Hello, I climbed this mountain at Dec 2005 with some friends from Jakarta and Dompu, East Nusa Tenggara. Great mountain, always wanna come back here someday. You can see some pics of mount Tambora here : http://www.sysilia.multiply.com or http://www.grapalafv1.web.id

If you need local partner from Dompu (there is a local nature lover group there), i can suggest you friend of mine.
happy climbing here!!

I climbed Tambora in May 2009 from Pancasila. A GRAND experience, so do it! There is an organisation in Pancasila called K-PATA. Kelompok Pencinta Alam Tambora – The Nature Lovers’ Group of Tambora. Saiful is the man in charge. He allocates guides and you can stay in his house. His wife is the local school teacher. It is impossible to climb without guides. My guides were great company. We stopped at Pos 3 and began again at midnight. Up and back was 24 hours walking. You HAVE to be fit. There is no track really. It is so overgrown and so few people ever do it. Only 11 had been up by May of 2009. Do it. You will never forget it!

Congratulations Heinz on your achievement. I look forward to reading your report. Thanks for Saiful’s number I will give him a call.

Below is an excerpt from Steve Campbell’s account of his recent climb up Tambora……

The track to Pancasila, about twenty kilometres distant, passed by cultivated fields and pastures where cattle grazed contentedly. The road provided a stark counterpoint to this bucolic scene. A nightmare of mud and washaways, punctuated with deeply rutted sections, where trucks had gouged tracks into the rich volcanic soil, it rose steadily, winding its way around Tambora’s lower contours. Haris led the way unerringly. I followed in his wake, glad to be the beneficiary of his local knowledge. An hour beyond Calabai and we were there. We crossed the football field, where a mob of bare foot boys played a spirited game, and pulled up in front of a sign board announcing that this was the headquarters of K-PATA – Kelompok Pencinta Alam Tambora – the Nature Lovers’ Group of Tambora.
Haris and I were met on the veranda by the ranger, Saiful Baharin, who invited us inside. Ordering his young daughter Dinda to prepare coffee, he ushered us into a small room where we sat on cane mats and began to talk. Saiful explained his role as custodian of the Tambora Nature Park. He produced the visitors’ book and a pamphlet on the history of the mountain and its famous eruption. Tambora saw few visitors. It was May and, for the year, only a lone Frenchman and a group of eight Indonesians had made the trip. In its five years existence the book had recorded about 20 foreign tourists – just one of them an Australian. On average about 30 people a year made the trip up – mostly groups of Indonesian students from university adventure clubs. Saiful explained the dangers of the trek and insisted that I take two guides – common sense really as, if anything untoward happened, there was no mobile phone coverage and the injured person would have to be left alone while the other went for help. Seeing so few visitors, the track was heavily overgrown. The ascent, let alone any rescue mission, was sure to be a challenge.
And so, I was introduced to Farouk, a married man in his 30s. Wiry and compact, he’d made the trip many times. He looked at me a little warily wondering if, at 60 years old, I’d be up for the journey. I assured him that I’d be fine and that I’d be carrying my own gear too. It was arranged that we set out at 7.00 am next morning. The plan was to reach a spot called ‘Post 3’ in the late afternoon. There we would rest up, eat and sleep before the final push to the summit which would begin at 1.00 am and hopefully terminate at the crater rim just on dawn. A few hours at the top and then it was back down with the expectation of reaching K-PATA headquarters by nightfall.
We shook hands all round and, after a good meal of rice, cassava leaves, spinach and salted fish, prepared by Saiful’s wife, the local primary school teacher, Farouk and Haris departed. I headed off for a shower and bed. My wounded knee had stiffened up a bit but the cut was clean with no redness – the tell-tale sign of infection. My left wrist was still a little sore but I’d get by.
Sleep came easily that night; it had been a long day. I was awake with the village roosters at first light. Coffee and pisang goreng, (banana fritters), were on the go and, before long, the four of us, Haris and Farouk having arrived at 6.30 am, were being served by Dinda and her mother. All was in readiness and refreshed with full bellies, and the stimulation provided by tall glasses of thick, black, Sumbawa coffee, we made our farewells and stepped out onto the track that ran beside the house.
It felt good to get underway. The air was chill and the grass wet with dew. The track rose gently uphill through a coffee plantation, the trees laden with ripening berries. After thirty minutes walking we came to a bamboo boom gate which announced the entrance to the Park. We slipped past and began to climb more steeply now. This was indeed a footpath only. Narrow and ill-defined it was for the most part, totally overgrown with trailing creepers and bracken. It was not long before the parang (machete) came out and Farouk and Haris began taking turns, slashing vigorously at the dew-laden vegetation. We were soon saturated. The greenery was like a thick curtain enveloping us, trying to swallow us up. Our choices were stark – we either resist or succumb to our verdant host. We pressed on.
We were now deep in primary jungle. It had become increasingly difficult for light to penetrate the dense canopy overhead. Forest giants, home to a riot of climbing vines, with lush, bushy epiphytes clinging to their trunks, reached skywards, their crowns melding into the curtain of greenery which blocked out most of the sky. An occasional opening, revealed a dense blanket of rainclouds and it was not long before we heard the thunder rolling over the mountain. We trudged on wondering how long it would be before the storm broke. The peals of thunder came closer splitting the air with their reverberations.
The first heavy droplets to reach us were refreshing; we had been sweating and staining our way up a steep incline fit for the labours of Sisyphus. But within minutes we were drenched as water streamed from every leaf and tendril. And so it continued for three hours as we hacked our way up the forested slopes. At each rest point we’d remove our shoes to get rid of the leeches. Haris made good use of his parang to make sure they would not return for second helpings! It was pointless changing into dry gear – we didn’t have any! I later discovered that even my passport, which I’d placed in a zip-lock bag inside my money belt, did not escape the deluge; it remains water damaged to this day.
At 3.00 pm, eight hours after leaving Pancasila, we staggered into Post 3, a rude shelter fashioned out of bush timber and roofed with corrugated iron that some hardy souls had dragged up from below. Built up on stilts and set in a tiny clearing, it was as welcome as any Hilton had ever been. By now the rain had ceased. Farouk ferreted some dry wood out from beneath the shelter and got a fire going. I rigged up a line. We emptied our packs and began the big dry out. In the steamy afternoon humidity this was more a gesture of hope than of expectation.
The exertions of the day had left us ravenous and we attacked our food with relish. Rice, instant noodles, hard boiled eggs and sweet buns were washed down with coffee and Haris and Farouk luxuriated in their first smoke for quite a few hours. We stoked the fire, producing a cheery blaze and did our best to dry some clothes prior to the hoped-for night’s sleep. We chatted about the track ahead and our plan for the night ascent. Farouk and Haris were agreed. We should rise at midnight, eat a hot meal, drink plenty of coffee and break camp before 1.00 am. I asked about the going and was dismayed to learn we still had some work to do before we got above the tree line. What’s more we were yet to reach the region of the dreaded jelantik, or stinging nettle. Brushing against this little nasty was, according to Haris, like being seared with a welder’s torch. To make our way through parts of it we would have to shinny up two fallen forest giants. Each lay against the mountainside at a 30 degree angle and on either side the jelantik lay waiting to enclose a falling climber in its poisonous embrace. The thought of this happening under torchlight at 3.00 am was, needless to say, sobering.
It was time to rest. We lay down on the hard teak boards and tried to get comfortable. Still-damp clothes, hard boards, a coolish breeze and, just on dusk, the arrival of a squadron of noisy mosquitoes, conspired to keep us awake. Furthermore, every time I made a move to seek some comfort, I’d cramp in the quadriceps, or hamstring or calf – at times it seemed like all three at once! Thus, I discovered, it’s very difficult to sleep and massage your screaming muscles at the same time.
Darkness closed over us with the rapidity of a stage curtain and we were left to contemplate the night sounds of the ever-present jungle. Far off were heard the faint rumble of thunder; each of us secretly hoped it was not coming our way. Close by, a burung hantu, which literally means ghost bird, began to hoot eerily. The undergrowth rustled and swished with the passage of a large beast – maybe a wild pig or a small deer. Sleep would not come and I began to worry about the hours ahead. Would this enterprise end in failure or even worse, end disastrously with one of us injured precipitating an emergency rescue? Thankfully, my wounded knee had not troubled me so far. Or, by some conspiracy of the clouds, would we be denied a view of Tambora’s awesome crater by the onset of more atrocious weather? I pushed the thoughts from my mind and entered the twilight zone of dozeland – unsure if I was dreaming or thinking, vaguely aware of my physical discomfort, but not able, or not willing, to move lest I jerk myself back into wakefulness.
In this way I cobbled together an hour’s rest before my mobile’s alarm came to life with The Eagles crooning, ‘Welcome to the Hotel California’. I stirred, moving gingerly so as to not bring on cramp. The breeze had abated but the air was cold. Haris blew on the embers and soon had a blaze going, its halo a red glow pushing against the black night. Our clothes – and most importantly – shoes and socks had dried, so, at least we would be comfortable for a while. Plenty of warm food and hot coffee primed us for the off, and at 1.00 am precisely we left camp and struck out into the green curtain ahead of us.
The narrow trail wound steadily on. We climbed under and over fallen trees eventually reaching the first fallen giant that would carry us safely above the forest of jelantik. The tree was too slippery to walk along. Perhaps 40 meters long we could just straddle it and, using our hands, drag ourselves up its length. On either side the jelantik lay, just a metre below, waiting. My head torch lighting the way, I inched myself forward after the others. Its silvery beam illuminating the seemingly endless wall of greenery, I wondered aloud: “When will this forest end?” The answer came back from Farouk, “Just one more hour.” Could I hang on? Could I make it till we reached the easier going?
True to his word, shortly after negotiating a second fallen monster and tasting my first brush of jelantik against an exposed cheek, we found ourselves in flatter, more open country. Trees were smaller, thinner – a different species altogether – and instead of alang grass, bracken and trailing creepers, we were pushing our way through tussocky grass and could feel scoria, not slippery earth, beneath our feet. The end of the green hell distracted me from the burning sensation left by the jelantik – at last some easier going! The lightening sky brought promise of a soon-to-come rendezvous with the summit. Our hopes rose with each step. We quickened our pace eager to take in the long-anticipated vista. The open sky above was clear. The firmament blinked and twinkled a greeting to the first rays of dawn – we were assured of clear, uninterrupted views all the way to Lombok!
The last few hundred metres were a scramble over a moonlike surface of sand, scoria and small rocks. With perfect timing we reached the crater’s edge. In the dim light we could sense we were standing, looking down into an awesome chamber. Gradually the sky lightened and our eyes feasted on a stupendous sight – Tambora’s crater bathed in the sun’s first rays. Seven kilometres wide, 21 kilometres in circumference, 350 metres deep, its sombre presence defied description. It was simply – THERE! – the result of the most cataclysmic event in modern history. No words were needed to describe the feelings we experienced at that moment. We smiled and embraced and my steadfast companions lit up a smoke. Below us the mountain fell away to the coast, beyond which lay the islet of Satonda with its salt water lake, created courtesy of the tsunami which followed the explosion – the explosion ‘which shook up the world.’ Far away to the west waves caressed the fractured, indented northern Sumbawa coastline whilst we contemplated the massive power of nature and the inevitability of the trip back down the mountain.
We stayed up top for a couple of hours, resting, eating bananas and sweet buns, and congratulating ourselves.

Dear hikers and wanderers, I would like to bring to your attention that there is a guest-house in the Tambora coffee-plantation which can accommodate numerous people and has full board. It is nearest to where you start your climb of Tambora. Please have a look at the blog that I made. http://visittambora.wordpress.com/
I do this to attract more and more people to the area, in order for the local population to develop.
On my side this is a non-profit effort, but it would be nice if you make mention to the people there of how you came to know of this. I hope you will come and visit Tambora!!

Minor signs of unrest at Tambora…..

http://bigthink.com/ideas/39980

http://portal.vsi.esdm.go.id/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=203:peningkatan-status-g-tambora-dari-normal-ke-waspada&catid=35:aktifitas-terkini-gai

Hi there i would like to know the status for tambora for this October can we treks there.? or where we can get the info..

Hi Abdi. I very much doubt you can climb at the moment. Better wait til next year (assuming the beast doesn’t erupt and give us another ‘year without summer’ for 2012!)

What the status of Tambora now ? I’m planning to climb in January 2012. Possible ?

Hi Wan. I just called Saiful the Ranger at K-PATA. Climbing this month is possible but be prepared for rain. There has been a lot of rain recently and it is usual for Jan too. Do you speak Indonesian? If so give Saiful a call. +6285937030848. I told him your name and asked if it was OK to pass on his number to you. He is a good guy.

Thanks Merantau for the updates. Yes I’m from Malaysia, so I do speak & understand a lot Indonesia if not 100%. My plan is to fly from Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta-Bima in order to save a lot of travelling time. Leading to my another question, is that easy enough to get a transport from Bima airport to Desa Pancasila and how long this will take ?

Many thanks again.

To get to Pancasila village from Bima will take at least a day Wan and the key point is your time of arrival in Bima. You would have to arrive early morning to have ANY chance of reaching Pancasila by nightfall. You can get a bus from Bima to Dompu (maybe 2 hours) and depending on the time, overnight there. Next day, a bus from Dompu to Calabai will take 6-7 hours – the road is bad for the last 6 hours. From Calabai to Pancasila is about 15 – 20 km. You can get a motorbike or maybe a car. Chartering a vehicle from Bima would be possible I’m sure but it would be expensive, I imagine. All the best.

Invitation to an expedition to the ground of Tambora, the biggest active volcanic whole on earth, May 22/27
We follow the trails of Rik Stroetman, who published his experiences and pictures at http://visittambora.wordpress.com/ and http://travel4pros-indonesia.blogspot.com/
See also my zoom pictures from the ground at http://www.gunungbagging.com/tambora/?shashin_album_key=117&shashin_page=4.
I am preparing a tour to the ground of Tambora, following the Java Lava tour to Rinjani (May 16/20). Requirements: fitness above the average, good experience in trekking, basic experience with ropes.
Proposed schedule
22 May: ((first option)) morning flight from Mataram to Bima, arrive there by 11 am, pick up the guides for the caldera and go by car to the coffee plantation in Oi Bura (above Pancasila). Arrive at the guest house there by 20h at the latest.
((Second option)) Flight from Mataram to Sumbawa Besar, take a car to the fisher port of Ai Bari, take a boat to Calabai, pass Pancasila and go to Oi Bura guest house. As experienced guides into the caldera live only in Bima, in this option you don’t make sure that they are with you on time.
23 May
Morning: walk from the coffee plantation to the crater rim of Tambora; build tent on the rim and stay there overnight. One day may be tough because it is a long trail. But as we are climbing the basis of an old mountain (that used to measure 4.300 meters) up to its actual rim of only 2.700m, it is steep only in a small part in the end. We did it twice in one day; requires good porters.
24/25 May
Leave tent at the rim, go downhill into the caldera one day, stay in sleeping bag at night close to the bottom, uphill next day. Uphill takes you 80% of a day. Rope (one for the whole group), also harness and two carabiners per person needed at a couple of spots downhill and uphill in the caldera.
26 May
Pack tent and go down from the rim to the coffee plantation. Stay the night at the coffee plantation.
27 May
Option 1: transport from coffee plantation to Calabai, boat to Ai Bari, car to Sumbawa Besar (one hour), flight back to Jakarta.
Option 2: car from the coffee plantation to Bima; flight back to Jakarta.
Depending on flight connections we have to stay in Bima/Sumbawa Besar one extra night
Final decision to go into the caldera can only be taken on the spot, depending on the level of alert of the volcanoe. No entry possible at the two highest levels of alert.
Cost (preliminary): apart from the flights, two nights in the guest house, porters, guides, car (with driver/fuel): 1 mio rups (one way), boat: 0,7 mio rups (one way).
Best regards
Wolfgang Piecha

Hi Wolfgang… how was your trip ? I’m sure you had a great journey, and if you don’t mind, please share with us your great journey…

yup, next week I will have time to report

Report on a trip to the crater base

From May 21 to May 25 I made an expedition to the base of the Tambora crater. I was with a group of twelve, mainly young graduates from Bima College.

I flew in to Bima, because the people that have been into the crater mainly live there. After 6 hours drive from the airport we arrived at the coffee plantation above Pancasila (800m above sea level). From here the trail starts and I stayed overnight in the nice guest house. At this altitude there are no mosquitoes. Next day we started at 7 am and built camp at 5 pm at Pos V (at 2.300m), just below the tree-line, which is quite low at Tambora. Next morning we started at sunrise to reach the rim (2.650m) at 8.30 am. Tambora as it stands now, after the eruption in 1815, is the base of a former 4.100m (or so) giant, so only the last stretch between Pos V and the rim was somewhat steep.

When we reached the rim to reach the entry point into the caldera we turned left,. So, on this western edge of the crater we walked some 1.000m north, close to the peak, left, that is opposite to the real peak, which we had left behind on our right. The trail downhill generally followed two historic landslides which today are stable and partly overgrown. It ended just 1.200m below the point where trekkers coming from Pos V usually enjoy their view on Tambora crater, at 1.450m.

In large parts the trail downhill had an inclination of 35 to 40 degrees. But nearly half of the trail has 45 up to 50 degrees and these are not solid rock but different lose materials. Here the only firm grips for our hands often were only bushes and grass, whereas Edelweiss did not hold. The first stop we had at 2.250m, in a granite formation at a place called Pos Wadunae. Here we found fresh water. After this point we kept right-hand and entered one of the steepest parts of the whole trail. While ropes nowhere else are really indispensable (except as a precautionary measure) here each of us hung on the rope for two meters or so. Whenever we came to a junction from here we should have kept right, but did so only on the way uphill, two days later. Instead, on one of those junctions we took the left option, so we had a very steep and rocky way downhill on our last 400m, which belonged to the steepest of the whole way. This detour cost us one hour extra and we arrived at the crater base at sunset, at 6 pm, 12 hours after we left Pos V.

We camped two nights on the crater base, at the sandy banks of a small creek, between a lot of big debris. The crater lake, at the lowest point in the east, was already starting to dry up, end of May, but still measured 800 by 800 meters, as was our creek. Two other creeks, further to the east, had much more water. Fumaroles were ejecting white steam at many places all around the crater theater that measures some 6,5 by 6,5 km. They flag the border line between the (horizontal) cold and rocky cap on the giant magma chamber under our feet and the (vertical) crater walls – with one exception. That is the area around Doro Api Toi, the mini crater in the southeastern corner, 20 m high with a diameter of 100m. While this mini crater does not appear to have grown in recent years, some fumaroles sprang up in its vicinity, making even the water of a creek passing the area boil. The steam fumaroles were strongest in the mornings, after sunrise, losing power during the day.

We packed tents before sunrise after the second night to start our climb at 6 am. This time we found the best entry point immediately. Nevertheless, the first 150m were very steep, again. It took us eight and a half hours to reach the rim again. At Pos V our Indonesian friends had to register that the wild pigs had eaten all their rice that they had hidden on the ground. So we decided to continue our walk to the guest house of the coffee plantation through the night. We arrived there at 11.30 pm, nearly 18 hours after we started our climb on the crater base.

Remarks and recommendations:

- Plan the water resources very carefully. At the beginning of the dry season, end of May, all springs (including at Pos V) and creeks on the crater base had plenty of water. The longer the dry season the less water you will find.

- Consider plan B: in case of rain or sickness/accident you may have to stay extra days in the crater. So, take extra food with you.

- In the crater you will be incommunicado (unless you have an Iridium phone). There is no point to register, hence you will not be missed for quite a while. So, form a sufficiently big team.

- One point below Pos Wadunae at 2.250m you can only pass by hanging in a rope for two meters or so. At some other steep parts a rope is helpful as safeguard and precaution.

- A safety helmet seems advisable as your companions above may trigger stones.

- It is indispensable to take a guide and porters. I had two porters with ten kilos each. The few guides you get only in Bima. Ask Rik Stoetman for assistance (websites: http://travel4pros-indonesia.blogspot.mx/ or http://visittambora.wordpress.com/). He is very cooperative.

Congratulations to all the team and thank you Wolfgang for an outstanding and informative report. It was certainly a Herculean effort to make it up out of the crater and back to base with an overnight walk – a credit to the fitness and determination of all involved. An 18 hour trek in that environment is really epic. I am looking forward to visiting Tambora again and of course 2015 would be a very appropriate time to do so. Once again thanks.

Wolfgang… what an amazing journey..!!!! congratulations to you and your team. Thanks for sharing with us. I’m going to Tambora, on the next 2 day, flying to Bali tonight and the next day to Bima. Contacted Pak Saiful as suggested by Merantau. But not planning to reach crater base. Seeing the mighty tamborra from crater rim would be good enough for me. Thanks again for sharing you guys wonderful journey and I’ll share mine once back. Cheers.

Hello Wan. Hava a wonderful trip. Please convey my greetings to Pak Saiful and Farouk and Haris if you happen to meet up with them.

Hi, I just back from Sumbawa Island and scaled Mt.Tambora on 1st July 2012 successfully. I owed to this group a lot for the information provided leading me to Mt.Tambora. Yes it is a very satisfying climb and the view is spectacular especially during the sunrise from the crater rim. If you wish to see some photos, do see in my Facebook wanazman@facebook.com as I set these photos as public and you don’t need to add me to see it. I got help from Pak Saiful from PATA in getting things arranged and he even waited for me at Bima airport ( for a very minimal fees ). Stay 2 nights at his house and enjoy so much his hospitality and life at Desa Pancasila. Thanks again…..Cheers

Hello
We are planning to go to Tambora in the coming weeks,
Is it really a hard hike? Can someone with “normal” fit can do it or is it really challenging?
Thank you
Edy

Edy, if you are of average fitness you will do it. I went up and bacl from Pancasila in 33 hours which was quick. Next time I would leave at 7 am reach Pos 3 at 5pm, rest and start again at midnight. Reach summit at dawn. Spend 5 -7 hours at top walking around crater, then back to Pos 3 by 4-5 pm Rest up, have a good night’s sleep then next day leave early as it’s a 10 hour walk back down. Others may have a different view but to do it as I did requires more than average fitness. You will enjoy the trip for sure

I am thinking of climbing Tambora in one week. I see that the number for Saiful is here in the comments. Does Saiful speak enough english for me to arrange a trek with him? Is it a two day or three day trek (I only need to know so I can plan what to do after, I am up for both two and three days).
Thanks for the help!

Hello Magnar

Four years ago when i met Saiful and the guys at Pancasila they knew minimal English – that may have changed a little but I doubt if very much. Never mind they are good people They seldom get many climbers so just arriving should not be a problem. if you are really fit you can do it in 36 hours A better option is outlined above in my reply to Edy. By the way, when I write “you can spend five to seven hours at top walking around crater” I am not implying you can circumnavigate the crater in 5 – 7 hours as it is over 20 km around. What I should have said is you can spend a few hours relaxing up top, walking around and exploring, taking it all in, seeking different perspectives. After all it is a once in a lifetime experience for most. I hope you enjoy your trek. There are a lot of photos on my website
Best wishes

merantau

Magnar, if you can, plan 2 nights. The first at Pos III and the second on the rim. Sun
set with rinjani in the west is overwhelming. As the pos’s are in the jungle you don’t have a view there. But build your tent in an earth hole on the rim: night winds can be very strong on the rim. It is 6 to 8 hrs down from the rim to the coffee plantation

Pak Saiful may speak a little bit english at least for basic communication. But as said by the rest, he is very nice guy. The last trip I did, first day we camp at the POS 3, and did an early morning summit assault at 2 a.m. and menaged to see the sunrise. After spending few hours on the summit, about 9 a.m we decended from the summit all the way down to Desa Pancasila and the last person arrived if I remember correctly around 6 p.m. It really a nice experience !!

I am so impressed at the helpful and friendly community brought together by Dan Quinn and this website. You all sound like great people and I would love to hike with you some day. I lived in Indonesia for a few years, but never had the chance to go to Tambora. Your stories are so inspiring, maybe I will fly there just to see the amazing sights and experience the trials of your happy trails. Per ardua ad promontoria!

Per ardua ad astra, Keith – you are closer to the stars on the mountains. That’s why I have been to Indonesian mountains every year since I left, couple of year ago.

Hi,

My colleagues and I climbed Mount Tambora on 18 Sep 2012. Trip was arranged by Rik Stroetman (check his website: http://visittambora.wordpress.com/). It was a well-worth trip.

Check my album for more pictures on this volcano:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinchel/sets/72157631603120485/

Enjoy.

Tambora Update:

I just climbed Tambora from Pancesila a few days ago and want to share some thoughts:

- The path is now pretty good and, once you are on it, there are no major turn-offs, so you would be struggling to get lost, the plantation staff are even building small wooden shelters at some of the 5 ‘pos’ (bases) on the route – there appear to be many more people climbing it now. If you are an EXPERIENCED mountaineer, you definitely won’t need a guide. Care is needed at the top where the edges of the caldera are crumbling into the abyss (look out for cracks on the surface near the vertical crater edge) and, when I was there, it was only possible to reach the caldera (not the summit), because of a fissure that has opened up on the route to the summit (use your common sense!). Also be aware that you are a long way from help and mobile coverage is patchy. To get onto the trail, just get an ojek (motorbike taxi) to ‘Tambora Coffee Plantation”Pos 0′ and follow the narrow track directly opposite the wooden shelter marked ‘pos 0′ up between the coffee plants – in terms of navigation, getting to this point will probably be your hardest task.

- Pak Saiful may have once been a lovely man, but if you are a non-Indonesian, he won’t see you as a person, but see you as having giant dollar signs on your forehead. I got there after dark, and was supposed to climb with Tambora Guest House, but for various reasons ended up in Saifuls house. He wanted to charge me what, for Indonesia, was a high price & would not back down, telling me that was the fixed price. On the mountain I met 2 guys from Java and discovered that they had been asked for half or less for everything & some fees they had not been charged at all. Pass through Pancasila as quickly as possible – he has a kind of quasi-official look about his set-up and will try and extract cash from you some how or other. If you feel you need a guide, you could try Tambora Guest House (though I think their prices may be similar), or pitch up at one of the surrounding villages, ask around, and you should find something. I paid 200,000 per day for my guide (I had to fight hard to take only 1 guide – Saiful was adamant I’d need 2!) – I was told the fee was non-negociable as foreigners have to pay more (the Java guys paid 50,000) – what did I get for my higher fee? a nice enough guy, but he didn’t speak English, and wasn’t qualified or fit for the job (I had to stop regularly for him to catch his breath/smoke a cigarette, and he was unable to complete the second days walk and had to call for a motorbike to take us down the last few kms) – I would have accepted all of this if I was paying local rates for a farmer making a bit extra on the side, but having paid premium rates I expected a premium service. When I got back down I told Saiful I wasn’t happy. He was full of apologies but when he realised that I intended witholding some of the fee his mood changed. Eventually we agreed on a price (I was still paying more than the locals) and after that he pretty much told me I was no longer welcome in his house (I had booked a bed there that eve and had to move elsewhere). If you do climb with him pay no more than 20,000 for ‘registration’ (he wanted 50,000 from me), 20-25,000 per ojek trip (he wanted 50,000) absolutely refuse to pay an ‘organising fee’ – he wanted 250,000 – in the words of the experienced gunung-bagging Java guys ‘this is just bullsh**’, bring your own food, but if you need him to organise food, it WILL be white rice and instant noodles and maybe an egg, same food every meal in his house and on the mountain – it’s up to you to decide what is fair to pay for him fixing this, but you can buy the ingredients for 5000, maybe pay double this for his ‘effort’ (he wanted 250,000 for 8 meals). As far as the guides fee goes, I’m not sure if there is an ‘official’ higher rate for foreigners – my guide was good friends with Saiful and was very closed on discussing this, another guide told me they always get paid the same – it’s up to you to work this one out, but do insist on paying your fee direct to the guide, so you know they get it all (apparently their is some agreement that this is how guide payment should be done anyway).

- It can be cold up there so bring suitable clothing.

- accommodation is also available at Kadindi (5 or 6 kms before Pancasila). Basic Hotel – mandi & squat toilet, but you get your own bathroom and it’s a step or 2 up from the homestay accommodation in Pancesila and they charged a fair price (it was 60 or 70,000 for a twin room with fan). You will have a much better chance of paying a fair price for your ojek here.

- some of the buses from Dompu do now go all the way to Pancesila.

- the superfit could do the round trip in a long single day.

Hi Steve, nice to hear about your successful trip to Tambora, and thanks for some additional latest updates. But I’m really sorry to hear about your experience with Pak Saiful, as he was really nice guy when I was there months ago. Perhaps may be I’m a foreigner who can speak and understand some indonesian language make some slight different. Perhaps somebody should advise him about this incident as sometimes people do change when they start seeing big dollars start coming in…. !

This just in from Rik at Visit Tambora….

Sorry to hear about Steve’s less pleasant experience with Zaiful in Pancasila. I did speak to Zaiful about this and he asked me to relate his sincere apologies to Steve. It is true that Zaiful and his brother have a bit of an attitude, but it doesn’t mean they are not good guys.

I told Zaiful the effect of your comment on the gunung-bagging website, which will be read by many people planning a trip to Tambora.
The confrontation between Steve and Zaiful shouldn’t have an effect on all the people in Pancasila loosing out on this important way of making a living. I will not go into detail on what both steve and Zaiful have said, except for one thing; it is not true that Steve was no longer welcome in Zaiful’s house. Zaiful had or expected 4 other guests in his house and brought Steve on his motorbike down town.
He would not have used his motorbike if he was indeed agitated.

With presenting Zaiful’s apologies to Steve, in the name of all the people in Pancasila…we kindly ask Steve to consider revoking his statements on some of the sensitive & personal points. Also the one about avoiding Pancasila altogether or pass through it as quickly as you can.

Allow me to further say that it is very normal in indonesia to have a price for locals and a price for tourists. Residents with Kitas (stay-permit) enjoy deductions on prices in hotels / hospitals and many more. With that and speaking the language, I am sure you might even enjoy some discount on using a guide and porter(s). Otherwise, Rp200.000 (20euro) for a guide and Rp150.000 (15euro) for a porter…to leave their family behind for three days to take you all the way up the mountain, carry your bag and cook for you….ain’t too much to ask for and YES standard fees all over Tambora.

It is most likely true that Zaiful increased some of the other fees, something that will now be regulated between the people of Pancasila and Zaiful. Rp50.000 for the entrance to the trail is not an official amount issued by the Dompu government.

Steve’s comments will have an effect in order to avoid future problems and a price-list will be hung up for all to see.

I know of several people whom had to be rescued from the mountain; fallen over the edge of the crater, out of food and water, one broken leg etc etc.
Keep that in mind if you decide to avoid using the local people to save some money; it is Zaiful and his crew that come to your rescue / revive you and carry you all the way down the mountain. That PLUS all the hassles they get from the authorities about you passing through their village without their knowledge.

in Kintamani (mount Batur) Bali it is NOT ALLOWED to climb by yourself. People have died and the locals got hassled over it..
Two “experienced” hikers fell into the ACTIVE crater, one body recovered / one never to be seen again.

Give Zaiful and his organisation some credit please. He apologizes and we will work on ways to avoid any other misunderstanding to happen in the future. We kindly ask you one more time to revoke your statements.

Thank you

Rik Stoetman
spokesman @ Tambora

Hi Rik. Thank you for nice comments and we appreciate the fact that somebody had convey the message to Pak Saiful and working for solutions. Yes 100% agree…let’s work together in preserving Tambora and at the mean time getting mutual benefits both for us and the local people around Tambora.

Rik, I appreciate your speaking to Saiful.

Firstly, can I say that the Tambora crater is an amazing sight and Indonesia an amazing country.

My experience of 6+ weeks travelling around Indonesia is of a warm & generous people. I have cycled the length of Nusa Tengarra & have been invited into peoples homes for drinks, meals, and to stay overnight; I have had my water bottles filled from shops that make their livelihood from selling water that have refused to take any money from me; People have shinned up coconut or fruit trees and brought me down the fruits of their labour, just out of the goodness of their hearts; I have been shown kindness and hospitality in too many ways to list.

There are however a small number of people that treat non-locals as cashcows. At the market, I expect (like the locals) to have to bargain a bit, and, it’s arguably OK for govt to charge more for foreigners to visit national heritage sites and use the extra money to subsidise local entry and/or to fund public services, but in Indonesia dual pricing is also practiced by maybe 10% of individuals involved in services/government positions/public transport/shops/etc to personally make a bit of extra cheeky money on the side. No visitor goes home and says ‘Indonesia is such a great country because I sometimes get charged several times the going rate, get some imaginary fees added on, get to pay bribes to officials; and I get to waste at least half an hour a day just arguing to get the correct price’. It is a scourge on Indonesian tourism & the sooner it is wiped out the better for the country as a whole. The people who do this, only do it to the non-locals, so it’s not part of the ‘authentic’ Indonesian experience & the money nearly always goes into the back-pocket of that one unscrupulous individual rather than helping the greater good of the people. My experience of Saiful is that he is one of these people. I cannot speak for other peoples experience of him, but I give my own experience so other travelers/tourists/climbers can approach with due care and caution – I’m sure anyone who reads my comments will also read the positive comments about Saiful and will be able to make their own balanced judgement. I therefore do not withdraw any of my comments about him and his organisation, and based on experience of him find his proxy apology a meaningless gesture – he apologised to me before, but once he realised that I intended withholding part of the fee continued to ask me for some more of his extra made-up ‘fees’ and was not so nice in his dealings with me.

In answer to your post, I too would rather not get into a discussion of what was said, but as you have brought up 2 points and the picture you paint of his treatment of me is incomplete, I feel the need to elaborate on just those 2 points – I was down the mountain very early and Saiful had 3+ hours when he could have told me that there was no bed for me that night, but the withdrawal of accommodation was made only after the fee was renegociated. Also, it was not Saiful, but my guide who transported me to different lodgings.

Regarding my comment about Pancesila – I found the locals a friendly bunch, and I agree, they do not deserve to be disadvantaged because of one mans greed. I would like to withdraw my comment about passing quickly through Pancesila – that particular comment was unfair of me (what I meant, and should have written, was pass by Saifuls house as quickly as possible).

I suspect that once I post my Tambora report on my widely-read blog, that it will have the effect of sending more people rather than less up Tambora. I hope the ordinary people of Pancesila benefit from this & I hope the climbers are able to have transparent, honest dealings with the locals.

yours faithfully, Steve

A great article on the Tambora eruption by Tim Hannigan…

http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/11/16/tambora-eruption-1815/

Together with my wife we climbed Tambora in mid-November 2012 and today completed writing a guidebook which we hope would help would-be trekkers to organize the trip: http://www.bognairadek.pl/2012/12/climbing-gunung-tambora/
Best regards from Poland

Useful info, Radek

Excellent post Radek.

I could really have done with this before my trip!

My blog http://www.whereismaniam.blogspot.com is a personal account of my rtw bicycle trip and includes a short report on climbing Tambora which gunnung-baggers may be interested to read. My site is more a personal account than a how-to guide, so I have linked to both your site & to Gunungbagging.com (please let me know if you want me to remove the link).

best wishes,
Steve

Dan – Thanks for that advice! I definitely have climbing Tambora in my bucket list and I’d definitely keep what you said about guides in mind!