Travel Post #12: Climbing Volcano Rinjani Without A Guide - Lost In The Indonesian Jungle! - by chrisadventures

Being lost, in the middle of the night, in a pitch-dark rainforest... It freaked me the hell out. Of course, I didn't tell my parents about these adventurous but crazy plans. And now I got lost on this volcano in Indonesia. Yep, this was for real. At a certain point, Alex proposed to split the group up. He wanted two of us to walk back and search for the trail, two would stay at the place we were and two would go further up to search. If anyone would find back the trail, they would whistle.... Every year, thousands of adventurous tourists attempt to reach the summit of Mount Rinjani, Indonesia's largest volcano (3,7km). And so did we. This summer, I tried to climb Mount Rinjani in quite an unusual way: Without A Guide! This ended up to be one of the toughest but greatest adventures I have ever experienced in my entire life.

The Group!

The moment one of my fellow backpacker friends came up with the great idea to climb mount Rinjani overnight WITHOUT a guide, I was one of the first people agreeing that this was simply an awesome plan. It felt like this typically 'YOLO' thing to do. Just trying to go up there and experience that feeling of adventure and freedom, JUST DO IT, right?  

We didn't really want to order the typical 3-day package which includes an overnight stay on the mountain and a long way up there with expensive local guides. Me, my friend and four others from our backpacker hostel decided to climb Mount Rinjani on our own, without guide and without the required knowledge and experience.

Photo: group picture just before we started our climb

The New Trail

We decided to take a new trail up the mountain. Usually, groups take the long way up from the north side of the mountain. We decided to take the shorter route which wasn't very well known yet. 

Photo: Whatsapp Screenshot of our discussed route (from Bukit Paok to Gunung Tembasi)

The Rainforest.. 10pm - 2 am (1.5km - 2km)

Mount Rinjani's summit is located at an height of 3.7km. It took us a 3-hour scooter drive to reach the foot of Rinjani. We started our hike at 10 pm. We lighten up our lanterns because the rainforest is dark. It was a scary situation. That same night at dinner one of the locals frightenedly advised us to not enter Rinjani's National Park by night. She seemed terrified and offered us to stay at her place that night, ' Be careful with the people ' she said. This was something surely kept running through our minds. ' The People '. 

The forest was quiet, there was barely a sound and this was something that surely made the trip scarier and scarier. At some point we stopped as Alex spotted a cat high up in the trees. We started shining our lanterns and we saw a leopard cat! It was hiding for us. It's such a great experience to spot the wildlife by night!

Later, one of the lanterns stopped functioning as its batteries ran out. Our group member charged them before the start of the trip but now they already didn't seem to work anymore. 

After 2 hours of walking we realized we were lost....

We kept following signs and symbols on our road up. But folks, believe me, it's very difficult to follow a jungle path when it's pitch-dark. After 2 hours we realized that we had lost the path. For over 3 hours, we kept searching, walked further and back and we tried different options which were actually way too dangerous. At a certain point, Alex proposed to split up our group. Two of us had to walk back and search, two would stay at the place we were and two would have to go further up. If anyone would find back the path, they would have to whistle. We decided to vote whether we preferred 1. this plan (split up), 2. go back as a group or 3. go further as a group. After voting we decided to go further up as a group and hoped to find back the path. 

Being lost in a dark rainforest freaked me the hell out. Of course, I didn't tell my parents about these adventurous but crazy plans. And now I was lost on this volcano in Indonesia.  

A stunning view - 2 am - 4 am (2km - 2.5km)

Not a long while after finding back the path we arrived at an open space and enjoyed a stunning view. I have never seen such a beautiful sky full of stars. It was cold, we had an amazing view and we decided to be silent for a few minutes. Such a special moment.. 

Lemongrass - 4am - 7am (2.5km - 2.9km)

After losing the path, we had given up the idea to reach the actual summit of Rinjani (3.7km). For now, we hoped to atleast reach the Crater Rim (3km), ' Gunung Tembasi ' (see map), by sunrise. At an height of around 2500 metres, we reached a point where the rainforest stopped. It was an open space with hills filled with lemongrass. At first, these hills looked like an easy way up but believe me, it has been dangerous. I had to pull myself up on the lemongrass and I have been lucky as some depths next to me have simply been way too deep and way too dangerous. 

At first daylight we thought we'd be close to the crater. The view was amazing... the morning cold, the quietness and peacefulness.. It was an indescribable feeling. 

7 am - 9 am - Crater Rim (2.9km)

We had been walking up for over 10 hours, we hadn't slept all night and we didn't have any idea whether the crater was nearby at all. We saw another large hill in front of us and we decided to flop down and chill for a bit. It was a challenging moment. My mind was saying yea do this, go further! But my body was simply refusing to go any further, knowing that every step I'd walk, I'd also have to walk back. 

At the very moment that I was sitting here (see picture), Alex decided to go further up the mountain. At the moment I realized he went further up, he was already gone for about 15 minutes. Nobody wanted to join me to go after him and I decided to stay where I was (But believe me, REGRETS!). After 30 minutes we saw Alex on top of the hill. And yep, apparently he did reach the crater rim and he took these amazing pictures. 

There and back again 9 am - 6 pm

We arrived back down after another 9-hour walk. After that we had to drive back for another 3 hours. Responsible? Not at all! 

So... summed up: we went driving there on our scooters for 3 hours, walked up for about 10 hours, walked down for 9 hours and we drove another 3 hours back afterwards. We didn't sleep and we ran out of water in the end. Luckily I ended up in bed, satisfied and relieved, once we arrived back in the hostel. This has been an adventure not to forget...

Did you enjoy reading this travel story? Follow and read more @chrisadventures stories! Read my previous travel post here:

Travel Story #11 - Java, Indonesia, A 7 Hour Drive Visiting This Hidden Gem, Pantai Banyu Tibo, South Coast Of Central Java - by chrisadventures

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