The Jakarta Shortlist: The Indonesia Archipelago

Jakarta may be a stress inducing city, but it is in a nation of amazing natural beauty.  We did not take many opportunities to explore the Indonesian archipelago.  Out of somewhere around 18,000 tropical islands, we only managed to land on a few.  But each of them had striking and rough beauty and we are blessed to have scratched the surface of this amazing country.

In May, we took a quick day trip to visit Krakatau, an active volcano whose explosion in 1883 had major atmospheric effects around the globe for the next three years.  On the day we went, it took us 3 hours to drive to the coast and then over an hour to ride a speed boat to Anak Krakatau, the baby volcano that has grown from the devastation of the 1883 eruption.  After such a ride, we were greeted with rain and cloudy skies.  The weather was not great for photography, but seemed to have cooled down the side of the volcano and made our hike more pleasant.

With our friends, we climbed about halfway up the side of the volcano.  We slid down ash, collected obsidian, and felt heat rising through vents as we walked.  We only hiked for about 30 minutes.  Then we grabbed a picnic lunch and began the long journey back home.  The return ride was double the morning commute and so we arrived back home at 10:00 that night.  Although most of the day was miserable, we all agreed that the experience was well worth the journey.

A month earlier, our family traveled to Komodo National Park where we lived on a boat for 4 days and three nights.  We snorkeled and swam, played on the beach, hiked and kayaked.  We spent most of our days either in intense sun or in the water, but always surrounded by beauty.

Komodo National Park is the only native home to komodo dragons, and they are just as impressive in person as you may have dreamed.  These monsters are six foot lizards with no predators, and they are lethal killers.