Mount Sinabung, Sumatra, Indonesia

5Euthalia 5:00 PM May 6, 2013

Extremely Hard Core
Oh My Gosh! This mountain requires good physical strength, balance, and endurance to climb. It took nearly 12 hours for us to get it done. On the way up, we must climbed and crawled since it's very steep. To go down also must be very careful. The surrounding jungle is beautiful, the trees are really helping to climb up and down. The view from the top is really amazing as it's the highest peak in North Sumatera. In fine day, you can see Lake Toba from the top.

5Katinka 5:00 PM Sep 7, 2017

How to get to Sinabung's redzone
Renting a scooter is by far the easiest option. There is a place next to the Sibayak Cafe (you cannot miss the gigantic sign) in the centre of Berastagi where you can rent them. By scooter there are two places I recommend you to go to. First, to the deserted village of Suka Nalu. Photos of the red zone you find online (abandoned school etc) were taken here. From there you can walk along a "road" that is overgrown. In dry season I think you can cross the small river at the end of it, so that you can see the dead forest and lava stream. However, we didn't manage to cross the river due to high water. Afterwards, ride to the ghost town called Gurukinayan. Here you can see the lava stream and also walk over it for a while. Great up close view of the vulcano as well. I would not recommend trying to walk from the first to the second place, because there are cliffs/small canyons carved out by the lava that you would have to cross and they seemed too treacherous to climb in and out of. You can also get to the first place by bus. Take the orange "Rio" bus (it brought us pretty close) and walk the last part.