The eruption of Tambora was 20 times more powerful than Krakatau, but Krakatau is more widely known, partly because it erupted in 1883 after the invention of telegraph.
Tambora blew up in 1815.
The ground shook, sending tsunamis racing across the Java Sea.
The eruption
lowered global temperatures and some led to global cooling. It made harvest
failures, death of breeding animals and famine in all Europe and America
continent. The year after Tambora blown up became known as “a year without a
summer”.
There was villages buried
under the ash had been unearthed in Sumbawa. Archeologist found bronze bowl,
ceramic pots and other artifacts of old Indonesian culture beneath 3m (10 ft)
of ash. The large wooden palace and the rest of the town are still buried down
there. Tambora could be potentially hailed as” The Pompeii of The East”.
Mount Tambora offers adventurous trekking now. It is nice and wonderful natural forest and archeological sites over there.
We
can fly to Bima from Bali. To reach Mount Tambora, first we need to get the
village of Pancasila.
Take
the Dompu bus in early morning and tell the driver that we want to go to
Calabai Pancasila. He will drop us after 4-5 hours at the tee-intersection from
where the road to the right goes to Dompu (about 20 km away) and the road to
the left will takes us to Calabai.
There
are regular buses to Calabai but the road is a bit bumpy and the 110 km trip
takes 4-5 hours. From Calabai we have to take an ojek (back of a motorcycle) to
Pancasila.
It
may be wiser, have a good night's rest and make the journey to
Calabai/Pancasila in the next day. In that way we will arrive in Pancasila
reasonably rested. We can buy some supplies for the trip to Calabai. There are
plenty of shops selling noodles, biscuits, fruit, bottled water etc.
If
we are riding a motorbike/scooter you should be warned: the road is really
pot-holed and we must pay it the respect it's due. Allow six hours for the 130
km Dompu – Pancasila journey.
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