Mount Rinjani: The Most Beautiful in Indonesia

Indonesia is the country with the most active volcanoes in the world. There are about 130 active volcanoes here. One of them is mount Rinjani. Mount Rinjani or Gunung Rinjani (in local language) is located on the island of Lombok. Lombok island is part of Nusa Tenggara region (refers to the chain of islands east of Bali). Mount Rinjani rises to 3,726 m (12,224 ft), the third highest mountain in Indonesia.

Mount Rinjani has a steep-sided conical profile when viewed from the east, but the west side of the compound volcano is truncated by the 6x8,5 km, oval-shaped Segara Anak caldera. This caldera formed Lake Segara Anak (its depth is 230 meters). lake Segara Anak filled with the bright emerald-green water and plentiful fish. While, the slope of this caldera covered by dense tropical rain forest. In this caldera, there are also several sources of hot springs (Aiq Kalak healing hot springs), about 5 minutes walk from the lake. Thats why, trekking on Mount Rinjani, Lombok, is an unique experience. We will also enjoy the magnificent scenery, when we waiting sunrise and sunset here. Take the clockwise route when we are hiking around the crater is highly recomended. This is recomended, because we will have the peak and the volcano in front of us in the most of our time.

Mount Rinjani represents a range of Nusa Tenggara's ecosystem types, from sub-montane rain forest to montane forest and savanna. Mount Rinjani is also rich in a variety of flora, fauna and vegetation types. This mountain lies within a major bio - geographical transition zone (Wallace), where the flora and fauna of South East Asia makes a dramatic transition into that which is typical of Australia. We will find some unique species of plants such as tiger orchid, alang-alang grass or the Imperata cylindrical, cemara trees, Beringin (Ficus superb), harrows (Dysoxylum sp), Bayur, Mountain pine (Casuarina junghuniana),Kalimantong (local strawberrys), Flowers immortal (edelweiss) and many other varieties. This mountain also has several species of fauna such as black monkey (Tracyphitecusauratus cristatus) or "Lutung" in local language, barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak nainggolani), wild pig, wild dog and crested hawk eagle. Usually, the wild dog will follow us and stay around our tents.

Period best travel climbing Mount Rinjani is 4 days 3 nights or 5 days 4 nights. Unfortunelly, we cannot climb this mountain all along the year. When the rainy season, the trail can be very slippery. Thats why, the best time to climb Mount Rinjani is in April, May, June, July, August, September and October. There are 2 main routes here, one from Sembalun village (in the east) and the other from Senaru (in the north). We can hiring an extra porter to carry our personal stuff.

Sources :

http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/414210/volcanoes-of-indonesia.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinjani

http://www.lombokkomodo.com/gunung-rinjani-national-park-trek.htm