It’s 5ºC on Mount Gede
That night, our group of 7, divided into two groups. Five of us camped at Alun-Alun Surya Kencana while the other two camped on the summit of Mount Gede with a rented tent from a kiosk that selling hot drink and meals near there. They were too exhausted to continue to Alun-Alun Surya Kencana which was still about an hour trek down to the valley.
The temperature that night was unexpectedly cold as well. I didn’t check. I was told the next morning that that night the temperature dropped to 5ºC. I usually can stand cold but I was freezing. We prepared for the cold but not to that degree. We wore layers and put on everything we had to keep us warm. One of us even said they he noticed the dew on our tent was frozen.
A few days ago, I read from the news that the temperature around Mount Bromo and Semeru also unusually dropped, snowflakes were seen at some of the areas. It seems that global warming, climate change have affected our living significantly.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, our group of 4 went to Seribu Island in Jakarta to explore and practice our snorkelling and freediving skill. The weather was pleasant and the water visibility was much better than I have ever encountered before so far in Seribu. We went to a few new spots and we saw big corals and abundance of reef fish and some other type of fish.
In term of marine life, compared to other places in Indonesia, Seribu may not be able to live to that standard. However, considering the location that is so near to Jakarta with multiple flights available daily, I would say, it is not that bad at all. Although I can’t deny that I spotted many broken corals that may be caused by the bad practice of human activities as well as the impact of climate change.
Since August 2018, I have started encouraging participants to bring their own water bottle and I no longer provide bottled mineral water during the trip. Instead, I prepare a water gallon to refill our own water bottle. This is one of the ways that I could think of as to reduce plastic wastes that has become one of the biggest pollutions to our environment – be it on the land or underwater.
We are living in a beautiful world but how long the beauty will last if all keep degrading this way?
If you have any thoughts regarding the trips or anything that you think is useful and you want to share with Eazy community, please feel free to let me know. :)
