Its location—looming over the traditional village of Bena , and overlooking the beautiful coast line—its conical “near-perfect volcano” shape, and the prospect of a challenging day out combined to make an attempt on Gunung Inerie irresistible.

I “bagged” Gunung Inerie on April 10th with a good guide from the nearby town of Bajawa (Mikel—HP 085253267929), and his friend from the village at the base.

It was a very tough climb and a thrilling/perilous descent. On the other hand, we had magnificent views and the whole mountain to ourselves. We took lots of water: about 3 litres of water per person (our friend from the village had 1.5 litres of luminous green “Extra Joss” and serious food/snacks. This is a hot climb, and there is hardly any shade.

We set off at 0300 from the village at the base. The first part of the trek, about 1.5-2 hours, was fairly straightforward and not too steep. We stopped for a while to admire the fabulous sunrise over Gunung Ebulobo, then clambered over a large rocky outcrop. After that, the going got tough! From the big rocks to the summit is basically straight up across a slippery combination of hard rock and scree surface, and no real “trail”. The small, gnarled shrubs on the way up make good handholds. It’s basically a “full contact” experience: you and the mountain side. It gets hotter all the time.

There are 2 “summits”. The first is the crater rim which gives you a terrific view of the peaks and craters of Flores (including Mt Ebulobo and as far away as Ende), the coastline, the village of Bena, and Bajawa in the distance. The second “summit” is slightly higher (about 150-200m) and requires a short descent, a traverse around the crater and then a shortish climb up another slippery slope, with almost no vegetation. The views are similar, though you get to see the Western part of Flores.

The way down is hazardous. Near the summit, the combination of hard base and thin scree is very slippery, and is much worse than on the way up. There are some small ravines you can walk down at various points, but they are quite deep and narrow so not such a good option. Every step requires great care. You have about an hour of this (depending on how confident/reckless you’re feeling) before you have an option of descending via a wide ravine and a much looser red sand/scree slope. Go for it! If you’re in a group you need to stick quite close together to avoid injuries from falling/flying rocks. We managed a considerable distance in a fairly short time and were soon covered in red dust. After the thrill has worn off and your legs start to feel less rubbery there’s another fairly long slog down the “trail” on the lower slopes (which somehow feels much longer than on the way up) before you get back to the village. All in all, allow for 8 hours plus stops. We spent about an hour at the top; cup of tea would have been grand!