Mountains, Jungles, Orangutans, Wild Caves, Raging Rivers, and Erupting Volcano

[Scott P]

Introduction

This trip report is a summary of a spectacular adventure that took place December 8 to December 31 2010 to the countries of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Trip participants we Kimberly Patterson (my wife), Kessler (my eight year old son), Shaylee (my six year old daughter), my dad and I.

Although the photographs don't do the trip justice, a picture is worth a thousand words, so the photographs will tell most of the story (these are only a few of the 1500+ photographs taken on the trip).

We visited many areas, but since this is a mountaineering site, emphasis on this particular trip report will be on the more adventurous aspects of what turned out to be a remarkable journey. Along the way we met many friendly people, sweated in humid jungles, camped with all kinds of monkeys, climbed mountains, saw giant insects, crawled on our bellies through underground caves, rafted raging rivers, witnessed volcanic eruptions, and went snorkeling, but that was just the tip of the iceberg....





The beautiful side gorge at Tangkahan; December 22.

December 10: Southern Ridges (Singapore)

After a very long plane ride and after visiting some of the tourist attractions around Sentosa, Kessler, Shaylee, Kimberly, my Dad and I needed to stretch our legs and we took a break from the city and set off to hike the Southern Ridges Trails. We hiked the Marang Trail, the Faber Trail, Henderson Waves, Forest Walk and various other trails. The forest is surprisingly beautiful so close the city and we saw many interesting insects and birds. It was a relatively tame adventure, but we were not used to the heat yet and we sweated much. We ended the hike near a Hindu Temple, which we visited before heading for the Golden Triangle to catch an all night bus to the Cameron Highlands.




Some of the birds we saw on the Southern Ridges on December 10 2010.

December 11: Cameron Highlands (Perak, Malaysia)

After an all night bus ride from Singapore, we visited several sites and did several walks, including the one to the top of the Rose Valley and to near the top of the nearby peak. It was a nice and cool hike.

It wasn

[Scott P]

December 21: Tangkahan Elephant Trek (Sumatra, Indonesia)

When leaving Bukit Lawang we saw the smoking and active Sinabung Volcano before heading off to Tankahan for the night. It was a long journey on 4wd drive roads through mud, rocks and with a few rickety and scary bridges thrown in for good measure.

The next morning we explored the jungle by elephant back, which was a good thing since the mud was knee deep , even on the elephant! We saw many interesting plants, animals and insects from elephant back and another bonus was that the elephant could take us across the deep rivers.




Elephants are the preferred method of travel on this route in Tangkahan(Sumatra, Indonesia). The mud is very deep and so are the river crossings.




An elephant helps us across the wide and deep river crossing at Tangkahan.




The friendly elephant that gave us a ride across the river at Tangkahan.

After the jungle trek on the elephant, the elephant wanted to give us a shower. That it did, but we returned the favor by giving it a bath. It was one of the kid’s favorite parts of the adventure so far.




Kessler taking a shower Sumatra style.




Returning the favor and giving the elephant a bath.

December 22: Tangkahan Waterfall and Hot Springs (Sumatra, Indonesia)

Today, we all set off to hike to a waterfall and hot spring. We had to swim across the river to get to the hot spring which was tucked back in a shallow cave. It was an exciting swim across the river to say the least. We soaked in the hot springs quite a while before swimming back across the river and heading down river. After that we hiked down the scenic river to a side gorge and hiked up it to a nice waterfall. Kessler, Shaylee, Dad and I climbed up and around the waterfall to find more waterfalls and pools up the spectacular slot like canyon.

It was a nice little ramble.




Kessler exploring one of the gorges near Tangkahan.




A colorful lizard at Tangkahan.

December 25-26: Anak Krakatau (Java, Indonesia)

Wow! How can I possibly describe what we saw and experienced? This place was the single most spectacular natural scene that I have ever experienced. We (Kimberly, Kessler, Shaylee, my dad and I) left Christmas morning for Anak Krakatau under perfect weather. I had to take motion sickness pills because the only way to get there was by boat, but riding the motorboat was much easier on me that riding a ferry or big ship.




This is the sunset on Christmas Eve at Carita on the West Coast of Java. It was also our starting point for our adventure to the Krakatau Volcano.

Explosions from Krakatau could be heard from a long way away. First, we boated to Rakata Island (part of the old caldera and did some snorkeling (seeing many tropical fish), but my dad ended up losing his watch in the ocean.

After snorkeling at Rakata Island, we got in the boat and rounded the bend to see the spectacular erupting Anak Krakatau which was exploding quite loudly. Obviously climbing the peak was out of the question! We headed to Sertang Island in order to see the explosions which were amazing to watch. After camp was set up my dad and I hike the beach in both directions as far as we could. We made it quite a ways, but were eventually cliffed out in both directions. There were some crabs to see and the beach was nice.




Day eruption of Krakatau on December 25 2010.




Exploding Krakatau from Sertang Island on December 25 2010. We camped on the beach of Sertang Island in order to see the night explosions which were very spectacular.

We thought the day eruptions of Anak Krakatau were spectacular, but then night came. It was incredible and lava bombs would explode and make it all the way to the ocean without hitting the ground! Using the known height of the volcano, I estimated that the big eruptions were shooting glowing lava 1000-1300 feet into the air (~300-400m) above the top of the volcano, setting the entire volcano aglow with red hot lava. It was an incredible scene and very noisy. I’ve never seen such a spectacular natural scene and we all agreed on this. No man-made fireworks show could possibly compete with this!




Krakatau at night.




Krakatau eruption.




Eruption of Krakatau.

It was very warm at night and Kessler, my dad and I slept under the stars in order to see more of the volcano. We didn’t get much sleep with all the spectacular fireworks and noisy explosions going off.

In the morning we were greeted by two giant monitor lizards (they must float to the island on driftwood unless they can swim this far?). After taking some more photographs we packed up and headed back to Rakata Island for some more snorkeling. We even found my dad’s watch and one of the boat operators was able to dive down and get it (maybe under 13 feet/4m of water?). Amazingly it still worked.

After snorkeling we headed back to Carita on the island of Java. Anak Krakatau sure was a spectacular trip indeed!




Exploding Krakatau!

December 27: Hutan Wiata Carita (Java, Indonesia)

Today Kessler, Shaylee, Kimberly, my Dad and I went to hike in the Hutan Waita Carita (Forest Reserve) in the mountains east of Carita on Java. We explored several side paths before heading up the main path towards the waterfall.




This is part of the easy section of the trail at Hutan Wiata Carita.

The trail started out really easy, but gradually got more challenging as we progressed along. The most challenging part of the route was crossing several (recent?) landslides, which were quite difficult to pass. Along the way we saw a giant millipede, a giant centipede and a weird horned spider (which was also very colorful). The spider dropped to the ground right when I got the camera out.

We ate lunch at the falls and we spotted several entertaining, but evidently shy monkeys. After watching the monkeys we headed down the path to locate a steep and exposed (and exciting) trail to the bottom of the falls. Kimberly and Shaylee stayed there while Kessler, my Dad and I swam up through the slot canyon (which was quite challenging) to visit the bottom of the falls.




The beautiful waterfall at Hutan Wiata Carita in the mountains along the west coast of Java.




One of the monkeys around the waterfall in the mountains of Hutan Wiata Carita.

After visiting the bottom of the falls, Kessler and I walked and swam down the canyon to another falls. We then climbed out of the mini-gorge and returned to our lunch spot before descending the main trail a ways. We found a steep side track and decided to explore it.




To get to the base of the waterfall in the mountains of Hutan Wiata Carita we had to do a bit of swimming. We need to get a suntan as we were pretty pale.

The side track split several times as it climbed into the mountains and through some banana fields and I was hoping that we could follow it to the summit of Manlalawangi (mountain). Unfortunately the trail eventually petered out before reaching the summit of the mountain so we didn’t get to climb to the summit. After the tracks ended we headed back down the steep track to the main trail which we followed back to Carita. It was another fine day and a good day to start winding down the more adventurous part of our journey.




Part of our route through Hutan Wiata Carita.

Final Thoughts

On this trip, we did do quite a bit of hiking, climbing, caving, river rafting and saw much wildlife, but we did city and cultural activities as well. Because of the nature of this website, the city and cultural activities are beyond the scope of this particular trip report which for the most part only focused on the outdoor aspects of our journey.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Islamic country with about ~238,000,000 people of which over 88% are Islamic. Malaysia is over 60% Islamic and is nearing 28,000,000 in population. As an American I was somewhat surprised with my experience (we weren't worried about the trip, but I thought to encounter at least a little anti-American sentiment mixed with mostly friendly people).

What I found was perhaps the friendliest people I have met anywhere in the world. I even saw a few people flying American Flags and people with American Flag sheets and pillows and many people said to us "God bless America". Everyone was friendly and I heard not one negative comment about the United States. Everyone (literally everyone we met) wanted to hear all about "Amereeka". For the most part this wasn't a guided tour (other than a few hikes) type trip, but one which we traveled using public transportation and as the locals do. We interacted with many locals.

It seems the people are very humbled and grateful for the aid the US has given them during the big tsunami and earthquakes and we met nothing but friendly people.

We went for the wildlife, hiking, rafting and caves, but ended up falling in love with the people. It was a great experience. Never have I been treated as well as I was while traveling overseas as an American.




House in Bukit Lawang, Indonesia.
Although we traveled independently most of the time, special thanks should go to the following:

Expedition Jungle whom took us on our wonderful and challenging five day hike through Gunung Leasur.

Krakatau Tour whom took us by boat to Krakatau and had to get up early Christmas morning to meet us.

Special thanks should also go to our Gua Tempurung and river guides, though unfortunately since the trip was done spur of the moment, the guide's names escape me.

[accadacca]

Awesome! What a great adventure...fantastic!

[oldno7]

WOW, what a great TR Scott

[tanya]

Now that's paradise!

[Brian in SLC]

Wow...fantastic!

[gnwatts]

Very cool. Thanks.

[americanhero]

what a wonderful report. And those shots are so awesome!!
I really love the lava shots at night. Wow, they are very impressive!! Thanks for sharing.

[Don]

Nice TR! Some great photos!