We arrived at the Ijen Crater (Kawah Ijen) parking lot around 2:30am and were eagerly greeted and welcomed by Tom, our local guide. Shortly thereafter, we set off and began the steep ascent to the crater rim. Lining the paved path were tourists resting and locals sitting next to “trolleys”- small carts pushed by hand - often times smoking, and calling out “trolley”, “taxi” or laughingly “uber”, trying to convince weary tourists to stop and get a ride up the path. We found out later that these “trolleys” were the carts used to carry the sulfur ore down from the crater rim at the end of their work day and they probably were waiting to see if they could earn some more money (and a hard work out!) by pushing tourists up the steep hill – three men to one trolley.
We blended into the string of headlights and torches crawling up the path beneath the bright moon and stars. While it was an exciting tourist pilgrimage to this famed “blue fire” for us, it was just another shift for the Indonesian mine workers.
At the crater rim, a stunning, mysterious moonlit landscape greeted us. We continued around the edge and then down into the crater. We carefully picked our way down rocky steps single file along with the stream of other tourists. Every now and then a cry would go up from the local guides and we quickly stepped to the side, giving way to a sulfur worker carrying his heavy load in two baskets slung across his shoulders.
It was a surreal experience. The stream of tourists flowed down into the crater and pooled near the blue flames. It was fascinating, mind-blowing, mesmerizing. Brilliant blue flames licked the air amidst the swirl of clouds tossed back and forth by the wind. It was incredible. And we stood in amazement, trying to capture this phenomenon with our cameras until the clouds changed direction and raced towards us. Enveloped in fumes, the smell of sulfur overwhelmed us, causing our eyes to sting. Even with our gas masks pressed to our nose and mouth, we couldn’t help but cough and sputter. Then it would lift and we would stand again, able to breathe and take in the sights.
But this is much more than just a tourist experience, a thing to mark off of a bucket list; this is the reality for these Indonesian mine workers. As the sun began to rise, we saw the men working near the cement pipes that channel the sulfur to the surface. The blue flames are molten sulfur meeting the air. The brilliant red sulfur then cools and turns bright yellow. Workers chip away at the yellow ore, loading about 80 kilograms, or 176 pounds into two baskets connected by a bamboo rod. They carry this heavy load upon their shoulders up the steep trail to the crater rime, at least twice a day. The ore is then loaded into trolleys and carried it down to the parking lot where it is weighed and inspected and they are paid around 200,000 rupiah (or about $16) for their hard work. It is a very physically demanding job and considered one of the most dangerous ones in the world. Not only do they usually not have proper gas masks to cope with the toxic sulfur fumes, but Ijen is also an active volcano and past eruptions or surges around the vent have killed many workers.
Meet Tom. Today he is our local guide, called upon by the small hotel that we booked our tour through. He has been working at the mine for 13 years and has been a tour guide for the last year. And he loves it. He gets paid the same amount to guide tourists to the blue flames, share this beautiful area, take pictures, practice his English and make new international friends. If he gets a call that there is a tour, he is a guide that day, and if he doesn’t, he is at the mine. It was fascinating to talk to him about his time as a sulfur worker and a guide. He was constantly running around offering to take pictures of us with dramatic backdrops, hiking close to take photos and videos of the blue flames and simply so helpful and happy to share his knowledge with us.
It was great to see his enthusiasm and how much he appreciated tourism since it offers him more opportunities than simply hauling ore. I found it fascinating to consider the positive impact that tourism has had on some of the mineworker’s lives. Overall, our trip to the Ijen Crater was incredible and one of the best volcano experiences I have had.
