Mt. Merapi drawing tourists

Mt. Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes in the world is promising to erupt, with smoke and ash being emitted daily. The new of the probable eruption has caused locals who live in the surrounding area, particularly old people and children, to be evacuated. Erupting volcanoes are not something most of us have ever seen, and Mt. Merapi has drawn some tourists, eager to watch the pyrotechnics. Antara reports from Merapi and talks to a British tourist who is prepared to take a risk to get a close up look at the mountain.

One of the volcanoes I visited in Java, back in 1993 was Mt. Bromo, in the east of the island. Bromo is unlike Merapi, in that its sit inside a giant caldera (crater) and has another small volcano right next to it, Mt. Batok. Looking down into the rater as dawn rises is magical, and Bromo emits sulphur and smoke quite often too. A couple of years ago 2 tourists from Singapore were killed hiking to the op of Bromo, which is really unfortunate as the hike is 5 minutes up a flight of steps.

Antara mentions that the traditional Javanese animist beliefs are still practiced and locals think volcanic eruptions occurs as a result of Gods not being honored. Let’ hope they don’t surrender their ancient beliefs, or at least the ceremonial part, to other aggressive imported belief systems.

If you are visiting Bali and want to see Mt. Merapi, make sure you check the latest news reports. Merapi is 45 km north of Yogyakarta, which is about an hour flying from Bali.