Krakatau And Anak Krakatau

Anak Krakatau

You would think, after the 36 hour bus journey I had recently experienced, that I would never get in another large four wheeled vehicle again. Wrong. Mainly because I am a poor backpacker and also the fact that I had to get from the centre of Sumatra all the way down south to the islands tip, I would have to endure another outrageously long trip. If everything went to plan - it was scheduled to take 36 hours. If we had an earthquake on this journey - I don't think I would ever leave Sumatra!!! Luckily, the journey was fairly uneventful. Yes, the journey took 39 hours (my longest yet), someone kept being sick in the back and they had packed the bus so full that there were people sitting in the isle on small plastic chairs, the sort that I remember sitting on at nursery. It meant that I had to fight for my own arm-rest with a man who had decided that it was his pillow. But apart from that - it was fairly straight forward. I arrived in a small town called Kalianda and prepared for the next days volcanic fun!!!

Krakatau (spelt more generally as Krakatoa) is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. The name is used for the island group, the main island (also called Rakata), and the volcano as a whole. It has erupted repeatedly, massively, and with disastrous consequences throughout recorded history.

The most well known eruption occurred on August 26th-27th 1883, 125 years ago and exactly one century before I was born, almost to the day. It culminated in a series of massive explosions which was among the most violent volcanic events in modern times. It had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6, the equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT - about 13,000 times the yield of the Hiroshima bomb.

The 1883 eruption ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice and generated the loudest sound ever recorded in history: being heard as far away as Perth in Australia approx. 1,930 miles (3,110 km), and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius approx. 3,000 miles (5,000 km). Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged. At least 36,417 people died, and many thousands injured, mostly from the tsunami that followed the explosion which flowed up the Sunda Strait towards the town of Bandar Lampung.

The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa leaving just a few island's scattered around the once, centre of the volcanic region. However, in 1927 volcanic activity continued in the centre of the complex and a new volcanic island was born - Anak Krakatau (child of Krakatoa). The island has a radius of roughly 2 kilometers and a high point around 200 meters above sea level.

Indonesia doesn't see the numbers of tourists that other SE Asian countries see, especially Sumatra. There were times when you wouldn't see another tourist for days. It's fun though just being with the locals. As such, there was no-one else going to see Krakatau that day, so it ended up being just me, my guide Yudi and our pilot who you could tell from the look of him - knew exactly what he was doing.

We clambered into a tiny, thin boat, and sailed. We reached two islands on the way and stopped, partly to take a break from sailing which was slow, and partly so we could do some snorkelling. After a relaxing cool down, we continued. After a good hour, suddenly Krakatau came into view. It was amazing. Three large island reminants are scatterered in a rough triangular shape (the old Krakatau) and right in the centre is the small but smoking Anak Krakatau. We first sailed right around the child of Krakatau. It smokes every few minutes and unlike Merapi, many are accompanied by thunderous bangs that sent sound waves right through the water beneath us, shaking our boat.

You can't get too near to the volcano, especially as we sailed round to the south-western side which is the direction the crater is orientated, because volcanic debris (lava bombs) and some finer material is ejected out some distance, while the rest cascades down the volcanoes flanks. The volcano is small, with a ridge leading up to a perfectly shaped cone. Trees mark the lower section of the volcano although abruptly stop at the north eastern side, changing into solely volcanic terrain, which occur because an eruption in 1994 added fresh material here - (the volcano is getting larger all the time and quickly).

After, we parked up and the pilot started fishing, with suprising ease. Actually, he later tells me that the fisherman here are happy that the volcano is now active as it appears that fishing yields increase (fish seem to be affected by the activity bringing more to the surrounding waters)!!! It was interesting watching the many fishing boats around Krakatau, as there were many out that day in 1883 when the volcano blew itself apart and they had to ride the waves.

He caught a variety of fish and then we headed to Rakarta, the main island of what was once Krakatau. The beach here is not like any ordinary beach, it has deep black volcanic sand and small white pumice rocks. The pumice is as light as a feather because it is filled with air holes, where gas would have once filled. It is the gas that makes volcanoes erupt explosively (like taking the lid of a shaken can of coke) and thus volcanic material that is light and full of air holes is a usual indication of an eruption that was highly explosive.

From the island you get a perfect view of Anak Krakatau and it's exploding crater. Loud bangs echoing in the mountains around us each time it blew. We were staying the night on Krakatau, so pilot pitched up a tent, he cooked the freshly caught fish which we had with rice for dinner. Yes I did eat the fish. Of all the odd things I have eaten on my trip so far I still hadn't eaten fish because of my hate and dread of it. That was up until now. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it but it was ok. It will certainly be the freshest fish I will ever eat - caught just 20 minutes before.

That night we camped out under the stars and I watched Anak Krakatau for 6 hours straight. As it turns dark, suddenly each explosion is followed by glowing, red hot lava bombs, ejected ballistically from the crater (which you don't see when it is day-time). You then wait about 4 or 5 seconds for the sound to reach you and suddenly the ground shakes (sound is slow when you think of it). Watching the glowing lava being ejected was incredible and it would do it every 15 minutes. I didn't get much sleep, partly because I wanted to watch and partly because the volcano was so loud. It was also amazing to know that I was sleeping on one of the most famous volcanoes ever to erupt - Krakatoa.

The next day we got up early and back on the boat. Pilot had caught a whole bagful of crabs during the night - is there nothing this man can't do!!! We sailed over to Anak Krakatau and I was allowed to climb it - well some of it. Your allowed to go as far as the ridge - about 20m before the cone starts. You also have to climb it from the eastern side (away from the crater). The climb is not too hard and you soon reach the spot where you have to stop - which is actually where they have placed a seismometer for monitoring. Around the devise is a damaged gate - where volcanic rocks had smashed into it. Yudi also told me that flying lava bombs and hit and damaged the seismometer not long ago - so why I was standing right next to the thing - clearly in range of debris - I have no idea - but I wasn't complaining.

When it blows while your standing up there - you are nearly knocked off your feet. Rocks flying in all directions including mine. One lava bomb (about the size of my head) landed right at the edge of the cone just 20m away. Smaller peices flew much closer but seemed to disperse just to the left of where I was standing. Plumes of smoke and ash were impressive, pouring out with each bang. It was immense, powerful and yet on the scale of volcanic activity was still small. I can't imagine what the old Krakatau must have been like when it blew.

On the way back, high swells and no protection from the boat meant that I got completely soaked. My Krakatau adventure was by far one of the best experiences of my trip so far. I wanted to see more volcanoes but first I was leaving Sumatra and entering another of Indonesia's Islands and my first port of call was the countries capital city......Jakarta.