Also called Mahameru or the great Mountain. It is one of the world’s most beautiful peaks and at 3,676 m the highest mountain on Java. The Bromo – Semeru massif covers about 800 sq km, the biggest of all the volcanic regions of east Java. It sits above a sparsely populated region of volcanic highlands, wooded hils and picturesque crater lakes which offer excellent camping and trekking opportunities. Semeru is still active on occasion spewing out hot ash and solidified chunks of lava but usually contenting itself with a huge belch of smoke every 15 minutes. At nights hot lava and dancing red lights shower down the volcano’s steep sides, disappearing in the dark forest below.
Climbing it : Though all the appropriate to Mt Semeru are strenuous and only for the fit the mountian is a far easier climb than Mt Merapi in central Java. The difficulty with semeru is that you have to walk great distances ( 6-7 hours ) from your last possible transport to the base of the cone, and only then you do really start the steep part of the climb up to the summit ( about 4 hours ). Get to the summit no later than 10.00 a.m. because the wind often shifts from S to N and carries with it poisonous sulfur, plus by that time visibility is nil.
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