Won’t have enough to thumb this up , I’ve been there last september, and still dreams to one day will spend a whole week just sit and watch the sun goes down at plawangan senaru or at Segara Anak. Never get enough though.

I did this trek last weekend, 3 days 2 nights from Sembalun to Senaru (which I’d definitely say is the best way to go) and did about a month training before the climb. Training involved walking at a good pace on the steepest possible incline for a couple of hours, 3 nights a week and I can tell you it paid off!

This climb was super amazing, a real challenge especially on day 2 when we were woken up at 2am (I actually couldn’t sleep more than 20 minutes that night as the porters were snoring!) to do the summit (3 hours) and back down (2 hours), followed by a very steep 700m down to the lake (3 hours), followed by another 2 hours steep up to the second campsite – I forget the name…

The hot springs were a godsend… It really soothed our aching legs and feet.

Now, one thing I have to mention is the state of this trail… The rubbish and the human feces everywhere was just terrible. The campsite by the lake was in the worst state and I was so glad we didn’t have to spend a night there. We had a long chat with our tour agent, John, and he said every month the national park takes over 100 million rupiah from trekkers’ fees, most of which gets sent to Jakarta for god knows what and hardly any is left to pay for clearing up the campsites.

At the end of this year, the tour agents are all planning to demonstrate and their aim is to privatise the national park and provide some toilets, rubbish bins and proper rubbish collection etc.

I wish them the best of luck as if something doesn’t change soon, this beautiful mountain is going to be ruined. Everyone we met complained about the state of it…

Other than that the views were amazing and the climb a real accomplishment.

We climbed Rinjani 2 years in a row. 4D 3N each time. The first year (2009)we started from Senaru. By the time we arrived at the summit base camp (Sembalun side), we had no stores of energy to go to the summit the next morning. So we missed out on reaching the summit. The next year we went back and climbed from Sembalun to Senaru. Because we reached the summit base the first day, we had heaps of energy to climb to the summit the next morning! I would highly recommend climbing Rinjani this way. Prior to climbing Rinjani I had never climbed anything of note. Now I’m addicted to this ‘hobby’ and am tempted to go back and do Rinjani yet again! Last time we took 6 friends with us and introduced them to the beloved mountain. We helped each other through the tough times and 5 of us reached the summit. Not a bad effort! I highly recommend this trek. However, it’s very dangerous and you really need to pay full attention most of the time and please be careful! Enjoy

The best Mountain I ever climb, got a beautiful lake, relaxing hot spring, and a very friendly locals. although its a shame that some places filled with litter. the water source in Plawangan Sembalun are better than any other fresh water i ever drank… i’ll be back soon Anjani…

please check out my article on Rinjani in this month’s hellobali
http://www.hellobalimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=333%3Aon-top-of-the-world&catid=170%3Alombok&Itemid=101&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4de99bff5ca3b4d4%2C0

I enjoyed the hike, even though I was on my own. The guide and porter were friendly but they kept to themselves a bit – maybe they felt they should not interact too much with the customer, I don’t know. But for me that was ok. I think it would be safe for you as long as you are comfortable with the guide and porter. I had my own tent and they slept together under a plastic sheet nearby, so I had privacy like that. Most people I met were only going 3D 2N but I think that was a lot of work. They had no real time to enjoy the hotsprings near the lake, or to explore in that area. But as I said, I was disappointed with the garbage and mess that local people made around that lake. Anyway, I still think the second day near the lake is good for relaxing a little bit, especially if you went all the way to the top on the first day. On the third night, we didn’t have to stop at the rim, we could have kept going all the way down to Senaru, but again, that could be rushing things a bit. By staying on the rim – where there is really nothing to do except take a few photos – I could relax a bit again. Here is a link to some photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/KccksMoody/20090330GunungRinjani I hope you do the hike, and have an excellent time!

Hi Keith,
I have plan to visit this place
but just wonder how is the felling , since ill be go alone also ( with guide and porter) , and take 4D 3N since i want reach the top …
is thats secure for female do this journey alone?? thx

A very worthwhile post on the Lonely Planet forum – a good way to avoid the rip-off system currently in place in Lombok whereby the guides get paid very little and a few fat cats make a fortune!

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2062700

Mt. Rinjani – excellent mountain guide +6287864055205
We had a great time climbing mount Rinjani last week (8-10 May 2011). The hike took us 3D2N starting from Sembalun Lawang and ending in Senaru. The views are really unforgettable! It is so worth the strenuous climb!
To save costs and make our trip more adventurous, we decided not to go with the standard US$200 package as offered by various companies. Instead we brought our own gear and simply called Lombok Taksi to pick us up at 5am in our hotel in Mataram. They go by metered fare. Mataram-Sembalun Lawang is about 270,000Rp (2.5hours) and Senaru-Mataram was around 240.000Rp(2hours). Upon arrival at the Rinjani Information Centre in Sembalun, the NP ranger helped us to call up our mountain guide who appeared 20 minutes later. We also decided to take one porter to carry up water and our tent (which we had brough ourselves). Once agreed on the prices (125,000/day for the guide), and 100,000/day for the porter + 40,000/day for food per person), we started our journey up the mountain. It is that easy. Our mountain guide Mujiano turned out to be really good: an ideal balance between giving us peace and answering our questions when needed (He was very knowledgeable about the mountain as he grew up in Sembalun and his grandfather, who was the village head, told him everything there is to know about the mountain. He also had done 1 year of tourism school, speaks English very well, and is very alert to accomodate for his guests’ needs)
We hadn’t made any prior arrangements, which was fine since May is low season. Yet, next time we surely will call Mujiano in advance. I recommend you do the same.
Mujiano hp +6287864055205, email address muji_rinjani@yahoo.com (as he lives in a village w/o internet and cannot afford 3G he can only check his email about once a month: hence better call him directly

Hi Kieth. I hiked the same route (Sembalun to Senaru) about a month before you in 2009 and I agree with your assessment of the campsite around the lake. The lake water looked OK for swimming when I was there, but the “famous” hot springs nearby are a little grim.

I did the route with only two nights camping, and I think you need to be quite fit to do this. The first day from Sembalun is 1,000m elevation gain (12 km hike) to the ridge. The second day becomes a real killer. You get up at 3:30 am to climb 1,000m to the summit for sunrise, then go back down to the ridge campsite. After a quick breakfast you drop down another 700 m to the lake where there’s not much time to hang around before climbing 700m to the other ridge. The best campsite is down in the lush forest, but your legs will probably not be enjoying descending by then. Luckily the final day down to Senaru is a nice gentle gradient and a great path.

Overall, I definitely recommend doing it the Sembulan to Senaru route, but if people are going to do it in 2 night / 3 days they should do a bit of training to prepare.

Hi hiked alone (with guide+porters) from Sembalun to Senaru in May 2009. I decided on three nights, one on the rim so I could do the peak the first night (challenging and spectacular!), the second at the lake so I could maybe swim or hike around to Gunung Baru (disappointing, garbage and human waste all over the place, water unfit to enter, tragic overall due to local polluters), and the third on the NW rim before descending to Senaru (a bit lonely perched up there with nothing much going on, but still scenic and you can see the Gilis from there). Overall, I loved the hike and suppose two nights is enough but would also be quite exhausting. Lots of beautiful photos from “up there.” I strongly recommend this trip for reasonably fit people.