Trekking & Climbing Rinjani (Samalas) in Lombok

Rinjani is the second highest volcano in Indonesia (after Mount Kerinci in Sumatra), rising to 3726m above sea level. It is located on the island of Lombok. The Complex Volcanic of Samalas (the ancestor of Rinjani), was the seat of one of the most phenomenal eruptions of historical times! we are always looking for the Asian Pompei in Lombok (probably buried under several meters of ash and pumice). This eruption left behind a great caldera 8.5 kilometers long and 6 kilometers wide.

9 Things to Know Before Climbing the Rinjani

How to go to Rinjani?

Rinjani can be accessed from Sembalun Village and Senaru Village. There is almost no public transportation to get to the location of the two villages. It will be easier for you when using a private vehicle. It is strongly recommended to make reservations in advance to avoid the number of brokers in the area of Lombok Praya Airport or Lembar Harbor.

From Lembar Harbour

• Take a local taxi from the harbour to go to Mandalika Bus Station (IDR 50.000). Usually you can find this local taxi easily inside the harbour area.
• From Mandalika Bus Station, take a minibus to go to Aikmal Traditional Market (IDR 30.000). You can also complete your logistics needs here.
• From Aikmal you must find a pickup truck, they usually go to Sembalun or Senaru village, you can negotiate with the driver for the price.

From Lombok Praya Airport

• From Lombok Praya Airport, you can take a DAMRI bus to go to Mandalika (IDR 30.000)
• From Mandalika, continue with minibus to go to Aikmal Traditional Market (IDR 30.000).
• From Aikmal you must find a pickup truck, they usually go to Sembalun or Senaru village, you can negotiate with the driver for the price.

After the Earthquake at 2018, the hiking path from Sembalun and Senaru is fully closed until an undetermined time. But you can still go to Rinjani from Aik Berik Village, this path is officially open by Rinjani National Park. To go to this village you need to use private vehicle because there is no public transportation to go there.

When to go to Rinjani?

Rinjani usually closed for hiking activity from January until April. The best time to go to Rinjani is between May to September.

Is There an Entrance Fee and How Much?

You can also check the entrance fee and the availibility quota on ERinjani app. You can get it free from the Google Playstore

• Foreign Tourist : IDR 150.000/pax
• Indonesian : IDR 5.000/pax/day

Where to Sleep?

Sembalun and Senaru have many variant of homestay and lodge. You can easily choose which one suits your needs.

Climbing Rinjani, With or Without Guide?

The Rinjani hiking trail through Sembalun Village and Senaru Village is actually very safe to do without using the services of a guide. But it is highly recommended to use the services of a guide and porter to help your climb and to avoid theft (Plawangan Sembalun is very famous for some thefts when the tents are abandoned by climbers to climb to the top).

As for the hiking route through Aik Berik Village, it is advisable to use guide services because this route has just been inaugurated as an alternative for tourists to visit Rinjani Mountain after the 2018 earthquake.

Where to Find Guide and Porters Services?

For the educated guide and porters services you need to contact the National Park office or Tour Operator who provide the porters and guide services.

Where to Find Hiking Equipment?

It is highly recommended to bring your personal equipment because it is very difficult to find rental climbing equipment here, unless you use a tour operator service that has provided those needs for you.

Mistake you should avoid before climbing Rinjani

• Coming without preparation for transport.
• Coming when Rinjani is closed for hiking activity
• Leave the tent unsupervised when climbing to the top
• Hiking alone and not well informed about the path.
• Going down use the unofficial path

What to do Around Sembalun, Senaru, and Aik Berik Village?

Many things you can do around the village. Many waterfalls (Benang Stokel Waterfall, Sendang Gile Waterfall, Tiu Kelep Waterfall, Lembah Rinjani Waterfall, etc) that you can visit and also some very beautiful hills that you can use for light climbing. There is also the first mosque build in lombok located in Bayan Village, in this village, you can also see the process of making Lombok woven fabric which is done manually and also the process of making traditional lombok drinks called “brem”.

Hiking and Trekking Rinjani

The highlight of the trip :

• Climbing the second highest volcano in Indonesia.
• Relaxation in a natural hotspring after a tiring climb
• Nice view of Segara Anak volcanic lake
• Difficult but beautiful (one of the most beautiful hiking trails in Indonesia).

Hiking and Trekking Rinjani in 5 days 4 nights

Detailed Program and Itinerary

1st day : Lombok Praya – Sembalun

Pick up at Lombok Praya airport – Transfer to Sembalun village (1000m above sea level). You will be greeted by our guide at Lombok Praya Airport. You will then go to the village of Sembalun (about 3 hours drive with our private car air-conditioned). You will have the opportunity to visit the village of Sade, where the Sasak natives live traditionally in bamboo and wooden houses. You can also visit the artisans of kain tenun, a beautifully woven local fabric. You will stay and have dinner at a hotel in Sembalun.

Accommodation : Hotel (twin or double bed)
Meals Included : Lunch and dinner

2nd Day : Sembalun (1000m above sea level) – Plawangan Sembalun (2650m above sea level)

After breakfast, you will start trekking from Sembalun village to post 3 through an open savannah for about 5 hours. You will have lunch there. You will then continue through steep hills, known as Tujuh Bukit Penyesalan (seven hills full of regrets) to Plawangan Sembalun. You will dine there and camp there. This place offers you a beautiful view of the Rinjani summit. There may be wind in this campsite, so it is necessary to have a good windbreaker jacket.

Accommodation : Tent (1 tent for 2 person)
Meals included : Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

3rd Day : Pelawangan Sembalun (2650m) – Summit of Rinjani (3726m) – Segara Anak (2000m)

This part of the hike is the most difficult and requires a good physical condition. You will wake up at 01:30 and have a coffee or other before attacking the summit. You will leave the campsite at 02:00 and walk about 4 hours to reach the summit. From the top, great views of Bali, Lombok and the Gilis. You will then return to the Sembalun campsite to have breakfast. After breakfast, you will continue hiking down to Segara Anak Lake, a volcanic lake with the active Gunung Baru Jari volcano. You will have lunch here. There is also the possibility to visit the hot spring near the campsite. It will be a well deserved hot bath after the day’s walk. Dinner and camp near Segara Anak Lake.

Accommodation : Tent (1 tent for 2 person)
Meals included : Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

4th Day : Segara Anak (2000m) – Plawangan Senaru (2620m) – Senaru (580m) – Senggigi

You will start the hike in the morning to Senaru, from where you can see the spectacular view of Mount Rinjani, Segara Anak Lake and Gunung Baru Jari. The Segara Anak Lake trek to Post 2, where you will have lunch, is about 5 hours. You will continue to walk to the village of Senaru for about 2 hours. You will then drive to Senggigi for about 3 hours. Stay and dine at a hotel in Senggigi.

Accommodation: Hotel (twin or double)
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

5th Day: Senggigi – Airport

Senggigi is a well known seaside resort where you can spend a relaxing morning before your flight. Our driver will drive you to Lombok Airport, which is 1 hour from Senggigi.

End of service.

Price

What is included

The Eruptions of the Rinjani Volcano – Samalas

Eruption of the Samalas volcano (Rinjani) in 1257

According to records found in the ice cores and ash deposits, one of the largest eruptions of the historical period and of these last 7000 years took place in 1257. However, the source of this “mystery eruption” remained unknown …

Traces of major eruptions, such as those of Vesuvius (79 AD), Huaynaputina (1600), Tambora (1815) and Krakatau (1883), were identified in ice cores. But many other eruptions have also been highlighted in the glacial archives without their source being associated with a particular volcano. The most extraordinary of these “mysterious eruptions” took place around 1258 AD, probably in a tropical region. In the Greenland GISP2 ice cores, the concentration of sulphate aerosols associated with this eruption is the largest in the last 7000 years. This has led several researchers to consider it responsible for one of the largest volcanic sulfur gas emission events in the stratosphere for 7000 years and the largest in history since the eruption of Santorini in Greece there is more of 3600 years. Data from dendrochronology, medieval chronicles, and numerical modeling confirm the global impact on the atmosphere and climate associated with this mysterious eruption. For the past three decades, the identification of the volcano responsible for the mysterious eruption of the 13th century has escaped the scientific community of glaciologists, volcanologists, and climatologists. El Chichon (Mexico) and Quilotoa (Ecuador) were successively rejected, on the basis of geochemical arguments in particular.

Only a few years ago, the volcano responsible for the mystery eruption that caused the largest spike of volcanic sulphate aerosols recorded in the polar ice for 2300 years, was finally identified. It was Salamas, in the Rinjani volcanic complex on the island of Lombok, Indonesia, which produced a calderal eruption in 1257. In a few dozen hours, the eruption released 40 cubic kilometers of magma under the form of ash and pumice ejected up to 43 km altitude in the atmosphere. The island of Lombok has been covered with several tens of meters of deposits, and the neighboring islands (Java, Bali and Sumbawa) up to several centimeters. The eruption of Samalas is one of the two most violent eruptions of the last millennium with that of its neighbor Tambora (Sumbawa) in 1815.

These results solve an enigma that has interrogated glaciologists, volcanologists and climatologists for more than 30 years. The identification of this volcano also allows to assume a forgotten Pompeii of the Far East …

The implications of this discovery concern a wide range of scientific themes ranging from Earth Sciences and Climate Sciences to Social Sciences. On a global scale, the models of reconstruction of the climatic disturbances related to explosive eruptions of great magnitude and their societal impact could be refined, in particular in Europe. On a more regional or local scale, the search for the ancient capital of the Lombok Kingdom, Pamatan, presumably still buried under volcanic deposits such as Pompeii, should stimulate archaeological research on Lombok and the neighboring islands of Bali and Sumbawa that have undergone also the devastating consequences of this exceptional eruption. This interdisciplinary research offers new insights into the history of Indonesia and the more general resilience of societies exposed to large-scale explosive eruptions.

The results show that this eruption has produced about 40 ± 3 km3 DRE (dense rock equivalent or non-vesiculated magma) volcanic products, volume that exceeds the 30-33 km3 DRE calculated for the eruption of the nearby volcano Tambora in 1815, until then considered the strongest of the last three millennia. The eruption of 1257 resulted in the establishment of three main pumice fallout units covering a large area (> 120 km distance) and thick pumice flows that reach a depth of 30 m to more than 25 km. away from the caldera. With a magnitude of 7, an intensity of 12 and a volcanic plume that reached more than 43 ± 9 km in height, the ultraplinal eruption of Samalas is one of the most violent in the Holocene. It caused the collapse of the Samalas and Rinjani volcanoes, forming a vast caldera (collapse crater) 6 x 8.5 km wide and at least 800 m deep, now occupied by a lake and a new very active volcano Barujari.

The analysis of concentrations of volatile constituents preserved in droplets of magmas trapped at pre-eruptive stages in minerals (vitreous inclusions) made it possible to model the evolution of the gas phase from the mantle-crust interface to the magmatic reservoir. superficial. The calculated magma degassing balances show that 158 ​​Mt of sulfur dioxide, 227 Mt of chlorine and up to 1.3 Mt of bromine were released into the upper atmosphere during the eruption. These exceptional gas emissions represent the largest stratospheric volcanic gas injection in 2,300 years. They are in agreement with climate models that estimate a drop in temperatures of -0.6 to -5.6 ° C on the Earth’s surface over a period of 4 to 5 years, consistent with the occurrence of famines, pandemics, and major socio-economic disruption in parts of the northern hemisphere (England, France, Japan) in the middle of the 13th century.

The combination of the study of eruptive dynamics and gas geochemistry has demonstrated the efficiency of the plume to inject these gases into the upper stratosphere. The eruption of the Samalas has not only affected the global climate, but also potentially caused the massive destruction of the ozone layer, a phenomenon that remains to be modeled to understand the possible environmental and public health consequences.

However, according to a recent study, the eruption of the Samalas (Rinjani) in 1257 would not necessarily be at the root of the ensuing global socio-economic crisis, as scientists thought until today. ‘hui. This is what emerges from a study published January 23, 2017 in the journal Nature Geoscience by a team led by Sébastien Guillet and Markus Stoffel, respectively scientific collaborator and assistant professor in the Section of Earth and Environmental Sciences (Faculty of Sciences). This eruption, which has injected a considerable quantity of sulphides into the atmosphere, is often invoked to explain the cooling of the climate in the following years as well as the famines and the important economic and social upheavals observed in the middle of the 13th century.

According to the authors, the analysis of more than 200 medieval manuscripts and the reconstruction of climatic anomalies from tree growth rings and ice cores do not allow us to conclude that the eruption is, on its own, origin of the crises in question. Historical documents reveal a darkening of the sun, cold temperatures, incessant rains and increased cloudiness in Europe in 1258, as well as catastrophic harvests and very late harvests. However, they also show a return to a milder climate as early as 1259 and a normal situation in the four years following the eruption, which contradicts the simulations suggesting persistent temperature anomalies until 1264.

Scientists also point out that the cooling induced by the eruption of the Samalas volcano is comparable to that generated by subsequent events of lower magnitude, thus demonstrating that cooling is not proportional to the amount of sulphides injected into the atmosphere. In addition, the extreme weather events following the natural disaster would have played only an aggravating role on the crises of the thirteenth century. Many historical texts reveal that famines in England and Japan began several years before the eruption.

Still a lot of research remains to be done in this area, and we still do not have all the answers to our questions.

Sources : http://www.ipgp.fr/fr/eruption-volcan-samalas-1257
http://www.insu.cnrs.fr/node/6065
https://www.unige.ch/lejournal/numeros/128/article4