Merapi

Merapi volcano, Java - darkometer rating : 7 - Merapi is Indonesia 's most active volcano, and that's saying something in this country that has more active volcanoes than any other! Located in Central Java, it is also dangerously close to a very densely populated part of the country. Hence its frequent eruptions often affect the people, sometimes even catastrophically so, such as in 2010 when enormous pyroclastic flows and subsequent lahars wreaked havoc on the southern slopes of the mountain, where whole villages were buried and hundreds perished. Amazingly, however, you can tour such areas of destruction by jeep; this is even an evidently popular local tourism activity. So don't expect to have it all to yourself. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Gunung Merapi, to give it its full name in Indonesian, is not only the most active (and youngest), it is also one of the biggest and tallest volcanoes in Indonesia , at nearly 3000m (10,000 feet). The name simply translates from Javanese roughly as 'fire mountain' (an almost depressingly common unimaginative name for volcanoes; cf. e.g. Eldfell near Heimaey , Iceland ). It is not the only one of this name – so do not confuse this volcano on Java with the other Mount Merapi, or sometimes Marapi, on Sumatra! To confuse matters even more, there is yet another (dormant) Merapi in Java, namely near Ijen . This one, the big Mt Merapi in Central Java is indeed an incredibly active volcano and has been for a long time.