Gunung Merapi: The Fire Mountain

We were singing our hearts out while trying to keep ourselves from falling off the raging 4x4 jeep as we drive through rocky roads on the way to the viewing area of Mt. Merapi.

"God knows, God knows I want to break freeeeeeeee..."

Mt. Merapi, or Gunung Merapi as the locals call it, is one the most active among the 120+ active volcanoes in Indonesia. Its last major eruption which occurred 3 years ago claimed more than a hundred lives and displaced thousands.

Photo Credit: Binder Nastor

It was a fine afternoon so we decided to book a Jeep Tour that will drive us to the viewing area of Mt. Merapi. The tour costs 300,000 Rupiah each. By this time, we were already more than 30 hours awake but we didn't travel all the way to Yogyakarta just to sleep so go go go!

 

The first few minutes of the ride was rough and a bit scary passing through cliffs.  We passed by some rock quarries along the way.

Our first stop was on a mini museum which showed how the villages surrounding Merapi were badly destroyed by the eruption.

Photo Credit: Binder Nastor

The weather suddenly changed as we approached the viewing area. Mt. Merapi was suddenly covered by thick clouds.

The photo above was the only group photo we had with the volcano when it showed up. 

Photo Credit: Binder Nastor

We made a joke about it that if ever Mt. Merapi erupts at that exact moment, we knew where to hide.

bangker

We finally gave up waiting for Mt. Merapi to show up again and it was starting to drizzle so we decided to leave. This was our final stop of the tour. A giant rock thrown out by Mt. Merapi which looks like an alien's head. 

It would have been great if the weather did cooperate. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed the 4x4 ride.