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At the Departure terminal of Mataram International Airport before leaving for Changi, Singapore |
The group posing in front of Jayakarta Hotel's pool after a farewell ceremony and certificate issuance. |
Excited, happy faces entered the two buses and transferred to Senaru
Village, near Bayan in North Lombok. Arriving in that charming
mountain village, the group was greeted by a traditional Gendang
Beleq group performing good old Sasak music and dances. The
Singaporeans were delighted by the rhythms and costumes. Together
with the musicians and dancers all students and teachers walked a
few meters to the Pondok Senaru where a delicious buffet dinner was
waiting.
After dinner, a briefing regarding the upcoming 3-day trek by staff
from the Rinjani Trek Center (RTC), a New Zealand sponsored trekking
organization. They all looked at a big map describing the trek and
it really did not look all that hard. But reality of course was
different. This was a big challenge for everybody.
After breakfast all our porters and mountain guides arrived, around
50 people all together. Porters carried bamboo poles which had
foods, sleeping bags, water and cooking utensils on both sides, not
to forget the tents and medication. A special rescue team was
organized for emergencies and equipped with radio funk connection.
They started to leave for the RTC Office where they had to register.
After registration, all participants received a blessing, the Sasak
tradition of Meloqak, carried out by the village elder of
Senaru. Now, they were set for a real adventure.
The first aim was to reach post 2. That took several hours walking
up the mountain through lush, thick tropical forest. Plants such as
bamboo, bottle-brushes, various eucalyptus and pandanus were
dominant, showing proof for the well known Wallace Line. The Wallace
Line, or also called Wallace, is a geographical line between eastern
Indonesia and Australia, established in the 19th century by the
naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace. Wallace, who spent from 1854 –
1862 exploring the archipelago, was the first to notice that in
crossing from Bali to Lombok, vegetation to the east changed
dramatically. Here Australian fauna and flora is present. Indeed we
saw a few white cockatoos.
It was a steep walk all the way and this was just a warm-up, a
little stroll so to say. Reaching post two, porters and guides
prepared some fruit platters and opened up packets of chocolate
biscuits, a welcoming site!
Next stop post 3, lunch destination. The porters headed off in front
of all to have lunch ready before they arrived. An amazing breed
indeed, those mountain porters. Carrying a bamboo pole loaded with
30 kilo of provisions up a steep mountain trek is not exactly an
easy task. But those guys are all muscle and skin, not a gram of fat
on those lean bodies.
After lunch and a well-earned rest they prepared for the last
stretch of trekking for the day. The overnight spot was beautiful
Plawangan Senaru (Crater Rim). It took almost 4,5 hours. The
vegetation started to change, the tropical rainforest giving way to
savannah like grass country. The Edelweiss flower beds stretched all
around, slowly showing an Alpine vegetation, the temperature dropped
which was fine because still had a long way to go and the cool air
helped coping with the ever steep slope. The views got greater by
the minute. As higher they moved as further they could see. Porters
started to collect fire wood for the evening camp and very quickly
they were ahead the group again. Just before sunset and rather
exhausted the group reached the rim, Plawangan Senaru, the camp
plateau approximately 3000 meters high, with a view to kill for.
There was Lake Segara Anak, literally “Child of the Sea”, 970 meters
down from Plawangan Senaru.
The dark green color of the lake slowly changing into almost black.
A little island in the lake, 145 meters above the surface of the
lake, called Gunung Baru (New Mountain) comprising of a mini
volcanic cone, makes for an almost surreal picture. In 1942 this
small volcano was formed from a vent under the lake. To the other
side there was the sun setting over Mount Agung, Bali’s holy
mountain. The whole scenery resembled complete phantasy. By now the
porters had the bonfires going and dinner was ready. Warm delicious
food calming our tired bodies before completely collapsing in their
tents.
Next morning sunrise over Rinjani’s peak giving the lake a very
bluish-green coloring. The group were prepared for a difficult
courage - needed climb down to the lake. The climb took 3 hours and
a bit and it showed that descending is in fact a bit harder than
climbing up. But our ever attentive guides helped with every step
and safely the group reached Segara Anak’s shores lined with pine
trees. The lake is supposedly 250 meters deep in some spots. Located
in a caldera it stretches 3 kilometers at its widest. This place is
unbelievably beautiful and sort of magic in appearance. The
tradition adhering local people, the Wetu telu, as well as the
Balinese see this place as the dwelling location of spirits and come
here regularly for ceremonies.
Therefore, they met quite a few locals fishing for tilapia and carp
on the shores of the lake. They stopped at the lake’s camping ground
and very soon headed for the hot springs, a mere 10 minute walk from
the lake. The river Lokok Putek flows out of the lake and forms
spectacular waterfalls. The sulfur rich water looks milky and cream
colored. Various hot spring pools are scattered along the area, its
waters pouring out of a cave. It is a true reward relaxing your
weary body in one of those pools and having your skin cleaned with
sulfur – based deposits. The local people believe that this water
will keep you looking young for ever.
Lunch was ready by the time they had finished bathing. In fact now
all they wanted was to sleep, the hot springs making them so
relaxed. But they had to still reach Plawangan 2, the next spot of
the night camp. The next climb was the most difficult.
An almost straight steep wall had to be conquered and concentration
had to be 100 percent. Simon, the mountaineer leader, a very
experienced local guide from Senaru, did not leave the participants
out of sight and seemed to be everywhere, making sure they all did
the right thing. He encouraged them to keep going and feeding them
with Hemaviton, a local energy drink doing good work indeed. Clouds
moved in and there was almost no more visibility – not such a bad
thing because one should really not look down but concentrate on the
path. Right on sunset they reached the destination with Rinjani’s
summit just 700 meters.
The temperature was now a mere 8 degrees and they almost did not
want to leave their tents for dinner. The porters succeeded to lurk
them to the fire and served again an absolutely delicious meal. As
an extra they had french fries.
The reward was given the next morning at sunrise time. They all
awoke at 2 am and started climbing the summit, a sort of frustrating
attempt since vegetation here is almost disappearing leaving the
blank lava gravel surface. This doesn’t make for an easy ascent,
especially in the dark. Some of the group just couldn’t handle the
cold and returned to camp. The rest fought their way up to the
summit which was reached at 6 am. The reward was a glorious view
over Sumbawa Island until Flores and Bali, Mount Tambora and Agung
looking rather tiny.
Unfortunately the icy 2 degree Celsius wind forced them back to camp
after a 10 minute stay on the summit. By 10 am all of the group were
back at camp wolfing down a breakfast of warm pancakes and hot
coffee, joined by mountain monkeys waiting for the odd snack.
Sitting in the sun they hoped to warm up quickly, but the wind kept
blowing its cold breath. Soon it was time to make a long way back to
civilization, destination Sembalun. They now had to climb down a
long slippy trek full of gravel and stones. At times it felt like on
snow skis and the guides had to help some of them by holding hands.
After three hours the group reached their lunch spot, post 3 from
the Sembalun side, a half open cave with fern vegetation. Lunch was
cheese sandwiches and noodle soup and the last of the pineapples.
Drinking water was getting low and the porters fetched fresh clean
spring water nearby. In fact that tasted so much better than the
bottled water bought in the shops. By now everybody was longing for
that nice clean hotel bed in Senggigi. Their last stretch of trek
led through savannah country dotted with bushes of violet and pink
flowers, river valleys and man high alang-alang grass. At times they
completely disappeared inside the high grass, but the guides knew
the way very well. The crispy clean school group having arrived at
the airport a few days ago was now resembling tough strong explorers
in earth stained clothes, supporting and helping each other and
having found friends in the local guides and porters from Senaru.
By sunset the group reached the pastures of Sembalun, coming across
the first herds of domesticated cattle, a sign for not being that
far away from their final destination.
At around 6.30 pm some of them reached Sembalun and were greeted by
the Lombok Network staff with boxes of tasty snacks, the cars
ready to take them back to Senggigi and the cozy bed and the hot
shower they all had dreamed of.
The kids of Kranji Secondary School had an experience of a very
different kind. They learned how to respect the vast powers of
nature, how to respect each other and how to handle difficult
situations such as exhaustion, weakness and extreme cold. The
porters and guides of Senaru became their heros and without them
this trek would have never been the experience it was. Simon (the
trek leader) and his crew made this trek an unforgettable one and
special thanks go out to them. This group accompanied by 6
instructors from Kranji School and Mr. Zad Yahya, the group
leader from FA Management Singapore.
Hopefully Mount Rinjani, Lombok and the fantastic Sasak people will
be in the children’s hearts and memories for ever.
*****
Related article
Updated News!
Lombok Network Team Visit to The Victim of The Floods
(24/01/2006)
Visit to Sembalun Bumbung to hand over donations...
Flash Flood Hit Four Villages in East Lombok
(22/01/2006)
Two reported death while some are still missing...[more]
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