Jailolo

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Bagging It!

The Jailolo volcanic complex forms a peninsula west of Jailolo Bay on the south-western coast of Halmahera Island.  Jailolo stratovolcano at the centre of the complex has youthful lava flows on its eastern flank.  Small calderas are located west and SW of Jailolo.  The westernmost caldera, Idamdehe, truncates an older twin volcano of Jailolo.  Hot springs occur along the NW coast of the caldera.  Kailupa cone forms a small volcanic island off the southern coast of the peninsula.  Hot mudflows were reported from Jailolo volcano shortly prior to 1883, but no eruptions are known during historical time (Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program).

Gunung Jailolo lies just outside the township of Jailolo overlooking the harbour and across to Ternate and Tidore.  The peak is an almost perfect cone except for its SW flank.  After passing through plantations at its base, it rises at an almost constant, steep gradient (30 degrees?) from about 500 m ASL to its summit.  An interesting experience is to see sunlight though the forest on both sides of the track as the summit is approached.

The summit is an open grassy area of about 20 m in diameter – no crater.  A grave lies in the centre where people make small offerings of money.  Interestingly, this grave is not oriented towards Mecca and, therefore, presumably not a Muslim grave – probably an ancestral grave from the time before the arrival of Islam in the 15thC.  Some great 360 views of Gunungs Gamalama, Kiematubu, Gamkonora, Ibu, etc. should be possible (when not clouded over) although trees around the summit are an impediment.

One track to the summit (about 10 kms) is from Jailolo township from the ESE.  The track is well worn and not difficult to follow after entering the forest.  However, a guide is essential to find ones way out of town, and through the coconut, nutmeg and clove plantations, which are very extensive (about 3 kms) and beautiful, before reaching the forest track to the summit.  Another, less used track starts at Desa Lolori on the north side but the most popular route seems to be from Desa Adamdehe.  Here, the plantations are less extensive and, hence, the distance to the summit much shorter (about 6 kms).  A guide is also required if climbing from this side.  The ascent, via the Jailolo township route,  may take 4-5 hours and descent about three hours.

This a very unique little “hill” that deserves to be climbed if one has time at the end of a trip to western Halmahera before returning to Ternate.

Note that this area was hit by thousands of minor earthquakes between 2015 and 2017, which is quite reasonably thought to be related to volcanic activity here.

Bagging information by Nick Hughes (September 2011)

Trail Map

Peta Jalur Pendakian Gunung Jailolo
For a high quality PDF version of this and other trail maps, please download from our Trail Maps page.

Local Accommodation



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Practicalities

  • Getting there: There are plenty of flights to Ternate island from Jakarta (usually via Manado and/or Makassar).  From Ternate, take a speed boat from the Dufa-Dufa boat terminal just north of the airport, to Jailolo on mainland Halmahera. In 2013 this cost Rp50,000 each way and took just under one hour. Slower boats are cheaper.
  • Guides and GPS Tracks: Want a PDF version for your phone? Looking for a guide? Need GPS tracks and waypoints? Gunung Jailolo information pack can be downloaded here.
  • Permits: None required but take a photocopy of your passport photo page just incase.
  • Water sources: None – take sufficient supplies with you.

Local Average Monthly Rainfall (mm):

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Location

Links and References

Wikipedia English

3 thoughts on “Jailolo”

  1. Extra note for those wishing to visit Todoko Ranu…

    Boats to Desa Sasu from Susupu leave Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Other days you will usually have to charter one. Due to lack of boats on the day we visited Susupu beach, we ended up hiking in from the other side at Gamsungi (a different Gamsungi from the Gamkonora one) which is at an elevation of 150m. We managed to take ojeks 6 kilometres north along the main road then up plantation tracks for a 300m elevation start.

  2. Climbed this mountain last month. From the airport it was just a ten-minute ojek ride to the boat at Dufadufa (which cost Rp25,000). Once across, we quickly found Hotel Camar which is just 5 minutes walk from the pier. Great views at the back of the hotel towards Kiematubu and Gamalama and over an old, wonky pier where they sell fish in the morning.

    Preferring to simply walk up the peak from the hotel rather than require transport we found a guide in Jailolo who works in the plantations usually and keeps a deer in a large fenced enclosure beside his house.

    The trail was trickier than imagined (lots of spiky plants and a few leeches) and the views rather disappointing due to the trees at the top. However, our GPS devices confirmed that this is indeed a Ribu (just about) having a prominence of between 1,000 and 1,010 metres.

    The guide and his son/younger relative took a shotgun up with them and were aiming at hornbills (their great flapping wings heard often at around 500m up). Given that my hat had a picture of a hornbill on it I was a little worried they would mistake my forehead for a potential meal.

    Alas, on the descent I started to feel unwell and this stomach bug kept me from reaching the rim of Todoku-Ranu the following day.

    I found the people of Halmahera to be very warm and welcoming. We ended up staying in Hotel Camar for three nights and managed to find a local ojek guy who sped off each night to bring us back beer!

  3. Some notes from Nick Hughes on another mountain complex further north known as Todoko-Ranu….if you have an extra day in Jailolo this is a hike to consider….note that the highest points of the mountain range are actually further south from the peaks described here – 2 forested peaks both over 1200m which look very inaccessible on Google Earth.

    The twin caldera complex of Todoko-Ranu is part of a large volcanic complex south of Gamkonora. The 2-km-wide, lava-filled Todoko caldera is south of the 2 x 2.8 km wide nested Ranu calderas and contains a young post-caldera cone, Sahu, on its south flank. The northern Ranu caldera contains a caldera lake, Talaga Ranu. Gunung Onu, NW of Ranu caldera, lies at the northern end of the Todoko-Ranu complex. No historical eruptions have been reported from the complex, but fumaroles are present at Ranu caldera and hot springs on Mt. Sahu. Youthful-looking lava flows reach the sea from several locations within the complex (Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program).

    Todoko-Ranu is a mountain complex of caldera and peaks. Talaga (lake) Ranu lies in a forested caldera about 300 ms deep. Gunung Uno (1,098m), the highest point in the complex, is a non-volcanic peak on the rim of one of the outer calderas, with prominence of about 400 ms. We were informed that there is a track up Gunung Uno, from the lake, but suspect that it would take much time, effort, and scrub-bashing to reach the summit.

    The trek to the crater rim, walk around the rim, and descent into the caldera is not difficult with few obstacles. The entire area including the caldera floor is heavily forested (farmers are opening the forest for cacao). The lake is semi-circular, about 400 ms wide, and nestles again the western wall. This would be a delightful place to camp before attempting Gunung Uno. The caldera is a ornithologist’s paradise.

    We estimated that the trek, one-way, was about 10 kms. The climb from Desa Sasu, on the coast, to the rim took 2:00 hours, another 1:00 hour around the rim, plus 1:30 hours to descend the very steep path into the caldera and cross its floor through forest to the lake (total about 4:30 hours). The return trek to Desa Sasu took about 3:30 hours. A guide is essential to negotiate the tracks through the plantations to the caldera rim and, again, through the caldera floor to the lake.

    The trek starts at Desa Sasu. Take a vehicle from Jailolo to Kecamatan Susupu on the east coast (about half an hour). Desa Sasu can be reached by motorbike (not preferred) or by hire-boat along the coast (much preferred) from Susupu. Upon arrival at Desa Sasu, contact the Kepala Desa (village head) for a guide. Request that the hire-boat be on stand-by for your return to Susupu after your decent in the evening, as well as a vehicle at Susupu to take you back to your losmen at Jailolo.

    The water in the streams running into the lake is drinkable but take sufficient supplies with you.

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