Their journey starts before sunrise. A pair of rubber boots, a flame-torch and two baskets joined by a piece of bamboo are their only tools of trade. The way is long and steep. By the time they reach the top, darkness begins to recede, unveiling the otherworldly view down the crater-rim. Grandiose roc k-formations with threatening, jagged edges surround a calm, impossibly colored turquoise lake, while the volcano sporadically expels a cloud of fumes that envelops everything in shades of yellow, white and grey.
This is Kawah Ijen - East Java’s famous sulfur-belching volcanic crater. It is also the workplace for over 200 sulfur miners.
Ijen’s uncompromising landscape has made it nearly impossible to link the source of sulfur to the outside world via a motorable road. As a result almost nothing in the mining process is mechanized and human muscle-power is relied upon to transport loads of sulfur that weigh as much as 100kg. The job is one of the most grueling in the world. Along their way miners battle uncontrollable coughing and tears that are induced by the toxic, sulfuric fumes. Each man slowly makes his way through the fumes, accompanied by the creaking sound of an overloaded bamboo basket, which presses against his shoulder like a piercing dagger. The pain is excruciating, but the heavier the load the higher the pay.
The path up is steep, winding and narrow. Loose stones and rubble make it slippery; to lose balance or to step in the wrong direction here can mean death.
The final destination is the check post by the nearest road, 5km from the crater. Each sulfur load is weighed and after it’s unloaded into the truck the men receive their reward – a sum of money significantly larger than what they’d earn elsewhere.
The miners live in villages at the foot of the volcano and the difficulty of the work in the crater is familiar to everyone there. Most have tried other jobs, but having failed to yield a sufficient income they return to the place where they would least like to be.
What drives them to risk their lives, to break their bodies, is the desire to earn enough money to settle their debts, to buy a new house, a cow, a motorcycle. Each man wants to build a foundation for his family that would ensure that his children will never have to work at Kawah Ijen.