Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park

Shot in 2007, this photo of Bromo above is not the best photo of Bromo. There are many much better photo of it which I have seen before. The lighting that morning was flat and the sky was overcast. But I just want to post it anyway after I read the news about its recent eruption on November 27th, 2 weeks ago. Read the news about the eruption here. I hope all the local people of Bromo are safe and things will return back to normal soon.

If you have never been to Bromo and if you like nature, you should go. I have gone there three times and still planning to go again. I stayed in a simple local hotel and the location was fantastic. See below. I could see Bromo from where I stayed very clearly. But the photo above was taken from another viewing point at Mt. Penanjakan, about 45 min drive away by 4WD jeep that you can rent with a driver.

The weather in Bromo is lovely. It gets very cold at night and in the early morning as it could drop to zero, but during the day, you can go around without jacket. Of course, it’s more comfortable with light jacket or sweater. Having coffee and instant noodle which you can buy at a local coffee shop in the early morning is the best.

Many people go to Bromo to see the sun rising from behind the mountainous areas of Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park in the early morning. This could mean waking up at 3am to start the jeep ride that will bring you to few viewing points. And no guarantee you will get good sunrise that morning. But hey, life is dull if you don’t take a challenge. So when you are there, get off your cold bed at 3am, get on the jeep and drive up for the sunrise.

The following two shots were not taken from the usual high viewing point, but they tell you what lovely sunrise you will get in Bromo, starting from watching the first colors in the sky to the first sunburst from behind a mountain.

And the Bromo horsemen start their day to offer their service for the tourists. They would ride to the Bromo desert and wait for tourists to come down from Mt. Penanjakan (after watching the sunrise) and offer their service to bring them to the foot of Mount Bromo, where they will start climbing the steps to the rim of Bromo crater.

And then the sun will kiss Bromo and its surrounding with its warm sunlight.

Below is the crop of the 100% zoom of the full resolution photo of the above to show you the steps for tourists to walk up to the rim of the Bromo crater.

Local people in Bromo are friendly. They are hard working and live a simple life. Many work as farmers and many work to serve the tourists by running local eating places, guest houses and offering transportation services, be it horses or cars. In the morning, you can see many of them selling drinks and snacks for tourists who walked up to the rim of the Bromo crater. This couple just finished their work selling drinks and snacks and were on the way home when I met them.

Once the sunrise is over and the sun is high, you can opt to head back to your hotel to rest and to have lunch or just continue your adventure. If the sun is out and is too harsh, I would suggest heading back to the hotel and go out again in the afternoon to explore the Bromo desert and the Savannah. See, this place offers a lot to shoot.

The jeep’s driver can also take you to nearby towns or to a lake called Ranu Pane. There are two other lakes which can only be reached by hiking called Regulo and Gembolo. I have never been to any of these three lakes. So, I may shoot there during my fourth visit in the future.

I don’t have a lot of photos of myself when I am on a photography trip. So, thanks to my tripod and my jeep driver for these two.

Before you call it a day, if you have time ask the jeep driver to bring you down to a nearby town to shoot some more

and to buy some Edelweiss flowers to bring home for your loved ones. I have two of these at home now.

I hope you enjoy this post. Have a great week ahead, everyone.

PS: See also my earlier post on catching the first colors in the sky here and some shots of the Bromo’s horseman.