Lombok is an island next to Bali in Indonesia, like Bali it is extremely volcanic, in fact most of the island of Lombok is taken up by the massive Mt Rinjani. Rinjani is an active 3000 metre high volcano that imposes itself wherever you are on Lombok. To get to Lombok you can catch a licensed ferry or ‘party boat’, that plays terrible action films below deck and pumping techno above. Sitting below deck you become slightly delirious from the diesel fumes flowing through so you have to venture up to techno and $3 Bintangs on the roof.
The ferry from Bali will drop you at a harbour town just north of Senggigi where you can rent a scooter for $5 per day which is the best way to sight see and make your way to one of the Mt Rinjani starting points. Using Mt Rinjani as the perfect navigation tool it’s pretty easy to find the town of Senaru, Just make sure your accommodation on Airbnb actually exists!
Depending on how much time you have and whether you want to hire sherpas/guides to take you on a multi day trek to the summit it is possible (despite all the articles telling you the opposite) to go up most of the way to the Crater Rim in one day. If you want to do the crater rim mission in one day haggling to find a guide to lead you up the 3000metres is your first problem. You have to haggle and persuade a company that they can do it in one day and eventually you’llnegotiate a departure time of 2am.
If you want to beat the sun to the top leaving at 2am is the best deal just pray you don’t get delayed by hectic Bali belly. I’ve never started a climb in the dark or in such humidity but after a tough few hours and a 2000 metre ascent the view we got as the sun came up was very worth it. To top off the beauty our guide a 32 year old Indonesian man named Basri carved a mean pineapple into an edible sculpture with a giant nepalese army knife. Getting a guide like Basri pays off not just in pineapples and a good lunch he’s been taking tours up for 12 years so his knowledge is vast.
by Max Blackmore
