Climbing Indonesia's Rinjani Volcano | Frank & Tanja

Last month, Frank and Tanja travelled across Bali, Lombok and the Gilis with a final stop in Singapore before heading home. Read all about their memorable journey to the top of Rinjani volcano below…

The journey begins…

“Two happy-go-lucky travellers set off to Indonesia for adventure and to explore parts of the country we would never see if we checked into a beach hotel. We also decided to climb Mount Rinjani without really knowing what was involved and for that reason we had 2 guides, a porter and a cook. The description for the climb was strenuous and over the three day trek our physical endurance was tested to its limits.

Up to the summit

On Day 1 we set off from our base camp on a climb to ascend the mountain and establish first base where we would camp, rest, have dinner and prepare for the ascent to the summit the next day. That is a 2 am start and walking by torch through the night until dawn breaks to arrive at the summit to witness a truly beautiful sunrise.

We rested and admired the view and took pictures before looking around and realising just how far we had climbed! Mount Rinjani is 3700 metres and you are often above the clouds that form in the surrounding valleys. Going up is hard and going down is not much easier where the incline is steep and the surface moves under foot. In all, we were walking for 8.5 hours and arrived back at our camp to eat lunch and sleep in the afternoon sun.

“Enormous sense of achievement”

The following day, we continued to our next camp at the edge of a lake and bathed in the hot springs before dinner. Then up again at 6am the next day for a steep climb up out of the basin and on to our final destination that took 10 hours. The body was hurting and the feet were blistered, but we had an enormous sense of achievement.

Helpful tips

Here are some of our tips for the trek:

1. Take comfortable walking boots and 3 pairs of socks.
2. Take only what you need in your backpack! If you have other luggage, it doesn’t travel with you!
3. It gets cold on the mountain at night so make sure you take warm clothing.
4. Keep hydrated! Our porters and guides carried ample water.
5. The food is cooked on open fires and is fried in oil so it may upset your stomach. Make sure you take some medicine just in case.
6. Finally, don’t forget to take a head torch, this leaves two hands free to crawl!

It was a great trip! One we’ll never forget!”

As well as climbing the summit of Rinjani during their Indonesia itinerary, Frank & Tanja also ventured to the rice paddies of Ubud in Bali, relaxed by the crystal waters of the Gilli Islands and explored the skyscrapers of Singapore. Here are a few more of their wonderful snapshots – enjoy!