small5.jpg)
The price was fair for both of us, but I didn’t take the extra step of checking over the vehicle first. When the eager driver went to get his bike, I discovered it was a clunker in sorry shape and missing a dashboard. I admit even the most decrepit machines often seem to get by, but before starting a longer trip the responsible action is to judge that the vehicle is capable of the trip, because if it breaks down it provides problems for both the owner and traveler. Can you guess where this story is going ;)
I think my lack of faith in the bike really showed by my insistence on a helmet for this trip. Finally, after some communication among the group of waiting drivers, they were able to find an extra helmet. Unfortunately, the only available one was several sizes too big, missing a chin strap, and somehow was using metal staples to hold together the visor that had cracked in 3 places. I had to use one hand to hold the helmet down for most of the trip - making its effectiveness very questionable. We start the hour or so trip and everything is going fine and the views from the bike are amazing. However, about ¾ the way up the hill the bike begins to stutter, and to finally stop alongside a steep part of the hill. Another biker pulls over and pokes and prods the bike, but eventually it can’t be helped, or at least to continue uphill. I pay extra since I feel bad about the bike, but this situation wasn’t very good for everybody involved and the driver now had to ride the bike back down. The guy who stopped then takes me up the rest of the way.
While there are several ways to reach Mount Bromo, the most popular is via the town of Cemoro Lawang, which sits on the edge of a vast crater containing 3 volcanic mountains – Bromo, Batok, and Kursi. The crater is filled with a covering of volcanic sand and ash with the smoking mount Bromo sitting between the other two peaks. From the entrance to the park, one can walk, hire a jeep, or rent a horse to reach them.
Before arriving I discovered an excellent 5 page summary of the tourism in this area, “Local Community Initiative in Developing Culture and Nature Tourism in Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park.” The report talks about some of the good practices used in this park and includes research from Dr. Janet Cochrane, the Leed’s instructor that told me about Kaliandra. In her research she looked at the tourism practices of Cemoro Lawang and the positive and negative impacts that result from tourism. The practices at CL are unique because the locals follow traditional law, which prohibits anyone non-Tenggerese (the local ethnic group) from buying land or renting it for more than a year. In addition, to decrease conflicts between community members hoping to benefit from tourism, local associations were created based on professions, so there is a horse operator’s group, jeep rental group, food stall group, photographers’ group, and an accommodation group. The groups are all self-regulating entities. As Dr. Cochran’s research shows this provides increased positive impacts for the local community at Cemoro Lawang versus the unregulated tourism offered at the other villages, Wonokitri and Ngadas, which also provide tourism services to Bromo.
The best time to reach Bromo is early in the morning. As I’m a rather unprepared traveler at times, my alarm clock broke the second day into my trip, so I’ve been relying on naturally waking up early – which has served me thus far. That night I had a rather uneasy sleep, as I was trying to use an internal alarm clock to wake up by 4a to catch the sunrise in the crater. When I woke up at 3:30a, it seemed like it was best to just stay awake and start getting ready for the trip to Bromo. Since the association provide a flat rate for a jeep rental this didn’t seem like the best option since there is only 1 of me and I couldn’t find anyone else to share the expense of a jeep. As I paid my entrance fee for the park, an older lean gentleman approached asking if I needed a horse – “why yes!” Learning from my mistake with the motorcycle, I checked the horse first – strong looking legs, well fed with no ribs showing, and a sweet disposition. I was helped on, while the man took the reins to lead the horse. It was about 4am as we started across the volcanic sand sea. The people travelling by jeep took a different route that led to a viewing area of the whole crater first, so we were alone as we crossed. The horse slowly plodded through the sand and white mist, the stars shined bright overhead. I’d like to say that I listed to the steady clump of the horse the whole time, but I am a child of the modern ages (it can’t be helped), so I switched on my music player and listened to “Echoes: Best of Pink Floyd.”
The ride took about 45 minutes, so we waited for the sunrise at the base of the stairs leading up to the volcano’s edge. I enjoyed the solitude of the experience, just us and the horse. At 5am Yaeen(sp?) the horse caretaker, suggested I start the climb. In the distance the sun was just beginning to light up the Eastern sky. I started up alone, no touts, no other tourists. I had talked to someone the day before who mentioned taking over a hundred photos at Bromo, and I wondered how that was possible. Easily. As the sun rises and the mist disappears every moment makes the scene look a little bit different. There is also a trail that goes around the top edge of Bromo, which allows one to see the inside at all angles. Standing alone on the lip of Bromo watching the sunrise to one side and the crater smoking away on the other is an unforgettable experience.
It wasn’t until I was 1/3rd of the way around that I even saw any other visitors. It was very easy to forget that hundreds of thousands had probably visited this same place, as I slowly made my way along the path and at times climbed down channels carved out from lava. It probably took an hour to make it around the whole rim, so when I arrived back near the start more people had arrived and a man was selling flowers as an offering to Bromo and other woman was selling food and drinks. As I walked down the steps I now found that many other horses accompanied the one I’d ridden.
Again we slowly plodded back to the park entrance. My impressions of Bromo and this tourism town were very positive, though I do realize life has probably changed much for the local inhabitants with the growth of tourism and that visiting during the offseason isn’t really a good way to gauge all the impacts. I did witness some positive interactions between visitors and locals, as some tourists were speaking with some secondary school boys who wanted to practice their English, but I also observed some negative interactions as one cranky traveler was very unpleasant to another boy that asked about his transportation needs. I can understand how it is easy to be rude when asked for the billionth time about needing a minibus, even when you are already sitting in one, but it is also very easy to change the subject and to treat people as people.
For anyone who is curious, the report of Dr. Cochrane’s study can be found at: http://www.recoftc.org/site/fileadmin/docs/publications/Seminar_Proceeding/Cochrane.rtf
