Cleaning of Mount Merapi

On May 10 and 11, 2013, the Azimuth Adventure Travel Ltd agency organized – in partnership with Mt Merapi National Park and several local sponsors – the cleaning of the trails of the majestic Merapi volcano. This natural site, emblem of Yogyakarta, has in fact been the victim, for several years, of pollution, which obviously does not help the proper promotion of tourism in Indonesia. This is why our agency decided to take action, in order to participate in the protection and conservation of this natural environment, under the aegis of the ATR label (Acting for Responsible Tourism). On Friday May 10, upon arrival in Selo, our team (made up of local guides, employees of Azimuth Adventure Travel Ltd, Mr. Ruki Umaya – manager of Mt Merapi National Park, as well as several volunteers from the surrounding area ) begins cleaning on the first site of “New Selo” (1,700m). For the sake of efficiency, two types of garbage bags are available to us: one for recyclable waste and the other for waste intended to be incinerated. In the space of barely an hour, we had already collected several dozen kilos of shavings and debris of all kinds! This site has effectively become the new starting point for the ascent of the volcano and it is therefore important that this place remains as clean and authentic as possible. Later, we bring all the trash bags back to base camp and organize a briefing to plan the ascent the following night. From 1 a.m., head to the plateau known as “Pasar Bubar”, located at an altitude of 2,500m. After four hours of effort, we are rewarded by a magical sunrise, which reveals a fluid sea of clouds, barely disturbed by the slopes of the surrounding volcanoes, which “hole” it. Invigorated by this sublime landscape, we then begin cleaning at the foot of Merapi using the same procedures as the day before. Our action quickly attracted the attention of several hikers, who did not hesitate to join us during the descent. After a total of six hours of walking, we bring our garbage bags back to base camp, where non-recyclable waste is directly incinerated. “Recyclables” are, for their part, recovered by specialized centers. It is therefore with great pride that Azimuth Adventure Travel Ltd carried out this cleaning operation on Mt Merapi – a first! – with the aim of “acting for responsible tourism” and protecting the Indonesian environment.