"We had a great time!!!"
Dear Mr. Rorne Tan,
My name is Christine Reinhard and my husband Jonathan Muzio and I had the pleasure of having Wayan as our guide during our stay in Lombok. We wanted to write to let you know that Wayan was an excellent guide! He was very friendly, made us feel very comfortable, and was incredibly informative! We thoroughly enjoyed both our treks with him and the other guides. Unfortunately I am terrible with names so our driver's name escapes me. He was also very helpful and kind. We wanted to send a 'Thank you' to them and your company for making our stay in Lombok interesting and fun, despite Mt. Rinjani's eruption.
.... Commented by Christine Reinhard & Jonathan Muzio, USA
“The final last few hundred metres at Mount Rinjani in Day Tour!!!”
I was at Mt Rinjani recently. I engaged a network called World Heritage Network for a Mt Rinjani trekking tour and it was an incredible journey of my life. Few weeks before, I found the network’s website that was and still is very informative: www.whnrinjani.blogspot.com where I gathered all relevant information of the type of trek and type of tour I was getting myself into. After reading good reviews about their services, I have decided to email them and booked the tour. Their email address is worldheritage101@yahoo.com and they responded real quick and efficiently. The network really knows what we want as tourists. Information! Information! Information! Then come my judgement day trekking Mt Rinjani. After a gruesome 11hours hike from base camp to the crater rim, I was so exhausted and slept early. To reach the summit, you will have to wake up at 2.00am morning call to prepare yourself and start trekking about 3.00am. If you take your time and not hurry, by the time you get near the summit, the morning sun would be just peeking over the horizon. And you will experience at least two things.
First, the view is postcard like - really breath taking. If you look to your right, you will see the long shadow of Mount Rinjani running across the horizon west worth - as if its running away from the happy morning sun - and at one glance it looks like another mountain peak, but than you realize that its Rinjani's peak. At this realization, you will likely experience the joy associated with awe of being there.
Secondly, you will see ahead of you a dark grey trail of about 300 meters, snaking upwards towards the summit. It is inclined at about 45%. Doesn't look menacing. Not at ALL. Then you put your foot into it, and it shakes the volcanic rocks that paved the part. And these rocks are a good mix of gravels of different sizes - from about an inch in diameter to about four inches. Your feet slides back worth as you try to conquer a step, and you push your foot to wriggle a foothold against the reluctant trail. EVERY step is laborious. EVERY step. This is Rinjani's last bastion of defense before surrendering her summit to you. And boy what a test of your fighting spirit. These 300 meters extracted miles of energy from my body and ask of my soul - what stuff are you made of. I took almost 2 hours...to battle these 300 meters and 300 meters is not even a run round a good size field... 2 hours... for 300 meters of Rinjani. I saw able bodied men's spirit broken by these 300 meters. And their head hung low and their breathing labored as they slump against this trail... beaten by Rinjani. I also saw fragile petite ladies also breathing as laboriously, spirit stronger than steel, made a better person for soldering on when the going got really tough. They wear the serene satisfied look of a victorious soul - Rewarded by Rinjani.So, of all the wonders that a trip to Mont Rinjani offers, the above two makes the entire trip worth repeating.
...Commented by Ally Scott, New Jersey, USA
After reading so much raving reviews about World Heritage Network, I decided to give them a try, and they didn't disappoint one bit. Although the trek was really challenging, and I didn't make it to the summit due to breathing difficulties, to be up at such height was already amazing enough for me, especially as I was the only solo traveler in the group. When we reached the campsite for the first night, we were just in time for sunset, but the most amazing part was that we were well above the clouds, making it an even spectacular sight. The next day, we were up on the Senaru crater rim, and so began our trek down to the lake and the hot springs. The trail was a little treacherous, with railings that were loose, and rocky parts where you really had to be careful. The hot springs wasn't that pretty, but i would recommend that you soak yourself in such warmth, and then head to the cold refreshing waterfall. It really invigorates your senses. After lunch we headed up again to the Sembalun crater rim, where we had to scramble up rocks and trek in misty landscapes. It reminded me of Frodo and company in Lord of the Rings. Absolute silence and beauty surrounding you. Watch the stars at night, and you might probably catch 20 shooting stars. I have never seen the night sky so dirty with stars before. The only bad point is that the area around the campsite and along the trails are indeed dirty. Tissue paper, food packaging, plastic bags strewn everywhere. Our guide was really patient, and is an amazing cook. We had burgers, chicken curry, chicken rice, omelettes, great delicious food for our meals. He would ask what we would like to eat every time, and he would never fail to deliver them to us. The porters in their flip flops were amazing too. They were carrying maybe 10kilograms of food, tents, cooking equipments on one shoulder, finding wood for fire and they were still quicker than everybody else. Our group had a tent for our toilet for privacy, and we had sleeping mats and pillows ready in our tents when it was time to sleep. They would also try to collect every bit of rubbish and litter in a garbage bag and bring it all the way down. I didn't see any other guides and porters doing that. Needless to say everyone in our group tipped them generously for their crazy hard work. As such, I highly recommend World Heritage Network to anyone as they would take good care of you through out the whole entire time when you are with them. Their website: www.whnrinjani.blogspot.com is very informative and you can email them here: worldheritage101@yahoo.com. And I would also recommend this trek to anyone who would want to be transported into another world where only nature thrives in its own spectacular beauty.
...Commented by Edward Beneto, Manila, Philippines
