OVERVIEW

Lies at the heart of Lombok Island, a great volcano with a stunning view and magnificent beauty. Mount Rinjani (3.726 masl) is a very nice destination for trekking in Lombok. The name Rinjani was taken from the name of Goddess Anjani in the Ramayana story, one of the great epics of ancient India. Local legend says that it was the place where the Goddess meditates and then gave birth to Hanuman. Like its name, Mount Rinjani represent the beauty of Goddess Anjani.

The popular routes are from Sembalun or Senaru Village. Each route gives a different landscape. For Senaru, trekkers will walk through the rainforest but not from Sembalun where only grassland is formed there. The soil is so fertile that villagers of Sembalun mostly work as farmers. They make plantation around the foot of the mountain. There’s a traditional village of Sasak people (indigenous people of Lombok Island) at Senaru that should be good to visit.

These two routes will take you to the crater rim with a stunning view of the crater’s lake, Segaraanak. Segaraanak means the child of the sea, and you can see it from the deep blue sea color of the lake. The crater is 8 km wide and approximately 600 m deep, with Segaraanak Lake at the base of it. And in the center, a new volcano was born called Mount Barujari. An active volcano that already erupted a couple times in the last ten years.

The other difference of these two routes is that from Sembalun, after you arrive at the rim (Plawangan Sembalun), you can go straight to the top of Mount Rinjani. It was a tough hike with a gnarly sand and gravel all the way to the top. But from Senaru, after the rim (Plawangan Senaru), you have to go down first to the lake and then go up again to Plawangan Sembalun to reach the top, if you want.

Besides that, going to the lake is a must. It’s quite a long way down from the rim, but it’s worth every single sweat you drop. Segaraanak Lake is a very nice place for relaxing on the mountain. There’s a natural hot spring nearby, with a natural pool formed. And we didn’t have to worry about space because the hot water flowing all the way down the mountain, so there’s a lot of space for every single people on the mountain. There’s also a lot of fish in the lake. Many local people go to the lake just for fishing. Sometimes, we also can see a family of Teal swimming at the lake. There used to be a lot of Teal at the lake, but people hunt them and now they’re protected.

ITINERARY

DAY 1

Airport/Mataram–Sembalun Lawang
Meeting point at Lombok International Airport or other places agreed upon. Our guide will pick you up and we will go to Sembalun Lawang by vehicle. It takes 3-4 hours from airport or Mataram. Lunch en route. Sembalun Lawang is the starting point for Mount Rinjani trekking. You will stay overnight here in a hotel.

DAY 2

Sembalun Lawang-Plawangan Sembalun
We start trekking after breakfast, around 8 or 9 am. Today trekking will take 6-8 hours to Plawangan Sembalun at 2.641m above sea level, the massive crater rim of the ancient volcano where we make camp today. We will walk through a grassy plain and it will be very sunny, so better prepare hat and sunblock to cover the heat. After lunch, the trek will get very steep and a long hike up to Plawangan. Early dinner as we will start at midnight for the summit.

DAY 3

Plawangan Sembalun–Summit–SegaraAnak Lake
Wake up at midnight and prepare for summit attempt. There will be hot drinks and light meals to fill up the energy. It will take approximately 4-6 hours to the summit 3,726m above sea level through sand and scree. 360 degrees view of Lombok Island you will enjoy at the Summit. It’s much faster sliding down back to Plawangan. We will have couple hours rest at the camp, get a late breakfast and then go down deeper the ancient crater, to SegaraAnak Lake. There, you can take a bath in natural hot spring or just strolling on the lakeside. In the middle of the lake is Mount Barujari, still active volcano. We make a camp here and stay overnight.

DAY 4

SegaraAnak Lake-Plawangan Senaru-Shelter 3
Sadly, we need to leave the beauty and comfort of SegaraAnak Lake today. Hike up again the crater wall to the other side of the mountain. In 3-4 hours steep hike, we will arrive to the other side of the rim called Plawangan Senaru. Then, the route go down all the way to Senaru Village. We descend 2-3 hours to Shelter 3 where we will camp tonight.

DAY 5

Shelter 3-Senaru Village–Airport/Mataram
Today is the last day of trekking. It will take another 3-4 hours, going down until Senaru Village. We will enter the forest. It will be nice and cool. Arriving at Senaru, we can visit and enjoy the cultural life of Sasak tribe. Then transfer to airport or any other place agreed upon.

PREPARATION

The whole trek on Mount Rinjani is quite demanding. Especially on the summit day which we climb the steep slope of sand and scree. You need to be fit, so focus your train on cardiovascular capability. You can do running two to three times a week for 45 minutes to an hour per session. Running on a route that have elevation gain will be a lot better, or use treadmill if there’s no such terrain in your hometown. You can change one of your running sessions in a week with cycling or swimming and especially you need to do also stair climbing with at least 10kg pack. It will be a good cross training. Besides that, muscle training is advisable. Strengthen your upper and lower body muscle, as well core muscle. You can do it at the gym or do your own set of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, plank, etc. You need to train 3 months prior to the expedition. It will increase the rate of success.

GEAR LIST