Inerie is a nearly perfect cone-shaped volcano of Flores (Bajawa region) that rises to 2227m. But how to ascend? Where to start? How to get there? Where to find the Guides? How is the climb going?
We will try to answer all the questions that we can ask about this volcano and its ascent and the different possibilities of trek in the area of Bajawa and Inerie.
Then for those who do not want to have the slightest hassle and who want to delegate, to the Go-Volcano, the organization and logistics of the trek, you will find the program and all the corresponding prices.
Contents
8 things to know before climbing the Inerie Volcano
How to go to Inerie volcano?
To go to the Inerie volcano, the easiest way is to start from the small town of Bajawa. Then from Bajawa you have to find a taxi or an ojek (motorcycle taxi) IDR 25000 heading to the village of Watumeze.
How to go to Bajawa?
Bajawa is accessible by road via the transflores. It is located about 4 hours from the city of Ende, and between 4 and 5h from the town of Ruteng.
From Labuan Bajo it takes about 10 hours to reach Bajawa.
There are collective taxis making the connection Ruteng-Bajawa and Bajawa-Ende for about IDR 100000/person. There are also Travel sort of minibuses that shuttles.
Bajawa also has a rather distant airport (1 hour drive) which is located in Soa on the road to Riung. Soa is known for its hot springs.
When to go to Inerie volcano?
The best time for the Inerie and Flores is in the dry season between April and November.
How much the entrance fee of Inerie Volcano?
There is no tax or ticket
Where to sleep and where to eat?
In Bajawa, there is no real hotel, rather basic homestay. But as Bajawa is located at almost 1200m altitude the climate is very pleasant.
To eat the choice of restaurants is quite limited but sufficient.
Climbing of Inerie, with or without guide?
It is possible to climb alone, but you have to be very cautious when going downhill because the slopes are very steep and the ground quite hard with small volcanic pebbles that make the terrain slippery and the company dangerous.
A guide will allow you to take the best possible paths and will assure you on slippery or dangerous passages.
Where to find the guides?
At the village of Watumeze
What to do in Bajawa and around Inerie Volcano?
- Hiking on the crater chain of Wolobobo located southeast of Bajawa.
- Hike on the crater of Wawomudha which had a surprise eruption in 2001 and before that was a coffee field like the other craters around (Wawomudha is on the same crater chain as that of Wolobobo but its located in north of Bajawa)
- Ascent of the volcano Inielika which is the crater or volcano most north of the chain of craters of Wolobobo. It’s easy to see why there is so much hot spring in the Bajawa and Soa area.
- Ascension of the Ebulobo volcano
- Visit the traditional village of Bena
- Visit the eroded hills of Watu Nariwoto
- Visit the various hot springs of the region (around the Inerie and the village of Bena, in Soa)
- The deserted beaches in the south of Inerie
Ascension of the Inerie Volcano
Inerie is one of the most popular summits of Flores (popular in Flores that means that you will find maybe a dozen tourists trying to climb, we are far from hundreds of trekkers like on Semeru in Java or Rinjani in Lombok). The Inerie has a pyramida shape almost perfect and is visible for miles around. The inerie has not erupted for a few centuries but this volcano has a deep and impressive crater.
The ascent of Inerie starts from 3:30 WITA from the village of Watumeze (about 20 – 30 min from Bajawa). Why start so early? To avoid the heat and the burning sun of the day, especially since the ascent is done by the east of the volcano where the sun is rising.
The first part of the climb is quite easy, it starts at an altitude of about 1000m and it takes place in a kind of savanna with eucalyptus trees until 1350m. Then the slope becomes steep but the soil remains relatively stable. Once this part is finished (towards the 1800m of altitude) we will enters the really difficult part of the trek of the Inerie, the ground becomes unstable with many small pumice stones or volcanic pebbles which make the trek slippery, and when we heading the rock cone. There are deep gullies on each side.
After about 2 or 3h walk, you will arrive at the small summit of the Inerie where the ground is a little more stable but remains very steep, and which is the lower edge of the cratere (about 2100m). From here, we have a magnificent panoramic view of the surroundings area, where we can see all the craters facing south-north to the east of the Inerie and where we can see the Ebulobo volcano at 27km to the east and the Savu Sea to the south. From there you will follow the right (north) side path of the crater, after a short descent you will go up to the top where there are 3 metal crosses (we are in Catholic country in Bajawa).
From the top you will have a 360 ° view of the landscape with a magnificent glowing sunrise, you will all dominate the Bajawa region and the Savu Sea. To the north, you will see an extremely eroded terrain with vertiginous slopes (almost cliffs) that can be done in trek, but it is very dangerous. these eroded hills are called Watu Nariwoto.
During the descent, it will be necessary to be very careful and to be very concentrated because of a vertiginous slope and the combination of hard rocky soil and small volcanic pebbles which serve as slippery balls. A little advice, it would be interesting to have gloves to protect your hands in case of falls or when we held the surrounding rocks during the descent because the stones are very sharp.
On the way back from the small summit of the Inerie, you will pass by a terrain made almost exclusively of volcanic pumice scree and small volcanic pebbles (unlike the climb when we seek a land that is the most stable possible) on this way you can step on the slope quickly.
For those who climb without a guide, you will have to take some precaution on the descent so you do not go wrong and go to a ravine. which will force you all to go back in the best cases to find the right path.
This climb is not recommended for people who have subject of vertigo.
You must have enough water with you, there is no water source on this trek.
One of the very good point about the Inerie is that the hiking trail is very clean without the slightest waste.
The climb takes about 2h30 and you need about 2h to go down. it depends on your physical condition and if you are accompanied by a good guide.
For this climb, you must know that at night and in the morning it is quite cool. at the top there can be a lot of wind. So you will of course need good hiking shoes, a fleece and a windbreaker, can also be a hat for the summit. As the descent is by day and the sun hits hard you need sunglasses, hat and sunscreen.
Inerie Volcano
The Inierie is a stratovolcano of Indonesia located on the island of Flores. Culminating at 2,245 meters above sea level, it is located near the village of Bajawa. This symmetrical volcano located in south-central Flores overlooks the Savu Sea. It is the highest volcano on the island. A small crater with steep walls is oriented east-west immediately east of the summit of the conical stratovolcano, whose upper slopes are without vegetation.
A chain of volcanoes from North-North-West / South-South-East extending to the east of L’Inerie, including WoloBobo, culminating at 1400 m. These are part of the Pleistocene Bajawa ash cone complex, located northeast of the Inerie volcano. A column of “smoke” is sometimes visible from the crater, as was the case in June 1911. The age of the last eruption is not known, although the volcano is mapped as a Holocene and a WoloBobo’s eruption is dated to carbon at around 10,000 years ago. there are hot springs on the north side of the volcano and other geothermal areas are to the east and northeast.
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