Just yesterday your guide was at an island off West Java, where history was made. Krakatau (commonly misspelled "Krakatoa") used to be a large island in the Sunda Strait off Java... until one fateful day in 1883.

On August 27, 1883, 10:02am, the island blew itself apart. The explosion killed upward of 40,000 people (if the tsunami didn't get them, the searing hot rain of volcanic ash did), and created the loudest sound in human history. In Krakatoa: the Day the World Exploded, (compare prices) author Simon Winchester records the moment for posterity:

An immense wave then leaves Krakatoa at almost exactly 10:00 A.M. - and then, two minutes later, according to all the instruments that record it, came the fourth and greatest explosion of them all, a detonation that was heard thousands of miles away and that is still said to be the most violent explosion ever recorded and experienced by modern man.? The cloud of gas and white-hot pumice, fire, and smoke is believed to have risen - been hurled, more probably, blasted as though from a gigantic cannon - as many as twenty-four miles into the air.

While Indonesia picked itself up after the eruption of Krakatau, the remnants of the larger volcanic island has gone on simmering in the sea. In the 1920s, after a quiescence of about fifty years, some activity was reported in the immediate vicinity of the eruption site. By the end of the 1920s, a new island had formed, pushing its way out of the water. The locals called it Anak Krakatau - "child of Krakatau".

Anak Krakatau is now quite grown up; some vegetation has colonized the eastern part of the island, where the periodic expulsions of hot ash and magma have been less likely to fall. On this side of the island, a small rest pavilion and an information billboard marks the start of a hiking trail up the volcano.

The volcano is still active; when we made our way up, the mountain made quite a show. The ground on the island is still largely volcanic ash; you step on a gray dirt that is not as compacted as you'd expect on regular soil.

One of the "locals", a monitor lizard we found near the beach. After Anak Krakatau formed, castaways colonized the island - rats have also been spotted, although there is no permanent human settlement yet.

Your guide found his way to Krakatau thanks to Club Bali - Hawaii Resort on Anyer. (clubbalihawaii.com|compare rates) Visitors can charter a boat from the Java towns of Carita or Anyer to take the hour-long boat ride to Krakatau. More on this in a future article on Krakatau. Stay tuned.

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Labels: Indonesia, Krakatau, Meeting

# posted by Aom-ing : 8:04 AM