Rinjani Lombok is tough yet so beautiful, one of the best mountains with stunning scenery.
A mountain that is high when you are out sitting in the morning on the beach of Gilis you can see it clearly.
I can tell you that, hiking this mountain is something that you can’t miss if you are in Gilis or in Bali.
Mount Rinjani is an active volcano in Indonesia and located in the center of Lombok Island.
This mountin is the third highest mountain in Indonesia (3726 meters high). The first is Mount Jayawijaya (4884 meters high) in Papua, and the second is Mount Kerinci (3805 meters high) in Sumatera.
After I succeed hiking Mount Semeru-the highest mountain in Java, hiking Rinjani became my ambitious mountain to hike, and happily I did it.
Honestly to say, hiking Rinjani was my most exhilarating experience that I ever had. It was not easy but so worth it.
The view on the summit was amazing. And from a distance, I saw a crescent shaped lake that its rippled, sparkling glassy like diamond shone by the sun.
The name of the lake is Segara Anak. And from the lake rises a small new mountain, and people of Rinjani call it Mount Baru.
Heard stories before, this little new mountain-Mount Baru was a troublemaker, causing tremors and earthquakes in Lombok.
Another story of the lake said, the lake is sacred for people that live in Senaru Village and Sembalun Village.
So on every full moon, people Wetu Telu in Senaru and Sembalum Village, come to the lake to pray.
For Balinese, the lake is a spiritual place. They come to the lake every year, and perform a ceremony “Pekelan” where they put jewelry in the lake as an offering to the mountain spirit.
Another interesting story said that, this beautiful mighty mountain is the abode of beautiful Goddess Anjani that live in the mountain.
How To Reach Rinjani
Getting to Rinjani was quite easy for me. From Bali I traveled by boat to Gili island, then booked a tour company to hike Rinjani from Gili.
The tour company picked me up on Bangsal Harbor-small harbor that connects Lombok and Gilis, then drove me to Sembalun Village. I started the journey from there.
But, if you don’t want to follow that path to get to Rinjani, you can use other ways. You can fly from Bali to Mataram-Lombok, then by car or rent a motorbike to drive to the starting point.
There are 4 starting points to get to Rinjani, from Sembalun village, Senaru village, Timbanuh village and Aikberik. All routes have their own difficulties and times.
Sembalun village is the easiest and the fastest route to reach Rinjani’s summit, because from Sembalun it takes only 1 day to reach the summit. 7 hours walk to Plawangan and 3 hours walk to the summit from Plawangan.
Some Suggestion For You
If you are in Bali and decide to go to Rinjani, my suggestion is to book a tour company before you arrive in Lombok.
Find a tour company that offers pick up and drop off, and include with the accommodation. The accommodation is important, because you will need a place for resting to gather your energy before hiking and after hiking.
