CHECK THE CURRENT STATUS BEFORE TRAVELLING. The rainy season makes the trail slippery and the gas sits lower.