Awesome hiking adventures at Mt Rinjani (Lombok , Indonesia)

A magnificent climb to remember.

Mount Rinjani is the 2nd highest active volcano in Indonesia, and it rises to 3726 meter above sea level (masl) in the Indonesia archipelagos and with one of the most astonishing views. Adjacent to the volcano is a 6-by-8.5-kilometre caldera, which is filled partially by the crater lake known as Segara Anak. This lake is approx. 2,000masl and estimated to be about 200m deep. 

Administratively the mountain is in the Regency of North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. 

Map of Lombok Island (Mt Rinjani is at the top center)

From my research, it was highlighted that only 1 out of every 4 hikers manages to reach the summit at any one time as many inexperienced hikers would actually stop/quit at the crater basecamp itself due to fatigue conditions.

You need not just fitness to pull you through but a strong mental strength to overcome the environment, tough landscape and not forgetting the harsh weather condition (ie. burning hot sun in the dry savannah area to unbelievably freezing cold from base camp onward to the summit) 

Map of the hiking trails (we started from Sembalun Village)

The estimated distance of the trek is approximately 27km (Senaru-Rinjani-Sembalun) and advisable to spread the hike over multiple days. Recommended is to allocate 3-days (but there are super fit hikers which does the ascend and back in just 2-days).

As the hike has different difficulty level and stages, the trail is divided into few sections (aka POS stop) with each pit stop covering various distance, elevation and terrain conditions.  The trail will lead to 3 different checkpoints (POS-1 to POS-3) before we can reach the base camp (aka Crater Rim Campsite). It will take between 8-10hours of walking to reach the campsite depending on your speed. 

Map with elevation between pitstop (POS) and estimated trekking hours.

Caveat: The trekking duration (hours) between POS is assuming the hiking pace of a fit/strong hikers. For average hikers, you may need to add additional 40-50% duration. Example: Most hikers took between 4-6 hours to reach the summit (instead of 3 hours).

For our trip, we checked into travel agent guesthouse the day before our hike (Day 0 as some would say). Here we were briefed on what to expect during the hike (distance, terrains, temperature etc) and logistics (food/drinks, hiking gears) that is required before starting the hike.

 

Our briefing session at Senaru guesthouse with the team manager at the guesthouse.

D-Day: We have to wake up at 6am to get ready and had our breakfast by 7am. After that, we met with our hiking team and then hop-on to the flat bed pickup truck that send us from Senaru to Sembalun village (about 1 hour ride).

Upon arrival at the national park office, you are required to perform registration and there will be some basic health check conducted by the officials in the national park office. 

Picture of the writer and hiking team at the very beginning of the trail - starts at a place called Kandang Sapi (translated as Cow Farm). Mt Rinjani is seen looming over the background a far distance away.

Picture of the writer and hiking partner at the starting point of the savannah trail (with Rinjani mountain ranges at the background)

Hikers and team of potters ascending up the savannah trail (with the towering Mt Rinjani looming ahead of us). The initial part of the trail is quite easy as we're walking on a relatively flat area. (Note: Do wear a broad hat or apply some sunscreen lotion due to the strong sun and heat as there is literally no tree to block the hot burning sun).

Hikers passing through the savannah grassland. The lush greenery view and green blue sky is actually very nice and has a calming effect to every one of us.

The great porters - with unbelievable strength and agility in balancing between the heavy loads and hiking up the trails. Each of the potters carry an average weight of 25kgs (camping gear, essential food supplies, waters and cooking utensils and misc. tools). The potters carry all the loads loaded on basket and hold on a very simple bamboo pole. And they just wear flip-flop slippers.  

 

View of the mountain from the grassland

Hikers arriving at POS-1 (after 2 hours of hiking through the savannah fields from the starting point. Total distance of 3.7km)

View of the valley (a bit of scary to pass through here- the drop down is really steep)

Arriving at POS-2 (after 1.5hours walk from POS-1. Distance of 1.4km)

The writer is having hot meal break at POS-2 (Mix rice and a plate a fruits platter).

From POS-1, we continue to hike for another 1.5 hour before reaching POS-2 for rest and have our lunch break. The meal is freshly prepared for us... you can see our cook preparing the raw ingredients and cook the meal on the spot. Fruits are washed and cut here as well. 

From POS-2 to POS-3, the hike starts to get interesting as you can start to feel the trail elevation becoming more steeper, surrounding area start to get foggy and weather become cooler. It takes another 2 hours for us to reach POS-3.

The writer and fellow hiker resting after reaching POS-3

View of majestic Mt Rinjani from afar.

In some way, its scared me as it seems so far away and is telling me there will be lots of hiking still required before we even get near to the base of the mountain.

After hiking for close to 8.5 hours, we arrived at our base camp site (officially known as Pelawangan Sembalum) around 420pm

The porters who were way ahead of us during the hike, has already setup our tent when we arrive. In fact, they were on their way to prepare hot meal for us. 

Having a well-deserved rest at our tent.

Our neighbors in the campsite

Beautiful view of the crater lake - Anak Segara 

After dinner at 6pm, we were informed by our guide to best to recharge our body strength and sleep as early as possible. As our body were tired, I think we slept at around 9pm. 

View of our camp site in the evening

After the couple of hours of good sleep, the guide woke us up at around 2am and prepare a quick hot meal and we depart the campsite at 230pm to attempt to reach the summit before sunrise. We had to put on winter clothing as well as headlamp as we would have to walk in the dark traversing a few more hills before we reach the path that will lead us to the summit trail.

Beautiful sunrise view over the ocean and mountains in the horizon 

Sunrise view 2

Fellow hiking ascending the steep slope at the far horizon.

If you look closely, there is small white dot across the mountain's range trails (that's actually an individual hiker with headlamp along the path to summit)

Walking through the cloud

Volcanic landscape - rocks and pebbles (Hmm.... come to think of it, the whole place does look the surface of alien planet) 

As the trails is made up of loose volcanic gravel and sand, it is actually very difficult and challenging to hike. For every 2 step you made, you will slide back 1 step. Hence, is takes a lot of leg strength, body balancing and time to ascend here. I must say this is one of the most exhausting parts of the entire hike. Is almost bordering to torturing your body.

Picture of the trails - volcanic rock, gravel and loose volcanic sands

Note: You can actually observe lots of hikers struggling in this part of the trail.

Fellow hikers on final ascend (final 500m to the reach summit). 

This will be a case of so near yet so far. It will need another 1+ hour hiking before we can reach the final distance. 

One more pitstop before we push toward the summit. Both our mental strength and spirit were still good at this point but our body has started to complain due to severe exhaustion.

Whew.... after all the grueling hard work put in, we finally managed to reach summit together with our guide.

The writer and partner at the summit

We stayed just about 20min at the summit taking pictures and enjoying the surrounding landscape view. As the weather and visibility was good, we can actually see Mt Agung from afar (located in Bali Island).

Having a breakfast - sandwich at the peak of Mt Rinjani 

Hikers start descending from the summit.

The hike down from the summit is very quite interesting. You can see lots of hikers almost like "gliding" when the walk downward due to the loose gravel and sands. Quite many of the hikers slip and fell. 

As we were going downhill, I managed to saw this interesting view and to took picture of the campsite. (Note: Our campsite is located the mountain ridge as seen from the very small white dots as seen in the picture below.)

The happy but extremely exhausted look after returning back to the campsite from the summit (with Mt Rinjani at the background). 

Morning tea break and pancake... with a million-dollar view beside the crater lake

Our team beside the crater rim before we start to de-camp.

Following rest of the hikers group descending

Having lunch at the last checkpoint before ending our Rinjani trip

Celebrating our end of the hiking with our support team (guide, porters & driver). Big thank you and salute to our hardworking porters in handling all our logistics and making sure all our needs are taken care of. (And they cook delicious hot meal too)

All in all, the experienced and feeling we had throughout this journey is simply priceless and one of a kind. Looking forward for more adventures to this magical place real soon.

My experiences and lesson learnt from the climb.

Mount Rinjani is definitely not an easy mountain to climb for sure. I would recommend that you prepare physically and mentally before you attempt the climb. As on typical the 3D2N hike, on average you need the stamina to be able to hike at least 8-10hours a day across difficult terrain and unpredictable weather conditions. Fatigue due to lack of sleep will come to bite you too.

• Enjoy the moment - Do take time and immerse yourself with the view and surroundings. Take photos and videos to capture the moments and experiences. It not just the summit you're aiming for but the journey and experiences that come with the trip.
• Is not a race but journey - do pace yourself well throughout the hike to ensure you don't spend too much energy especially before the final ascend to summit. 
• One step at a time - when you find yourself struggling and start thinking about about giving up the climb, do remember use the mantra " One step at a time". Your hardwork will definitely pay off when you reach the summit.
• Safety come first - do be extra vigilant and careful to avoid any unforeseen injury. 
• Make use of your guide - listen and follow the advice of your guide throughout the hike. They have in-depth knowledge of the mountains, terrains, environments and weather conditions. Their guidance is utmost important, and their sole purpose is to ensure you summit successfully and return safely.

Important note on preparation before you start the hike:

• Clothing: Do ensure you prepare at least 2 sets of clothing as you will encounter 2 different extreme weather conditions. As you will be trekking through the savannah grassland in day 1, the weather there is very hot and humid and best you wear something light and breathable. But as you trek higher up in the mountains, the temperature can drop to below 8degrees and is extremely windy and cold. Hence, do ensure you have at least a windbreaker/thermal jacket and long pants. 

Quick snapshot temperature (In Celsius)

• Hiking gear: A lightweight and waterproof bag pack to store all the items you need, a comfortable hiking boot, and walking stick (I would highly recommend this), hat, gloves, headlamp and winter hat. Do remember to get a mask or scarf to cover your face as there are lots of fine volcanic ash/dust throughout the trails. Finally, a sandal or flip flop will definitely be useful especially after a long hike and your feet start to hurts.

• Food/drinks: Likely this will be made available through your porter. But do ensure you have at least a drinking water bottle as you need get it refilled throughout the hike across multiple days. Do get yourself some energy bar or snacks to provide some sugar rush to your tired body.

• Misc: Others optional stuff to consider - Deep heat cream, band-aid for small cut, wet towel wipe for personal hygiene, toothbrush/paste, camera, spare power-bank (for recharge of camera), ziplog bag for storage of your rubbish. 

Best time to climb Rinjani:

From researched data, the best time to climb Rinjani is between the month of April to Oct which also coincide with the dry season which I couldn't agree more. Judging from the terrains and path I have gone through here; I just can't imagine how the place will look like when is wet, slippery and muddy.

Btw, I also found that during the wet/rainy season, the mountain is closed for hiking (Dec to Mar)

How to get to Rinjani:

From my travel search, I found many budget airlines offers flight to Lombok (AirAsia, Scoot, Garuda, Batik Airs). Good news for those of you that will be travelling from Malaysia. AirAsia (www.airasia.com) has a direct flight from KLIA terminal 2 to Lombok international airport (Lombok Praya LOP airport) with flight duration of 3 hours. At time of writing, the schedule from KLIA T2 to Lombok is departing at 210pm and arrival at 510pm.

Once we arrived, we had all our ground travel arrangement is taken care of by the travel agent being part of the hiking packages.  The distance between Lombok airport to Senaru village is about 50+km and do allocate between 2 to 2.5hours of driving time before you can reach the designated guest house.

Where can I find a good and trusted travel agent?

There are dozens of small local companies based out of Lombok that offers various hiking packages to choose from. Ranging from 2D1N (Crater Rim without summit) and multi-days such as 3D2N (Rinjani summit) and 4D3N (Rinjani summit +). 

For the multi-day's options, beside summiting Mt Rinjani, you can decide the return route: 

• Sembalun-Mt Rinjani-Senaru  
• Senaru- Mt Rinjani-Sembalun   
• Sembalun-Mt Rinjani-Torean (currently the most popular trail)

My suggestion is to read the Google reviews as the comments from hikers will allow you to have a feel for their experience and service provided by the specific travel agent.

Note: For my trip we've chose www.visitmountrinjani.com company. From my own experience, I would highly recommend them as they are trustworthy, simple to deal with and lastly, took extra care of my wife throughout the entire hike.

Tips & expenses:

Usually, the rule of thumb is for everyone to provide tips of about $100-200K IDR to each of the porters accompanying you on the trip (which is just about USD7-14 (MYR30). I will highly recommend that you give generous as those are the team (guide and porters) that doing all the heavy duty lifting (food/drinks supplies and camp) to ensure everything you need for the hike are well taken care of.

Q&A

If you have any questions or need references on how to get in touch with the local travel agent, drop me a comment and I will be happy to answer. Till then, all the best.