Mount Bromo and Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park

An Active Volcano Standing Inside The Tengger Caldera, Surrounded By A Sea Of Volcanic Sand; The Tengger People Still Make Offerings Into Its Crater At The Annual Yadnya Kasada Ceremony · Probolinggo, East Java

Bromo is not a big volcano - two thousand three hundred and twenty-nine metres, lower than its neighbours - and it is the most photographed landscape in Indonesia after the Bali rice terraces. The reason is the setting: it stands with two other cones INSIDE A TEN-KILOMETRE CALDERA whose floor is a flat expanse of grey volcanic sand called the SEA OF SAND, with SEMERU, THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN JAVA, smoking on the horizon behind. At dawn mist fills the caldera and only the cones stand out of it. Bromo is ACTIVE AND ROUTINELY SMOKING, and you climb a staircase to stand on the crater rim looking into it. It is also sacred: THE TENGGER PEOPLE, Hindus who never converted when Java turned to Islam, throw offerings of livestock, vegetables and money into the crater each year at YADNYA KASADA, a ceremony several centuries old - and men climb down the ash slope below the rim to catch what is thrown before it lands.

Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia

THE PARK IS OPEN YEAR-ROUND AND THE VISIT IS BUILT AROUND SUNRISE, which means starting at roughly 3 to 4 AM from Cemoro Lawang or Probolinggo. JEEPS ARE THE STANDARD TRANSPORT to the Penanjakan viewpoints and across the sea of sand; they are organised locally and are effectively mandatory. PARK ENTRY FEES ARE CHARGED PER PERSON with the usual DUAL PRICING, and WEEKEND RATES ARE HIGHER. ACCESS IS SUSPENDED WHEN VOLCANIC ACTIVITY RISES - Bromo is genuinely active, exclusion zones are imposed at short notice, and the crater rim closes; CHECK THE CURRENT ALERT LEVEL BEFORE TRAVELLING. The park also closes for a period around YADNYA KASADA and for occasional maintenance. The rainy season, roughly November to March, frequently means no sunrise at all behind cloud.

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