Vogles Hostel is famous in the budget guide books as the place to stay and explore the slopes of Mt Merapi as it offers guided walks for a fee. It is now a rather shabby place and a place where young Indonesians meet and sit drinking and talking all through the night. Since the last eruption climbing the volcano from this side has been forbidden and one can only walk to a viewpoint towards the edge of the treeline.
I booked a walk but the girls opted to sleep in and get some work done, besides Maddy had done it a few weeks before. The walk starts with a 3.30 briefing and a 4 am start. This sounds extreme for what is only a four hour walk but the idea is to get the best of the morning light and miss the rain that moves in later in the day. Three other people had booked but the 3.30 start proved too much for them so it was just me and the guide. It was an easy walk up through the woods. I ave written before about the tropical montane forest. This was not damp moss covered cloud forest but more a monsoon forest with less diversity and more open. Felling and volcanic activity may have also helped then the forest which at times like a temperate woodland. The lower slopes of the volcano are cut by narrow steep sided canyons made by past lava flows. Merapi is still very active but the crater is blocked so all that can be seen are plumes of smoke streaming out from the summit. Underneath the pressure is building up and an eruption is expected some time in the next twelve months. As we climbed away from Kaliuran and first light spread through the trees the birds began to sing and for the first time here I saw several different kinds on one short walk.
The views of Mt. Merapi were magnificent and I will put some up on the photos page as soon as I get the chance.
After a bright and clear morning and just when I was thinking of going for a walk the rain set in again and continued for the rest of the day. As a result we are spending another night here and returning to Jogja tomorrow morning
There is a blockbuster film out called 2012 about a world destroyed by global warming. It has been withdrawn from cinemas in Indonesia. Why I am not sure but have heard two suggestions, only God knows when the end of the world will be and a mosque gets swept away in a tidal wave.
For the first half of the journey back the bus was filled with bananas and the old ladies taking them to market.