Kawah Ijen Human Taxi, Is it worth..?

Kawah Ijen Human Taxi : Made going to Kawah Ijen easier

Hiking to Kawah Ijen could be challenging, woke up at midnight and hike steep track for 3 km or about 1,5 - 2 hours walking in total. Started by a flat path from the entrance and only a few steep path. However, this route is only available for the first half hour of the hike. The next hour and a half dominated by steep path all the way up to the top of the crater. So that going up to Kawah Ijen need good physical condition, if you are not get used to do physical exercise it would be a problem. You will get tired easily and spend more time to stop rather than keep walking. It will cause being late to be able to catch the blue fire or the sunrise. But no worry,,,You can consider to take a taxi to get to the top easily and on time with less effort. Seriously...?  A Taxi to the top of the volcano...?

An option for exhausted tourists

Along the track you will meet some guys offering you a taxi service to go up to Kawah Ijen. It is not a motorized taxi, it is more than like a wheel cart that pushed by humans. This service cost IDR 600.000 to go up and down, maybe you will get higher price but it is negotiable. Maybe when you first find out the price it will sound expensive, but the effort expended to pull someone on a trolley on an uneven track, in my opinion, is worth the price.

Ijen human taxi or trolley service, who are they..?

They are actually the sulfur carrier who work at the sulfur mining, at the high season between June-September they prefer carrying tourists than working at the mining. One time transporting people by trolley can earn IDR 200,000.00. Meanwhile, it takes two trips back and forth to transport sulfur from the crater to basecamp to earn IDR 200,000.00. In one transport, a stone miner can carry one hundred kilograms of sulfur. However, one kilogram of sulfur is only priced at around IDR 1,000. Thus, it takes two trips back and forth to earn IDR 200,000.00 in one day.

Such calculations do not make all sulfur miners change their minds to open trolley services. During my climb to Ijen Crater, both going to the crater and returning to basecamp, I only met one climber who used the trolley service. The large number of foreign tourists who really enjoy trekking and local tourists who think Rp. 200,000.00 is very expensive may be the reason why trolley services are less popular. Therefore, their daily income becomes uncertain. This is also what might make sulfur miners loyal to their work because there will always be sulfur available every day to be transported.