Bromo

This weekend we went for an excellent photography tour to Mt Bromo in eastern Java with Melbourne the Photographer. We were only away for 2 days / 1 night but we packed in many sights and experiences.

We were up very early and flew to Malang airport and met up with our Land Cruiser hardtops and after about one turn from the airport were on back roads through sugarcane plantations. Our destination was the Tengger Caldera of which Mt Bromo is one of the active volcanoes. We drove down the rim into the savanna below. It was great to have the feeling of space so often missing in Jakarta.

We then met up with a local horse man whom Melbourne had arranged to come and be photographed by us. The first man we had did not seem very comfortable with this task but did smile eventually.

The Tengger people are a Hindu ethnic minority who live in the immediate vicinity of the volcano.

We had a picnic lunch sitting in the stunning surroundings of the Savannah.

 A second model then arrived who had done this many times before and we took more shots.

 We then moved from the green Savannah to the sea of sand which is covered in sandy ash. Here we practised shooting as a horseman galloped by. This is great fun running continuous focus and multiple shots per second as a horse thunders by throwing up explosions of dust while an active volcano spews more ash in the background.

We were not allowed a beer that night till we got a shot with all four legs in the air.

Trying to get the background 'streaking'.

Our vehicles on the sea of sand

We then proceeded to Mt Bromo. With some reluctance we rode horses from the car park to the foot of the stairs to Mt Bromo which is actually the smallest of the volcanoes in the group.

The stairs up were a bit difficult as they are covered in loose ash. At the top we  looked over the edge and watched the steam sulphur and ash rise from the caldera.

The locals throw offerings over the edge such as local produce and these enterprising people go over the edge and collect the offerings. As we were about to go Mt Bromo burped out a sulphur ash cloud all over us. Yum sulphur.

We drove back across the sea of sand and climbed the rim on the other side to get some more shots of Bromo before we lost the light.

A newly keen photographer.

We then made our way to our hotel the Lava View perched on the rim overlooking Mt Bromo. After a battle with the hot water we had a good meal and a few well earned beers before Melbourne told us we had to be up at the front of the hotel by 2.45 AM so we were in position for the sunrise.

The next morning was misty but we rode our hardtops up to a peak overlooking the complex, set up out tripods in the prime positions and waited for sunrise all rugged up in rented coats. The mist continued right through sunrise giving us occasional peeks of the complex below. We held our positions against the hordes arriving a bit later and managed a few shots.

We tried a few different outlooks before returning to the hotel for a big breakfast and then we had to hop into cars for the trip home. The area on the ridge and on the mountains on the way home is rich agricultural land where they grow onions, potatoes and many other crops in the volcanic soil.

Many of the fields are almost vertical.