Mining sulphur on Gunung Ijen

On the steepest slopes of Gunung Ijen, a bunch of hard working men has created a job for only the toughest men; mining sulpur from the crater. After that, the stuff has to be transported all the way down, mostly on foot, because trucks, cars and even motorbikes can't get here ... obviously.

		Hard labour An older man carries two buckets of sulphur from the excavation site. At this station, they get paid ...			Weighing sulphur At the post where they bring their sulphur, there is an 'official' scale for weighing the sulphur. Maybe ...			Two full buckets With two full buckets of sulphur it's quite a climb up to the weighing post. It takes quite ...
		Up from the crater A worker brings up a heavy load of sulphur from the foggy depths of the crater. ...			Yellow chunks but just not too heavy ...			Heavy toxic fumes Heavy toxic fumes rise from the site where the workers gather the sulphur. Most of the sulphur is ...
		Candy seller? No, this is no candy of course, it's a bright piece of sulphur, freshly excavated from the crater. ...			Transporting sulphur fumes Sulphur fumes are transported down from a higher location. It's more convenient to bring the sulphur to you ...			Smelly but fresh A fresh chunk of smelly sulphur is taken away from one of those drain channels. Sulphur builds up ...
		Yellow souvenir When a small twig, or something else, is held just below the end of the drain pipes, the ...			Working for the money geologically seen -, the environment changes on a regular basis. ...			Breaking sulphur With a piece of iron, chunks of sulphur are broken off from the place where the minerals are ...
		Picture moment Between all the hard work, the suffocating sulphuric fumes and colleagues there is time for a photo opportunity. ...			The climb By hand, into big baskets, the chunks of sulphur are brought up from the lower parts of the ...			Blue crater lake Just behind the excavation site, you will find this blue-colored crater lake. Minerals in the water and the ...
		From the deep The blue crater lake is at a distance, still this worker has had a pretty long climb behind ...			On the top From one of the higherst part of Gunung Ijen, you an see big parts of the colorful crater ...			The trip down Spectacular views from the edge of the crater here. The workers take the easy road down here, since ...