Monday 6 October 2014

Ijen: The Volcanic Sulfur Mine Of Indonesia's East Java

image credit: Claude Chauvin

The Indonesian province of East Java is the home to the Ijen Volcano. The volcano has an enormous, turquoise acid crater lake at the top of a two mile ascent.

Hundreds of people visit the site each day, but for most it is not to take in the bizarre spectacle of the dead lagoon: around the lake men and boys mine for sulfur which is then taken, carried on their backs, down the side of the volcano. For them, the Ijen volcano represents their livelihood: for visitors, however, it can seem like a vision from Dante or Bunyan.

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