Anak Krakatau is a fire-breathing child of the earth. A terrible word in human history: Krakatoa (7 photos) Tsunami in Indonesia

Krakatoa volcano is one of the most powerful active volcanoes on the planet. It is still very active and dangerous volcano. Constant eruptions and large-scale destruction are associated with its activities. Thousands of people became victims of his harsh temper.

Where is

The Krakatau volcano lies in Indonesia between the large islands of Sumatra and Java in the Malay Archipelago.
Geographic coordinates -6.102824, 105.422583

A little history

Krakatoa is an ordinary stratovolcano, located on the island of the same name in the Pacific Ring of Fire. The dimensions of the island were approximately 9 by 5 kilometers.

Krakatoa eruptions were often accompanied by powerful explosions and the release of significant volumes of ash.
According to scientists, one of the grandiose eruptions took place in 535. It caused large-scale climate consequences on the planet. Volcanologists claim that this eruption formed the Sunda Strait, which separated the islands of Java and Sumatra.

Significant volcanic eruptions were recorded in 1680 and 1883.

An interesting fact is that the origin of the Indonesian name Krakatoa is still unknown.

Eruption of Krakatoa in 1883

At the end of August 1883, a powerful eruption was recorded that destroyed almost the entire island. , reaching a height of 1800 meters, was completely destroyed.

The eruption was so strong that the ash rose to a height of 55 kilometers (and according to some sources up to 80 km). After this, ash fell over a radius of 500 kilometers, covering an area of ​​up to 800,000 km 2. About 25 km 3 of volcanic rock then escaped from the bowels of the Earth.

The ash in the air plunged the surrounding area into darkness for two and a half days. The fine dust drifted through the atmosphere, causing spectacular red and orange sunsets over the next year.

The explosion generated a catastrophic tsunami. In some areas the wave height was up to 37 meters. As a result of the disaster on the neighboring islands, according to official data, more than 36,000 people died, and according to unofficial data, up to 120,000. There are reports of many human skeletons floating in the Indian Ocean in pieces of volcanic pumice.

According to the Dutch East India Colony, 165 coastal villages and towns were destroyed in the vicinity of Krakatoa, and another 132 were significantly damaged.

The force of the volcanic explosion is estimated at 200 megatons of TNT. This is more than 13,000 times the power of the nuclear bomb dropped by the Americans on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. And 4 times more powerful than the explosion of the Tsar Bomba, the largest artificial explosion on Earth.

Interesting fact: Krakatoa volcano is on the 100 rupiah banknote of 1992

On December 20-21 in Indonesia, in the northern part of Siau Island, the Karangetang stratovolcano erupted (1784 m). Fortunately, there were no casualties.

On the evening of Saturday, December 22, an increase in activity was recorded at the Anak Krakatoa volcano (813 meters), which is located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. The active phase of the eruption began in the dead of night. According to Darwin Volcanic Ash Observatory, a column of gas and ash rose to a height of 16 km from the top of the volcano. The pyroclastic cloud trailed southwest into the waters Indian Ocean. The volcano has been assigned a red level. A significant part of the cone was destroyed as a result of the explosion. A huge amount of cubic meters of ash and sulfur dioxide was released into the atmosphere. The activity continued throughout the day.

According to data as of December 28 from the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, Anak Krakatau lost between 150 and 180 million cubic meters of volume as a result of the eruption. Now its volume is 40-70 million cubic meters. Maximum height the crater decreased from 338 meters in September of this year to 110 meters as of December 28. Since access to the volcano is difficult due to ongoing seismic activity and rough seas, scientists made their conclusions based on an analysis of satellite images of the volcano.

Tsunami series

On the same day, landslides from the slopes of the volcano triggered a series of tsunamis. The first wave was rather weak and did not cause significant destruction. But the second wave hit at 4:30 local time on west coast Banten province, Java island, as well as the southern regions of Lampung province, located on the island of Sumatra, caused significant damage. Pandeglang district in Banten province on the island of Java was hit the hardest.

As a result, 429 people were killed, another 1,485 residents were injured, of which 845 were injured. 154 people are listed as missing. More than 16 thousand residents were forced to leave the dangerous area. More than a thousand buildings were destroyed. The wave easily engulfed vehicles. 434 ships were also damaged.

Residents were not informed in a timely manner about the coming disasters. The tsunami may have been caused by an underwater landslide, and Indonesia does not yet have an early warning system for tsunamis caused by underwater volcanic activity or landslides at sea. The local population noted that on the eve of the events there was no particular activity of the Anak Krakatoa volcano.

On December 23, the active phase of the volcanic eruption continues. In this regard, experts do not exclude the possibility of another tsunami. Residents of Serang, Pandeglang and South Lampung districts are advised to stay away from the coast.

In the district of Jembrana, which is located on Indonesian island Bali, on December 22, mudflows occurred.

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This may be the last photo I will ever take. I’m sitting a few hundred meters from the blazing crater and filming the eruption of the Anak Krakatoa volcano, strongly hoping that they won’t have to film me from here, feet first. All around me are deep craters left by spat out semi-molten stones. Nearby, the ghost of a seismic station looms sadly, completely fragmented by frequent eruptions. The sun has already set and now each explosion is becoming more and more powerful.

A little over a hundred years ago, Krakatoa the Father, who was then standing in this place, became seriously angry and spat out a couple of tens of cubic kilometers of pumice and ash into the sky, eclipsing the sky almost throughout the world. The eruption depleted the old volcano so much that, powerless, it collapsed into the sea, causing a catastrophic tsunami that killed tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people. All that remains of Daddy Krakatoa is just a ring of islands several kilometers in diameter, in the middle of which the child grew up (Anak means “child” in Indonesian). Then, the roar of the explosion was heard even in Australia, on another continent. Now, fortunately, me and my fellow travelers only get a slight earache, and in the end we get completely used to it and don’t even pay much attention to the shaking of the earth with each new eruption. I try not to think about the possibility that the volcano is about to explode more powerfully, the wind will blow in my direction, and I will have no choice but to die a stupid but terribly romantic death without letting go of the camera.



The ambush was long - we sat for almost half the night, and I obviously chose not the most suitable outfit for night observation of the volcano - short white shorts. The sharp pumice stone pierced either my knees or my buttocks no matter how I sat down, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the fireworks until it started raining heavily. Not wanting to damage our valuable equipment, we ran down the powdery slope in the dark and spent the night on the black beach at the foot of the volcano. But the rain did not console Anak Krakatoa and his performance lasted the whole night. We did not miss the chance to return before dawn to catch that moment when the baby had not yet managed to calm down and was still spitting fiery boulders, but in the twilight light the fiery fountain was accompanied by thick gray smoke that can be seen for kilometers during the day.


Those wishing to attend Anak Krakatoa will find that it is not the cheapest event. The island of Krakatoa is located between Sumatra and Java. From the Java side, tours depart from the capital Jakarta or port city Charita. Tour operators use modern fiberglass boats, but the cost of the tour is high - from 100 to 300 dollars per person, depending on the number of applicants. Visiting from the Sumatran side is slightly cheaper. The Beringin Hotel in the town of Kalianda offers tours for $70-$80 per person, but uses traditional outrigger boats. Such boats are somewhat less comfortable and slower than modern ones. Advantage organized tours in that they take care of all the organization and include everything: transfer from the hotel and back, food, and a tent for the night. Be sure to choose an overnight tour as the volcano looks most beautiful at night. The night, as a rule, is spent on the neighboring island, on the remains of Krakatoa the Father, a couple of kilometers from Anak Krakatoa, but from there there is a beautiful view of the crater of the volcano, because the active crater is now located slightly away from the summit and is not entirely visible from the observation deck on the main island. According to information from familiar travelers, in this option it was not possible to convince the boatmen and the guide to stay and spend the night at the foot of the volcano - everyone, without exception, was mortally afraid of the volcano and breathed a sigh of relief when they left the island.
Our expedition reached Anak Krakatau in a somewhat roundabout way. There were four of us and we knew that the boats to Krakatau leave from the village of Chanti, not far from Kalyanda, but we decided not to immediately shell out the $150 that was asked for the boat at the pier there, but to wait to see if more fellow travelers would appear with whom we could share the costs. After half a day of waiting, no one new appeared, and all the boatmen disappeared somewhere. There is a mid-day ferry from Chanti to Sebesi, the island halfway to Krakatoa and the closest point accessible by public transport (one and a half dollars per person). Having sailed on it to Sebesi, we expected to come to an agreement with the fishermen, but we were met at the pier local resident who said that the office of the national park is located right here and he is its head - he organized a large, reliable boat for four of us for $130. We had our own tents and food, but the boatmen still shared their stew with us, and, as described above, we were allowed to spend the night at the foot of the volcano.




This is not my first volcano, and I hope not the last. I saw the fire that our land breathes and smelled its caustic breath. I was close enough to be absorbed, and turned back in time to return again and again - it's worth it.

The story of the Krakatoa volcano literally struck the whole world. And several times. These were some of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in the history of mankind. There is a version that in 535, as a result of the eruption of Krakatoa, the Sunda Strait was formed and the climate on the entire planet changed. But the most widely known was the grandiose eruption of 1883, when the volcano claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and destroyed more than 200 settlements.

The eruption lasted for several months and culminated on August 28, when most of the island fell into voids in the earth's crust created by a long continuous eruption. The contact of ocean water with magma caused a powerful explosion, heard even in Australia and India. The ash rose to a height of over 70 kilometers and settled within a radius of 500 kilometers. Powerful tsunamis, up to 30 meters high, caused catastrophic destruction in Java and Sumatra.

From the former island of Krakatoa, only three island fragments remain. In 1929, the dome of the new volcano Anak Krakatoa began to grow between them, which at the moment exceeds 300 meters and adds 5-7 meters per year to its height.

I visited the volcano twice during preparation for the Many Faces of Indonesia tour and during its conduct.

Of course, in terms of views and panoramas, any volcano in Sumatra, and even more so in Java, will give Krakatau a huge head start. Well, there is nothing like that here. Perhaps tongues of solidified lava that once flowed straight into the sea...

Gunung Krakatau travels only at the expense of its great history. Opportunities to touch those sad events, even 130 years later...

I got to Krakatau in the cheapest way through the island of Sebesi, which I will talk about below, but for now I’m heading to the volcano.

The Indonesian name Anak Krakatau translates as Child of Krakatau, because all that remains from Pope Krakatau are memories in the form of three islands: Rakata, Rakata Kecil and Sertung.

There was a big wave in the sea, which is usual here, but our boat with balance beams was not afraid of it; it couldn’t capsize – it just splashed it sometimes.

We land on the shore. The sand here is black, heavy, volcanic.

Having paid the standard bribe to the rangers for visiting the island without a ticket, we set off to observation deck. It is prohibited to climb the volcano on your own; you can also approach the crater and go only accompanied by a local ranger. Indonesians use rubber boots for climbing, at first I was perplexed, I thought maybe the track at the beginning of the climb was dirty... But then I realized: so that the fine sand does not get into the shoes. Yes, rubber boots are the best solution here. The climb is easy, the trail is packed - tourist boats from Java come here every day. Participation in such an event costs more than $250...

At the beginning of the trail there are information boards telling about the 1883 eruption and about observations of succession on the island in the second half of the 20th century. After all, it was just a biologist’s dream: Anak Krakatau was populated completely from scratch. In the 30s there was nothing yet, just bare rocks. But then it went on and on: lichens, mosses, grasses, trees. Among the animals that now live here are striped monitor lizards, a couple of species of snakes, small lizards, birds, flying foxes, and rodents.

The trees are predominantly coniferous and are more than 20 years old.

On the trail you periodically encounter bombs - stones that the volcano throws out of the crater during occasional eruptions. They come in red, yellow and gray.

Most beautiful view from Krakatoa - to Rakata Island, just over 800 meters high.

And this is a fossilized lava tongue that flowed into the sea several years ago.

A closer view.

And here is Anak Krakatoa himself.

It’s a pity the ranger didn’t allow us to climb to the top, it doesn’t seem to smoke at all. By the way, he said that he himself had never been to the top... He’s lying, I guess, the Indonesians are curious people, and they only respect the prohibitions of their ancestors, if they are on paper - like using a pitchfork on water.

We go down the loose ground. This is the area where the sand got into the sneakers the most.

We rested a bit and went to way back, on Sebesi.

You can read about my other climbs to the mountains of Indonesia

Well, now the most interesting thing...

How to get there

First you need to get to the city of Kalianda. There are two ways to get there. From Java by ferry to Bakauheni. And then by minibus to Kalyanda for 20,000 rupees. It's an hour's drive. You can take a bus from Bandar Lampung to Bakauheni. It's an hour and a half drive. I can’t say for sure about the price, probably also 20 rupees. From Kalyanda the easiest way is to take a motorcyclist (Ojek) to the Dermaga Canti pier for 15 thousand rupees and a 20-minute drive. In Chanti there is a place to spend the night if necessary, and I advise you to do it there, and not at the Beringin hotel, recommended by Lonely Planet. If you need to spend the night in Kalianda, it is better to stay in the hotel of the same name, it is much newer and friendlier. From Canti, every day after lunch (usually at 13-15 hours) several longboats leave for the island of Sebesi. Their price is 23-25 ​​thousand rupees, the sailing time is 1.5 hours. They sail back to Chanti in the morning at 8-9 o’clock. There is a guesthouse on Sebesi, or you can check into a Homestay with the locals. I wrote in detail about Sebesi Island and living on it in a separate article. On this island there is a man named Umar who catches tourists and offers them his services as a guide. You can resort to his services. But I warn you that I personally did not like this person, he tried to deceive me and in general I feel that he is dishonest. A trip to Krakatoa costs him 1 million rupees. If you want something cheaper, you need to go to the next village to the south (20 minutes on foot) and find a boat there yourself for 500-600 thousand rupees. For example, Sarkim has a boat, here is the phone number of his father Halimi.