Mt. Bromo National Park!

Marisa and I are currently in East Malaysia on Borneo exploring this incredible part of the world with our tour guests!! It has been an epic motorcycle adventure and the first two of the three tours of 2025 were such a success, that we are excited to announce our Borneo to be Wild 2026 Tour Dates! Join us in February of 2026 as we seek out natural wonders, orangutans, and ride through a remote and beautiful part of the world!

As we planned, prepped, and are now leading these tours, we have gotten a bit behind in our blog posts. We are now going to put our full attention back into our social media content.

This post is a flashback to one of the most magical landscapes we have come across throughout all of Southeast Asia - Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. This is my deep dive (and steep hike up) to an otherworldly landscape, a sea of sand, and a volcano that can destroy the most powerful of rings.

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​If you were to Google Image Search “Mt. Bromo” you would be directed to a satellite view of a smoldering, active volcano. And if you zoomed out just a little, you would see five more volcanos that bulge out of the earth from an ancient hot spot that resembled the goosebumps that formed on my arm as I first viewed out at the calderas.
 
But if you were to zoom out even further, you will see that the five volcanos are all formed within a larger, ancient MEGA Caldera. It was like seeing a fly on a frog, then noticing the frog was on a turtle, only to realize it was turtles all the way down. The magnitude of the volcanic complex is absolutely mind-blowing.

​To reach this surreal destination, you have to cross something that sounds like it could be pulled from the map of a fantasy novel. THE SEA OF SAND would be written in a bold, foreboding font and scattered skull and cross bone icons would indicate the hazards that lay before you. The map‘s legend would reveal that the gas mask symbol designated the areas where sulfuric clouds of gas spewed out of the volcanos and hung low to the earth. The entire panorama looked like it could be the set of the next season of Fallout or any other post-apocalyptic movie.
 
The landscape wasn’t finely chiseled marble that left the smooth edges to form Michelangelo’s David. The rough edges of this massive caldera seemed to be carved by a chainsaw that left deep scars across the earth. The steep walls of the ancient volcano’s rim soared straight into the sky from the crater’s floor. Four new cones emerged within the giant super volcano that erupted ash and debris from their depths. This was a violent and chaotic place 45,000 years ago. But now, after the dust had settled to create the Sea of Sand, we could look out in awe to a real-life Mordor and not be afraid of being attacked by orcs.

​The only modern-day hazards were the 4x4s being driven by local tour guides. Instead of a constant flow of lava there was a constant bombardment of Toyota Land Rovers. Hundreds of them locked their trajectory straight into the path of our small motorcycle. There was a width of a hundred yards to safely pass us, but each and every one of them chose to come within feet of our track.

​But like most epic quests involving brave Knights and Dames, we conquered the elements, rode past the stream of combative non-playable characters, and made it to a safehouse to collect our bounty of rewards from such a stunning day’s ride. We pulled into our hotel and made Cahyo Homestay our basecamp for the next two days as we explored the area.
 
That night, the sun looked as if it had gone supernova turning the atmosphere into a Martian landscape. If NASA’s Rover had landed anywhere near us, scientists would have assumed it was an uninhabitable environment that could not support any forms of life. But we were there, breathing in the chilly air as we stared out in awe.

​The following morning, we rode our Bajaj Pulsar 220 to a small parking lot and started our hike to Seruni Point for sunrise. We were once again blown away by what lay before us as If it was the first time we had seen this alien landscape. There was almost no need for a drone at the altitude we were at. We had a bird’s eye view of the volcanos that gathered together as if taking a family photo. The scene before us would be impossible to convince people of its existence without photographic evidence. I couldn’t believe it myself, and I was the one staring out at its glory.

​After taking in the views from afar, absorbing in everything from a distance, we decided to look down into the throat of the monster before us. But instead of riding our Bajaj Pulsar 220 back across the madness that is the Sea of Sand… aka: SOS, we decided to hire two smaller scooters complete with drivers that would taxi us to the steps of the smoldering volcano.

​What awaited us after our short scooter ride was a thousand steps that led to the volcanic crater. Thankfully, there were plenty of rest areas with small benches that we took full advantage of. Marisa and I aren’t exactly great hikers, but this was a pilgrimage that would allow us to stare into the golden eyes of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation.

​The name Bromo is the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, but this god-like volcano seemed more of a destroyer than a creator. But it was apparent that all of the land around us was fertile and appeared to be able to turn a single seed into a lush garden within weeks due to the nutrients in the earth. It was incredible what could flourish in a seemingly toxic area.
 
But Brahma, and his four heads that looked out in each direction, was blessing the land with vegetation and life. Once at the top of the crater, we saw a small idol of the Hindu god Ganesha, that is still worshipped by the Javanese Hindus.

​Marisa and I were only allowed thirty minutes at the edge of Bromo’s crater. The thick smell of sulfur filled our lungs as plumes of toxic gas burst into the sky. There are days, even entire weeks, that the stairway to Bromo’s crater is closed due to the unsafe levels of gases being released. But we had hiked up on a clear sunny day, to peer down into the gates of hell, and were surrounded by gods, poison, lush vegetation, and views one could only look down at as if on top of Mt. Olympus alongside the gods themselves.

​This is not a mythical place of legend, us mere mortals can walk amongst the wonders, look upon its beauty, and appreciate the pure and raw sculpting that is only achievable from millions of years of mother nature molding her creation, regardless of if you call her Bromo, Brahma, or Gaia.

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Indonesia has provided us with a lifetime of memories so far, and there is so much more to discover. We can't wait to share all of our experiences with you here on our blog, via our YouTube channel, Facebook, and on Patreon (our Patrons get early access to all of our videos, ad free, and our up-to-date notifications!)

We love having you follow us along on our journey on social media, but if you want to physically ride alongside us on a motorcycle through some of these magical places, join us on our Borneo to be Wild Tour across Sabah, east Malaysia! Check out all of the dates, itinerary, prices, and FAQs by clicking on our tour dates page.

There is so much more that we can't wait to share with you, either here, virtually, or in person on our grand tour of Borneo's most iconic locations!

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