lombok- trekking senaru

Mt RinjaninAs a whole, the volcano is amazing. You rarely get a chance to climb an active volcano, go inside a caldera/volcanic hot springs and camp on a rim. That said, the trek is very very hard and not for the faint hearted. You must be physically fit, but most importantly mentally fit. Most treks are done over 3 days 2 nights with a guide and some porters. These packages are around 1,500,000 and don’t seem to differ even if you pay more. You will do around 6 hours walking on the first day, 15 on the second (including the incredibly difficult summit ascent and descent and another 600m lake descent and ascent) then 5 on the last. Everyone in my group managed it slowly, but it is very tough and definitely book a couple of days to relax afterwards. That said, the views and sense of achievement you get at the top are worth it all. All of the food you will get will be amazing as they want to keep you well fed for all the walking. We had fried chicken, Nasi goreng, noodle soup, banana pancakes etc. I really enjoyed the hot springs after the summit and would highly recommend it if you have the energy.nnTipsnGuides seem to vary greatly and might not fully prepare you for the trek.nBring warm trousers and a jumper as it gets cold at night. Also a tried and tested waterproof as you spend a lot of time in the cloud, and when it rains, it pours.nMake sure you are always hydrated as this helps the AMS and also stamina. On the 9h summit hike, our guide gave us around 3 litres between the 6 of us and we were severely dehydrated for the whole trek, almost not managing not.nBring snacks - you can buy Oreos and beer at the first campsite up the mountain, but bring lots of sweets and biscuits to keep you/the team going. Indonesians believe doing hard hikes on an empty stomach and so we were only fed a few crackers for the 9 hour walk to the top. Would also recommend tiger balm/muscle rub, anti-inflammatory and tissues.nBUT MOST IMPORTANLTY TIP AND THANK YOUR PORTERS LOTS - your porters do the same hike as you, apart from the summit. But, they are carrying 25kg on their backs. When you arrive at camp at lie down and complain you’re tired, they are exhausted. But they will still run around and pitch the tents, roll out the sleeping bags, light a camp fire, offer you tea/coffee and cook you a fresh delicious meal, never complaining and all with a smile on their face. They sleep without mattresses/bags because they give them to the customers and sometimes don’t eat the ‘premium’ foods. They do a huge amount behind the scenes - from getting up at 3am to walk in the pouring rain to refill your bottles with spring water, or washing up when it is freezing outside. They do all this for under £10/day. I would recommend 80-100k tip per person per porter and more for the cook/anyone who is particularly great.nnLombok TrekkingnThe company was generally good and picked me up on time. The guesthouse was very basic (mattress on floor and cold shower) but okay.nThe actual Rinjani Trek was rebooked through another company with a different organiser rather than with Lombok-Treking. Logistics also seemed fine as was transport other end. Tour was like most other groups - 1 guide and 3 porters for 6 people. Our guide Jam was okay but nothing great - he failed to provide/recommend enough water on the summit day and overestimated a lot of the journey times for our group. He would answer our questions when asked but told us almost nothing about the volcano/route/wildlife/plan as well as how hard it would be. It was only on the last day some of the group realised the volcano was still active and only erupted last year (how little Jam told us). I would like to make a special mention to one of the Porters, Andy who did a fantastic job at cooking and constantly smiled and helped out - really made the trip better.