Lombok, Indonesia
After dropping travellers and holiday makers off at each of the 3 Gili Islands, I was the last one on the speedboat and the only person heading over to Lombok, which got me excited, this was obviously a lot less travelled then Bali. My driver from Exo travel met me off the boat and drove me the 20 minutes up the coast to the Tanjung area and my accommodation at the Rinjani Beach Eco Retreat where I was meeting my sister who had flown over from Melbourne to join me.
The charming bungalows and spacious villas are made from local bamboo and use traditional construction techniques such as bamboo stilts and alang alang (woven coconut leaves) roofs. The gardens are well maintained but natural and the beautiful beach is clean and idyllically quiet. The Rinjani beach has snorkel & masks, paddle boats and kayaks to use free of charge and there’s some lovely reefs close by to explore. We watched the staff bring in the catch up the day for the evenings dinner. Food was excellent and quite a varied menu for such a small place.
After a couple of days relaxing we were ready to start our main adventure, the Mt Rinjani Climb. On route to our overnight accommodation at the foothills of the mountain we stopped off at the Sendan Gile and Tiu Kelep waterfalls. Around an hours visit, it was a nice break from the drive and a chance for a quick dip, although not a very relaxing one with the waterfall pounding down. The spray from the waterfall drenches those not looking to get in, so it was worth having a guide with us to look after our belongings, which we had to hide under rocks to keep dry.
Our trekking guide, Pearman came to meet us in the evening and discuss the plan for the following morning and the trek in general. We had chosen the 3 day, 2-night trek to fully make the most of the mountain and come down a different route and side of the mountain to that in which we would ascend.
The first mornings walk was through the rolling foot hills of the mountain, past chili fields and grazing Jersey (!) cows, there was a slightly dubious looking bridge but luckily not too high and we made it across in one piece. We started to join the other hikers, all with their own guides who we would become well acquainted with over the following days with everyone encouraging each other when the hike became a struggling, catching up on the day’s events at sunset and eyeing up what everyone else’s porters had brought. We were definitely amongst the most spoilt with tea and coffee, chairs and banana fritters for sundowner snacks.
We had a porter each, carrying all the camping & cooking equipment, food, water and essentials who also doubled up as our chefs. These men were incredibly strong and nimble carrying these heavy baskets attached together by a beam across one of their shoulders as they scrambled up the at times, almost vertical routes. They then cooked us the most incredible meals, some of the best food I had during my time in Indonesia, and you certainly didn’t have to worry about going hungry.
We reached our camp for the evening at the top of the crater edge after a tough afternoons 3-hour steep hike up the side of the mountain in the cloud, we couldn’t see more than a few metres in front of us but our guide and porters set to work quickly bagging us a good spot and getting some dinner on. We attempted to help but after realising that we were really just getting in the way, we sat back and watched as the clouds started to part, the sun began to set and the most beautiful view of the crater lake appeared. It had to be one of the most stunning dinner spots I’d had.
After another surprisingly delicious breakfast of banana pancakes and a cheese and tomato omelette we headed down to the crater. After a 3 hour hike we arrived at the crater lake for yet more food and while the porters were preparing lunch we headed down to the hot springs. The lake had been quite busy with people camping and fishing but the hot springs were almost empty and such a welcomed treat after a day and a half of hiking.
Again we had another tough hike up to the crater rim for our 2nd nights stop and another stunning view, now with a clear view of the small volcano in the middle of the lake. The clouds were below us on the outer edge of the mountain and the sun set produced beautiful colours across the clouds. On our final day we were ready for a good scrub in the shower and looking forward to getting a few of life’s luxuries back (namely a toilet). After a 5-hour hike, all downhill starting with very sandy terrain, then through the forests and out through farming areas this time with cocoa plants and coffee trees we were whisked away to join our boat for the third and final leg of the trip in the Gili Islands.