This Yadnya Kasada in Bromo Mountain trip was traveled in August 2012

I knew it would be a hard trip. It was fasting month and I would be out and about all day. I would lust, at least for water. But I knew, it was now or never. So, I signed up on Explore Solo’s trip to Bromo Mountain for the Yadnya Kasada ceremony. I had recently heard about the ritual and the newly excess manner that had developed with it. People were sliding down crater walls just to catch sacrificed goods thrown into the crater. I just had to see it, fasting or not! And guess what? I fasted through the crater dust and all. YAY!

The trip was pretty easy as we met up in Surabaya train station. The rest was just following the itinerary.

Bromo Mountain Activities

Madakaripura Waterfall

Before arriving in Bromo, we detoured to the Madakaripura Waterfall, the last place of Gajah Mada. Explore Solo’s trip is a regular into these parts of the woods and it’s one of the things you can do around the area. It was such an impressive waterfall. I had a blast at this fall and, as you’d probably guess, I got soaked. More of the story here.

Yadnya Kasada

Yadnya Kasada is an annual ceremony held by the local Tenggerese people. The ceremony is to inaugurate new worthy shamans and also to present sacrifices to the crater mouth. It’s an interesting thing to see especially if you get to meet local shamans. And no, they don’t have bones tied around their necks. Aside to ceremony, there are aslo people willing to climb in the crater to catch these offerings. Oh! How life pushes you to some limits. Here’s more of the story.

Bromo Crater Sunrise

If there’s one thing people would suggest you do at Bromo, it would be to watch the sunrise. It’s beautiful, yes it is. And I’m sure anyone would enjoy it. If only I would, after lacking of sleep and had frozen my ass off. But I guess all was better since there’s more to just sunrise for this sleepy head. The Bromo crater had its whispering sands and green savanna. What? Green savanna, you ask? Yes, and more about it here.

Meeting with Idols

I didn’t roam much around the area to meet the locals. We came in pretty late in the day and needed to get some sleep before walking out in the wee hours. So in most of my free time I got to know much of my travel mates, who were mostly new to me. I aslo set aside time to meet some of my Indonesian favorite travel bloggers, who were also in pursue of the ceremony story. Here’s my piece on it.

Of course, I’d like to thank Explore Solo for their fun loving tour, which I enjoyed so much.

Where To Sleep At Bromo Mountain

We stayed in a local homestay. Explore Solo had rented a pavilion and we all squeezed into the 2-bedroom house. We were mostly strangers to each other, but it was the confined space that really helped us get to know each other and provided body heat enough for everyone. It was very nice 🙂

Where To Eat At Bromo Mountain

During festival times like this, there would be a lot of open eateries. It’s not too hard to find somewhere to get food and the cold air will always seduce your appetite. Prices are moderate to higher than usual but it was probably worth not more than IDR 30,000 for any dish and less for any drink.

How To Get Around 

Since I took a tour, all transport to and from Bromo was taken care of. Meeting in Surabaya, we were picked up by a shuttle to then drive about 3 hours to the Madakaripura waterfall. It takes about another 1-2 hours from the waterfall to the crater.

Jeeps are available for traveling from our pavilion to the crater and about. I think it costs about IDR 400,000 / car for a maximum of 5 people. The tour probably would extend up to lunch time and not more.

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