Tambora

For me, going to mountain with group of people you don't know before can turn to disaster or good experience. and for Tambora, it turned to be unforgettable moments for me. This is our first 'serious' mountain together, back in early 2011. It required serious plan, logistic, tent, equipments, fitness, and partners or i would say team. Together with our Iranian friend who we just knew 1 day before, we crossed Bali - Lombok -Sumbawa! It was cool overland trip so far, except for the tiny chicken for dinner. In Dompu, we met Ogut for the first time. He is the brother of my friend in Jakarta who i just met as well. So, this is the red thread: new serious mountain and new chill out friends.First day, we arrived at 5am in Dompu, after 12 hours trip by bus from Mataram. I can't even remember when we cross Alas strait. I can only remember that some of Lombok people are very though especially for bargaining the price and to propose the transport which could be happen in every where in the world as well. As it was already dark, we could not see the view of Sumbawa terrain through bus' window. It's so pity as this suppose to be my favorite moment for daydreaming. The closest village in Tambora is Desa Pancasila. It hosts the Tambora Trekking Centre (TTC) which provide informative details about Tambora and porter or guide if you need it, for your information; foreigner is considered to be someone who require a 'guide'.. ask them why!

To reach Pancasila from Dompu is quite challenging. The options are renting a 'kijang' or take a bus. It needs 6 hours to get to Pancasila but because of the road was broken, the bus will not be able to take you to Pancasila, it will only drop you at Desa Kedindi Atas, then you  have to take ojek. I found that ojek is a solution for all access problems in Tambora. As we are five people and we thought would be be more convenient to rent a car.

Second day in Dompu, started by visiting and registering ourselves in TTC. The guy was very friendly when he knew we will go with Ogut and Bang Adun (fellows from Dompu). We started at 9am after buying rice and eggs for breakfast and lunch. There is no more options for warung, as it was raining for days logistic also limited in this village. The path to the entry point has several paths going to the bush or villager's gardens. We stopped in Pura and have some photo shots here. It is the only Pura in this area, the Balinese man who look after the Pura was welcoming us and pleasantly provide us the information about this Pura. Somehow it is a pleasure for me to write our time frame every time we hike, same like this time.

TTC - Pos 1 (875m): 3 hours

Pos 1 - Pos 2: 1.5 hours

Pos 2 (water source) - Pos 3: 2 hours

We camped at Pos 3 and had lunch in Pos 2 which was a nightmare. Pos 2 also known as leech Pos, so beware! It is a nice wooden shelter with roof but believe me, you will regret to have lunch there when u know five leeches probably were peacefully sucking your blood while you were eating. Tambora trek is completely boring compare to Rinjani, Argopuro or Sumbing. It is typically rain forest, very dense, lots of bushes and rain which you can not predict. I would say the trek is not very steep but it long way to go. Around 5pm we were in Pos 3 and got excited when we met other young hikers from Bima and Dompu.  We greeted and had dinner together

Third day, at 2am, we woke up  to prepare for going to summit. It was very cold. We walked under the drizzle in the dark. Step by step reaching Pos 4. The mean plants are everywhere, wide leaves with spines on it. Once it scratches you, ouff.. feels like burns!

Pos 3 (water source) - Pos 4: 1.5 hours

Pos 4 - Pos 5: 1 hour

Pos 5 - to the rim of crater : 2-3 hours

The longest trek is from Pos 5 to the rim of crater, it was like no end. More difficult in wind storm in open area. Sometimes you have to climb the rocks. Around 7am we arrived in the rim of the crater. I was so excited and thinking we will wait another 15 - 20 minutes until the weather getting better, i mean we HAVE TO wait more. This long trip should be ended with good photos, good sunny day and good smile of its people. Who ever would be agree with me. But not with Gilles, we argued about the necessary of staying longer or going back. He asked me to do vote, as we are four people (Bang Adun decided to stay in the tent). I looked at Javad and Ogut, they were shivering waiting us to stop argue, i knew at that point Gilles was right. I was reminded not to be selfish to stay longer as all of them were freezing. What can be worst on the mountain than bad weather ? I know what it is, spat with your own team like what we had. I was piss of by the fact that no one wants to stay longer and he forced me to see it. I have to accept that this long overland trip from Bali has to be ended by the bad weather, all struggles and obstacles which been passed was beaten again by unpredictable weather. With tears in my eyes i followed them to go back. But...wait!! where we came from before ? Oh no! disaster! they all looked the same. Those edelweiss were everywhere, that was a huge meadow of edelweiss and we just realized it. Ogut and Javad were no more reliable. They will only follow us where ever we take them. Gilles and i tried to find the way out by tracing our previous foot prints, but nil. My GPS was no longer working since yesterday because of the leaking mosquito repellant package has soaked it. I was so emotional then forced us to shout each other, think that my idea is the best. Guys... i have never experience crisis in the real world, but crisis in the mountain was absolutely painful. Then after some times we decided to go back to the place where we were at the the rim. We tried to orient by looking at the sun in cloudy weather, not very easy. Lucky! i left my scoria rocks there, i smacked the scoria when we decided not to stay longer. From that point, finally we found our precious foot prints! We walked back by following our foot prints. We arrived safely in Pos 3, starving and fully exhausted. We even arrived so late at 11am. We packed and had quick lunch before descend. The rain started again in the middle of our trek. In nightmare Pos, i mean Pos 2, Gilles got award for the most loved person by the leech! He got 10 leeches in each leg.

The rain looked hesitate to stop and somehow made our trip to go down even longer. We started from Pos 3 at 1pm and arrived in Pura almost 9pm. Though we have prepared the torchs, still walking in the dark, under the rain slowed us down. We slept in the terrace of the Pura man's house. We shall not hang our clothes in front of his house for spiritual reason. After having cooked a very quick meal we rounded our body inside sleeping bag and began the sweet dreams.

Fourth day, in the morning, the rooster was extremely happy to wake us up. I could feel my body was stiff and dry blood every where in the leg. We were ready to go at 8am, not forget to said thanks to the lady, we also had moved successfully the leeches in our clothes / shoes / socks to their beloved terrace. Arriving happily in TTC we ordered 5 ojeks to take us to Kedindi atas as the bus will leave at 11am. We met again with the young fellows hiker, even in the same bus. Unfortunately the bus left Kedindi at 1pm. We were ready for our little nap in the bus until we saw the water eroded the road which we will pass. OHH! All the passengers came out to see what happen. Okay, so the stream eroded the levee that functioned as road access, the result was.. the water in the river sweep all the poly weave sacks which filled by sand and nothing left for the road back to Dompu. Without saying anything, all people were hypnotized to built emergency road by putting back all the poly weave sacks in a way so our bus can pass through it. It was bitter-sweet memory for us, will be bitter if we were trapped and not able to come back.

For sure, now we can see the terrain of Sumbawa! Oh.. it was stunning!. As the bus speeding smoothly, i have forgotten all the spats and all the bad weather, i thank all the friends Gilles, Javad, Ogut, and Bang Adun also people i just met . In the end i did not think "it was ended by the bad weather", the bad weather was accompanied us in fact since the beginning until the end of the trip, and somehow you should be able to make peace with something unpredictable in order to appreciate the whole trip. I had a good nap in the bus. We stayed one night in Dompu, in the Hotel where bed bugs were happy to welcoming us. Though this trip still to be continue to Lakei Beach, i have to end this story here.

CP for TTC (i suggest you check the access to Pancasila as this story was in 2011)

Saiful 085937030848

As our GPS was not working, the track represented below is from GunungBagging.com