In 1883, the Krakatoa volcano erupted. Unique eruption

The eruption of Krakatoa on August 27, 1883 has been called the world's greatest disaster. It destroyed 300 villages and killed 36,000 people; the roar of the volcano was heard at a distance of 4800 km; The blast wave circled the globe seven times, and for a long time the bodies of the dead and the wreckage of buildings floated on the surface of the ocean.

Krakatoa, a seemingly ordinary volcanic island, lay in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in the Dutch West Indies (present-day Indonesia). Few of the island residents were concerned about the 820 m high mountain that obscured half the sky: there were no signs of volcanic activity, and some even considered the volcano extinct. But on May 20, 1883, the crater of the mountain suddenly came to life, throwing hot ash high into the sky. Soon everything became quiet. Since the tremors that followed at the beginning of summer were also weak, local residents did not worry here either. But by August, a powerful roar began to be heard from the bowels of the earth.

At one o'clock in the afternoon on August 26, the island shook from a deafening roar. An hour later, a huge cloud of black ash with a length of 27 km hung over it. People rushed to the sea, but not all of them. One Englishman, who managed to escape in this way, later wrote: “The unfortunate aborigines considered that the end of the world had come, they huddled together like a flock of sheep. Their screams made the atmosphere of what was happening even more oppressive.”

The next morning, a powerful earthquake split the island in two. Two thirds of Krakatoa simply disappeared. More than 19 cubic meters of rock turned into dust and shot up into the sky to a height of 55 km. Soon after this, the 280 km wide strip plunged into absolute darkness. The roar of the eruption for some time deafened the inhabitants of the northern part of Java, 160 km from the site of the disaster, and the inhabitants of the island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean, 4800 km to the west, decided that there, beyond the horizon, there was a grandiose naval battle.

What was left of the island was a giant crater with a diameter of 6 km, extending 275 m deep into the sea. The filling of the crater with sea water caused a powerful tidal wave 40 m high, rushing away from the island at a speed of 1100 km/h - almost at the speed of sound. The huge wall of water destroyed neighboring islands and was felt as far away as Hawaii and southern California. By August 28, everything had calmed down, although weak tremors were repeated until February 1884.

The consequences of the eruption were tragic. In the seas washing Java and Sumatra, masses of pumice ejected by the volcano paralyzed shipping for several days. Months later, pieces of pumice floated throughout the Indian Ocean. Volcanic dust hung in the sky for more than a year, causing a halo effect - light circles around the solar disk - and unusually picturesque sunsets around the world. For the same reason, the color of the sun and moon at times changed to blue or green. Apparently due to volcanic dust, daytime temperatures dropped below normal levels.

Where tectonic plates collide, volcanic activity is always intense. At least 100 volcanoes - including Krakatoa - lie along the junction of the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates. In December 1927, tremors pushed new masses of rock into the sea and 25 years later led to the formation of the island of Anak Krakatau. Someday he will suffer the same fate as his predecessor.

The island of Krakatoa died as a result of the most powerful eruption in history of a volcano that was considered long extinct. The gigantic wave that then rose caused further destruction and claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Wall of water. At the birth of the island of Anak-Kraka-tau, the shallow waters of the Sunda Strait rose, creating a tsunami. The strength of tidal waves depends on their depth: those that arise in deep waters, such as the wave that filled the Krakatoa crater, are much more powerful than those that arise in shallow waters.

Volcanic cycle. After the 1883 eruption, only small islands remained of Krakatoa. In 1952, the volcano came to life again and an island appeared, called Anak-Kraka-tau, “son of Krakatoa.” After repeated eruptions, by the mid-80s the island rose 188m above sea level, its length was 1 km.

Krakatoa is a volcanic island located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, in the province of Lampung. It is worth noting the fact that this province is known for its volcanic instability - in May 2005 there was a strong earthquake (6.4 points), which caused great damage to the province of Lampung. One of the attractions of Lampung province is Tanjung Setia Beach, which is also famous for its unusual and challenging waves for surfers.

Krakatoa is also the name of a group of islands that formed from a larger island (with three volcanic peaks) that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Krakatoa in 1883. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 provoked a gigantic tsunami, people died (according to some sources, about 40,000 people), two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa was destroyed. It is believed that the sound from the eruption was the loudest ever recorded in history - it was heard 4800 km from the volcano, and the giant waves provoked by the eruption were recorded by barographs around the globe. Scientists have calculated that the force of the explosion was 10 thousand times greater than the explosion that destroyed the city of Hiroshima. In 1927, a new island appeared, Anak Krakatoa, which means “child of Krakatoa.”

An underwater eruption occurred at the site of the destroyed volcano, and a new volcano rose 9 meters above the sea a few days later. At first it was destroyed by the sea, but over time, when lava flows poured out in greater quantities than the sea destroyed them, the volcano finally regained its place. This happened in 1930. The height of the volcano changed annually, on average the volcano grew by approximately 7 meters per year. Today, the height of Anak Krakatau is about 813 meters.

Due to the fact that Anak Krakatau is an active volcano, and its status is the second level of alarm (out of four), the Indonesian government has officially prohibited residents from settling closer than 3 km from the island, and an area with a radius of 1.5 km from the crater is closed to tourists and enthusiasts to fish.

At the end of our trip to Indonesia in the summer of 2013, we went to a place that is known for its, without exaggeration, terrible history: On August 26, 1883, a volcanic eruption began on the island of Krakatoa, which became one of the greatest in modern history....

The Krakatoa volcano is located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java. This is the place on the map :

Until 1883, Krakatoa was a complete volcanic island with an area of approximately 10 km, and its highest point reached 2000 meters. By this time, the island already had a bad reputation due to its violent eruptions. For example, in 535 there was an eruption that led to global climate change throughout the world! And according to some sources, it was then that the Sunda Strait was formed, which divided one large island into Java and Sumatra.

By 1883, 3 craters Rakata, Danan and Perbuatan had formed on the island. From May to August 26, 1883, the volcano showed its activity more than once, as if warning people of danger. At night, from August 26 to 27, a rumble began to be heard from underground, which eventually became so strong that even in Jakarta (200 km from Krakatoa) people could not sleep at night! And then there was an explosion of incredible power. The debris of the exploded mountain rose to a height of up to 80 km, ash fell over an area of more than 4 million km²!! This explosion caused powerful waves up to 30 meters in height, and one of the tsunamis circled the WHOLE globe. As a result of this eruption, hundreds of cities, villages and settlements were destroyed, and the number of human casualties reached 40 thousand people.
After the eruption, the topography of the seabed in the strait changed; in place of the island of Krakatoa, only a small part of the Rakata volcano and two islets of Sertung and Panjang remained.
But despite the colossal the destruction of the volcano itself did not die. And in 1927, after an underwater eruption, a new volcano, the Son of Krakatau (Anak Krakatau), rose 9 meters from under the water. Since its birth, the volcano has grown by about 13 cm per week; today its height is 813 meters.
The photo below clearly shows the outline of the island of Krakatoa before 1883, in the lower part of the photo are the remains of the Rakata volcano after the eruption and the young Anak Krakatoa growing in the center of the ancient caldera. We can only guess what surprises this fiery baby is preparing for us. In the meantime, we decided to look at it with our own eyes!
We had planned our trip to Krakatoa in advance. We sifted through a lot of information, calculated how many days we would need, but some difficulties still arose along the way.
Our flight from Bali to Java was in the afternoon, and we arrived at Jakarta airport at about 2 p.m. We checked our suitcases into a storage room and grabbed a bite to eat at the local KFC. Then we went to look for a taxi; we needed to get to the village of Charita and the Mutiara Carita hotel. There are many taxi drivers near the airport, the prices are naturally higher at first, but the standard Bali trick “if you don’t want it, then we’ll go to someone else” works here too. As a result, we agreed that they would take us to the place for 450 thousand rupees. The road turned out to be long. The first part of the journey along the toll road went by very quickly. The driver tried to take money from us for traveling along it, but we definitely remembered that this was included in the total fare and did not give him anything) And having turned off the highway onto a road usual for Indonesia, one lane in each direction, we got stuck in a traffic jam , in the end it took five hours, if not more, to travel from Jakarta to Charita.
We arrived, checked in without any problems, but it’s still better to book rooms in advance, at booking, for example, since the Charita area is a popular resort among the Javanese and they come here on vacation, some with a group on tour packages, some with their families, and someone at work. In general, all rooms may be occupied on weekends. The hotel reminded me of our resorts in the Krasnodar region, which have not been renovated since Soviet times. There is a large area here, there are separate houses and one common building, in which we moved in. The rooms are large, spacious, fairly clean - in general, you can live.
Here, at the hotel, we said that we wanted to go to Krakatoa and they very quickly sent us a friend who would organize this excursion. Then there was a very long trading process. Initially, we wanted to go overnight and watch lava fly out of the crater; to this request, a friend announced a price of 7 million rupees (that’s almost $700)! "My friend, my friend"! As a result, we found out that the volcano is actually not erupting now, and it is unlikely that it will do so tomorrow, and we decided to go for one day. They negotiated the price to 4 million, and stopped there, after all, July is high season.
And then we had an incident with the number. I saw mosquitoes, and since they introduced me to dengue fever on one of my trips to Bali, I didn’t want to spend the night in their company. There were no insect sprays in the room, and we asked the local workers to take action... And they did... For some reason I did not react to the strange-looking spray gun from the worker, and left the room to see Dima (he was negotiating on the terrace about a trip to the volcano), and the next time I went into the room, I realized that something irreparable had happened! The employee sprayed gasoline in our room!!! We were shocked, the guy assured us that the smell would soon disappear, but it was clear that this was nonsense and it was impossible to stay in this room overnight! To be fair, I note that at the reception they changed our room without a word. After all this, we had dinner, walked a little around the hotel and went to bed, Anak Krakatau awaits us tomorrow!
In the morning we got up not very early, at about 7 o’clock, and went to have breakfast. One Javanese sat down with us; he really wanted to chat, improve his English and just communicate with white people. The kind of entertainment they have here is that if you see a white person, you should definitely chat with him, or even better, take a photo)) While we were talking, our friend, the guide, came and said that it was time to hit the road!
They brought us a good speed boat, at first I thought that we were going with other tourists, but no, it was just for us! After about 1.5 hours of riding along the ocean waves, in the distance we saw “baby” Krakatoa.
As we approached closer, we could clearly make out the smoke pouring out of the crater. Knowing the history of this place, even being at some distance, you understand that this is not a safe walk, and we still have to climb to the top.

Driving into a peculiar bay formed after the 1883 eruption, you can see the remains of the Rakata volcano. We know that this is only a small part of it. Just imagine that there was a tall volcano here and how it shattered into pieces from an explosion of monstrous force!
The consequences of the disaster can still be seen: on the right side, where the mountain used to rise, there is now only a recess concave inward.

Remains from a large volcano

We headed to the center of the "bay", where Anak Krakatoa literally grows. Our boat first drove around the volcano so that we could see it from all sides. The spectacle is impressive! We were told that the volcano erupts frequently, its coastline is constantly changing, and on the slopes you can see the cooled lava and how it flowed into the ocean!
The closer you get, the more menacing or even menacing he looks.
The smoke comes not only from the crater, it oozes from everywhere from underground.
It feels like the soil is constantly burning.
At the foot of the volcano there are dunes of black volcanic sand mixed with ash and lava.
Looking at these photos, it’s hard to think that you can climb Krakatoa!
Having driven further, we saw that vegetation was appearing on the other side of the volcano crater.
And even further from the “hot spot” a whole forest has already grown! They say that there is even a Komodo dragon, but we didn’t see one.
When we arrived at the landing site, I was upset once again. The island is uninhabited and full of garbage((This shows how badly the world’s oceans are polluted. It’s very sad to see such pictures(
I don't want to look at this disgrace((
Having caught our breath a little, we begin our hike to the volcano. Trekking to Krakatoa is not difficult, the hardest thing is to endure the heat of the daytime sun.
I should immediately note that we walked in flip-flops, the sand was generally hot, but not too much. It seemed to me that it became hotter when we were already descending, maybe the soil just warmed up more by the middle of the day.
But putting something on your head and covering your shoulders is very useful! But since these were the last days of our summer holiday, I tried to enjoy the sun to the fullest!
At first the road passes through the forest, there is shade and it’s pleasant to walk. Our guides go ahead and show the way)
The path then emerges into a fairly steep and open area. You'll have to sweat a little here. The way up is generally not difficult, the main difficulty is that it is very hot in the sun and that you are walking on sand.
The forest gradually thins out and is eventually left behind. And we immediately noticed a lot of cobblestones lying everywhere. Our guides said they flew out of the crater during the eruptions.
Opposite is Rakata.
That's how far we've already come. In the distance is another island, it seems to be Panjang. Perhaps it, too, was once a mountain.
We've climbed! And such a beautiful view from Krakatoa of the ocean, islands and the path along which we walked opened up to us from above.
The climb to Krakatoa is not high, maybe 500 meters, and no one will let you go higher up to the edge of the crater, they say that there are voids and the soil can collapse. The path further runs along the left edge of a large excavation, as I understand it, the soil subsided after the next eruption.
We walked a little along the edge of the gap, towards Rakata. It's very beautiful here too! I couldn’t resist posing)) The heat was getting worse, we decided not to stay in the open sun for long and went down.

From this side of the volcano, traces of eruptions are already more visible. There is lava and stones in the hole.

There are many scorched trees below.

Dima likes such landscapes better)

Then we saw huge holes and broken trees around. It turned out it was from a stone that had recently been thrown out of the crater.

And here is the stone. I would say that this is a piece of a mountain, it is as tall as me and plus huge in width. I wouldn't want to get here during an eruption.

While Dima was photographing all this, I did not waste time)) It became very hot, I wanted to get into the shade as soon as possible! And our guides have long since fled into the forest)

In the forest we found the remains of a seismological station. There used to be similar ones at the top, but now there is nothing left of them. They did not make new ones, and are now monitoring the situation from afar from Sumatra and Java.

After visiting the volcano, near Rakata, you can swim and see fish) It’s certainly not the Red Sea, but it’s very nice after the heat! We had our own masks.

After swimming, on the way back Dima fell asleep sweetly)

Finally, one more look at Krakatoa. By the way, it began to smoke more strongly!

But this is not our entire adventure) While we were returning to the hotel, the weather on the coast had turned bad, and we thought that there was no point in hanging around here all day and another night. It was decided to go to Jakarta, spend the night there and take a walk to see the city during the day. We asked our friend, who was organizing a trip to Krakatoa, how much it would cost to get from here to Jakarta, and he told us: “one million”! Yes, yes, one million rupees. This is, in general, $100, but we remember that it cost 450 thousand to get here, the road did not increase overnight, and gasoline did not rise in price. What's the matter?! In response to our story that we arrived for 450 thousand, he said that this was impossibil, i.e. impossible) Well, of course, we laughed at him and decided that we would find another car. But it was not there! It turns out there are no taxi drivers (except rickshaws) here; locals either come in their own cars or are taken on tour packages by bus. Taking advantage of this, all the local tour companies that organize excursions really take you to Jakarta for one million! Dima tried to bargain, lowered the price to 800 thousand and that’s it. Here the spirit of contradiction awoke in us) And we decided that ordinary locals somehow get to Jakarta, so we can too! We packed our things and left the hotel, knowing only one thing: we were going to Jakarta!
At first glance, it seems that this is complicated, they asked where the bus was, got on, and went. BUT! Don’t forget that we are in Java, and in a place where foreign tourists don’t come often, and if they do, they don’t wander around the city much) Therefore, no one speaks English, not even a little! And one more thing... We are in Java, so the white man is a marvelous wonder! I don’t know how to convey my feelings when you walk down the street, and everyone, without exception, looks at you with wild surprise! It’s as if a three-meter green alien was walking through Moscow)) Exactly, that’s exactly how I felt :) We went into a store, bought ice cream and water, tried to explain that we needed to go to Jakarta and ask where the bus stop was. Everyone was giggling, and no one really said anything to us. At the exit we came across a man who seemed to be able to connect a couple of English words; from his hand gestures we understood where the stop was, that we first needed to get to the town of Cilegon, and then transfer to a bus to Jakarta. Well, that’s already something! We'll figure it out along the way.
Here our route on the active map:

We were scared a lot that we had to be more careful in Java, this is not Bali, where everyone is good, everyone is evil and terrible. Don’t let your children go for a walk in Africa))) I’ll tell you right away that we didn’t come across a single Barmaley, on the contrary, everyone tried to help in any way they could, give advice (even in Indonesian), smiled and, of course, took pictures with us) The first person to help us was an old, all wrinkled driver rickshaws. He stood near the stop and offered us a taxi) When he realized that we were going to Jakarta, he also named the transfer point, and then stopped the bus we needed and even helped us get there)
By the way, bus is a strong word, it’s more like a tiny minibus, from the outside it looks like a small isuzu minivan. There are no doors, and there are two benches in the back for passengers) We squeezed into this car and drove off. We had to drive for 2 hours! The price of a trip on such a minibus for two was 30 thousand rupees. Moreover, the price for women and men is different, unfortunately, I forgot for whom they pay more and for whom less)) The ride was fun, everyone tried to chat with us, we tried to clarify the route. Dima took pictures of the car from the inside.

Also, as I already wrote, local residents took pictures with us, and we with them)

And then we were lucky, when we passed a large factory, a man who spoke good English got into the minibus, and he was also going to Jakarta! He said: “Don’t worry, we’ll deliver you in the best possible way!” He constantly comes here to work and already knows how to get there quickly, so our route turned out to be a little different. We first changed to another minibus, and then onto a big bus to Jakarta. We sat down on it in some tricky place, as we understood, in front of the bus station and therefore we managed to take seats. We rode this bus for another 2.5 hours. The fare on it was 70 thousand for two. And the road from Charita to Jakarta cost 100 thousand rupees ($10) for two, plus a lot of positive emotions! What a savings!!! On the way we chose a hotel, in Jakarta our friend suggested where to get off, and then we took a taxi to the hotel. What an adventure we had!
To summarize this trip, I would advise those who want to see Krakatoa to rent a car. This can be done at Jakarta International Airport and via the Internet from companies such as Hertz, Avis, etc.

An incredible day on the volcano and a long but interesting road to Jakarta became our final trip this summer in Indonesia. True, our plans for the next day were also a walk around Jakarta. In the meantime, we said goodbye to the amazing nature of the islands, to the Indian Ocean and once again made a wish to definitely return!

p.s. The Discovery Channel made an excellent film about this volcano, with reconstructions of events, etc., you can watch it on YouTube

Krakatoa activity

The Krakatoa volcano has always been very turbulent. Surviving written sources indicate frequent strong eruptions that frightened the local population. In 416, the top of the mountain collapsed, and in its place a crater appeared, parts of which became separate islands. And in 535, Krakatoa caused another natural disaster that contributed to the formation of the Sunda Strait, which has since separated Sumatra and Java.

Volcanologists believe that Krakatoa was responsible for five violent eruptions. But at the end of the 19th century, the volcano, which had remained calm for the previous 200 years and was considered extinct, suddenly came to life. At the end of May 1883, ash fell from its crater, and mushroom clouds appeared over the top of the volcano - these were the first signs of the eruption that had begun, which lasted three months with increasing force. Throughout the summer, Krakatoa ejected rock from the bowels of the earth, and on August 27 the eruption culminated. At 10 a.m., the volcano was torn apart by a monstrous explosion that threw ash, pumice and rocks up to 80 kilometers into the air and then scattered them over an area of about 1 million square kilometers.

The power of the eruption was more than 10,000 times greater than the force of the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The roar accompanying the cataclysm was the loudest sound that people had ever heard, and was clearly audible over a radius of 4,000 kilometers. On the islands of Sumatra and Java, the sound intensity exceeded 180 decibels, which far exceeds the human pain threshold. The power of the explosion was such that even at a distance of 150 kilometers from its epicenter, the shock wave broke windows, demolished roofs of houses, and felled trees. On the island of Sesebi, located 20 kilometers from the Krakatau volcano, the entire population died in an instant, scorched by a hot gas cloud. Clouds of ash obscured the sun, and almost complete darkness fell over a radius of more than 100 kilometers. Four hours after the disaster began, a solar eclipse covered Japan.

But the worst was yet to come - the eruption triggered a huge 30-meter tsunami that washed away more than 300 settlements into the ocean. The disaster claimed the lives of more than 36,000 people, and some estimates put the number as high as 80,000.

54 minutes after the first explosion, a second explosion followed, equally powerful, but without the accompanying tsunami. A few hours later, a third fiery outbreak occurred. All night the volcano was rocked by explosions, ash rained from the sky, and the sea reared with huge waves. Powerful currents carried numerous fishing boats into the depths of the ocean.

Just 10 hours after the start of the eruption, the air wave provoked by the explosion of the volcano reached Berlin at a speed of 1000 kilometers per hour. And for several days, meteorological stations in Germany recorded the passage of air currents driven by the blast wave.

In the following days, the eruption began to gradually weaken, but it took Krakatoa six months to completely subside. Until February 1884, the exhausted island was shaken by explosions. But the consequences of the disaster made themselves felt for a long time - the ash remained in the earth’s atmosphere for several years, which caused a cooling of the planet’s climate.

The presence of microparticles erupted by the volcano in the air led to the unusual coloring of sunrises and sunsets. After the natural disaster, the sun turned greenish, and in autumn in Europe the sun's rays at sunset shone a purple color.

The volcano itself was destroyed by a natural disaster - only three small islands remained from it. The area around Krakatau also became different - the topography of the seabed changed, some straits became unnavigable, new islands formed, and the old ones became larger. The islands of Sumatra and Java are deserted. Lush tropical vegetation died, the earth became bare and gray, the entire soil was strewn with stones, pieces of solidified lava, mutilated trees, corpses of people and animals. In the sea around the volcano, such a thick layer of pumice formed that ships could not break through it.

Strong rough waters were observed along the entire coast of the Indian Ocean. The Pacific Ocean was turbulent, storms raged off the western coasts of the American continents. The tsunami even reached the coast of France and the Isthmus of Panama.

For many days, the Earth's atmosphere was also disturbed - hurricanes raged in the region close to Krakatoa, and strong fluctuations were noted on the barometers of the entire planet.

At the end of November, precipitation with a large admixture of volcanic ash and tiny particles of pumice fell in many places on the European continent.

Krakatoa volcano after the cataclysm

Several decades after the eruption, the fire-breathing mountain began to be reborn. In the winter of 1927, an underwater eruption occurred on the site of the destroyed Krakatoa. A few days after this event, a small 9-meter volcano appeared above the water, named by the people watching it with alarm “Anuk Krakatoa”, which means “Child of Krakatoa”. The formidable crumb, consisting of pumice and ash, was destroyed several times, but after three years, intense lava flows formed a new volcano. By 1933, the baby’s cone had already grown to 67 meters.

Since 1950, Anuk Krakatau has been actively growing in height due to small but frequent eruptions - every week its height increases by 13 centimeters, i.e. almost 7 meters per year. Currently, the young volcano has grown to 813 meters, its area is 10.5 sq. km, and its diameter is 4 kilometers. The last activity recorded on Anuk Krakatoa was in mid-February 2014, when more than 200 volcanic earthquakes occurred. But for now, the danger of a growing baby is assessed as 2 points on a 4-point system.

Indonesian authorities do not allow local residents to settle in a three-kilometer zone around the island. Economic activity is prohibited within a radius of 1.5 km from Anouk Krakatoa, and tourists and fishermen are not allowed to approach the island within the same distance.

Some volcanologists believe that over time the activity of the growing volcano will increase. More optimistic scientists believe that the small size of the young Krakatoa will not allow it to cause a planet-wide catastrophe again.

Using the example of a cataclysm that occurred on a volcano, nature demonstrated its extraordinary ability to recover - within three years, ferns began to appear on the lifeless rocks of nearby islands, then flowering plants and insects. By the end of the 19th century, life returned to the islands that suffered from a volcanic disaster - mangrove forests and jungles were revived, animals and people settled here.

On the Javanese peninsula of Ujung Kulon, located only 133 kilometers from the Krakatoa volcano, a national natural park is founded, where wild forest bull, red wolf, gibbon, and clouded leopard live. The last remaining Javan rhinoceroses on Earth, of which there are no more than 50 individuals, have found refuge in the reserve. In 1992, the park, which includes the volcano, was taken under UNESCO protection to preserve the largest lowland rain forest growing here.

On Anouk Krakatau itself, the area is quite deserted, only on one side of the island there is a small forest, in which you can see the remains of weather stations destroyed by frequent eruptions. The consequences of the explosion are visible even now - where there used to be a mountain, a recess concave inward is clearly visible. The island's coastline is constantly changing due to eruptions. The smoke comes not only from the crater of the volcano, but oozes from all the cracks of the mountain, creating the impression that the earth is constantly burning. At the foot of Krakatoa, hills of black volcanic sand alternate with lava and ash.

Krakatoa fascinates with an exciting sense of danger, and there are many brave people who dream of seeing and capturing the majestic spectacle - an active volcano, surrounded by columns of ash and spewing millions of fiery spray!

Tourist information

If you want to see Krakatoa with your own eyes, then you need to fly to Jakarta, from where you can take a bus to the port of Darkness. From the sea harbor you need to take a ferry to the port of Bakuaheni in Sumatra, then take a bus to Kalyanda. Here you can rent a boat and sail to Krakatau on your own, but it would be wiser to purchase a tour, which is offered at every hotel. A trip with a guide and lunch will cost $60-70. Excursion tours are served by comfortable passenger ships.

You can also rent a boat in the ports of the island of Java; the most convenient way to do this is in Carita Bay, located just 50 kilometers from Krakatoa.

Although access to the volcano is now closed, during its period of relative peace it is possible to land on the coast and even climb the slopes of Anuk to a height of 500 meters. To climb Krakatoa, you need to choose comfortable shoes with corrugated soles that can protect your feet from the hot sand. You cannot rise higher than half a kilometer - the closer you are to the crater, the greater the possibility of the formation of voids into which you can fall, as well as become a victim of stones thrown out from time to time by the volcano.

A one-day excursion to Krakatau with an overnight stay at its foot is also possible.

Krakatoa activity

Krakatoa volcano after the cataclysm

Tourist information

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