03/10/2016
It was a long weekend in Indonesia, so mostly all mountains are filled with humans. Kumbaya’s founder and his team are actually one of those humans, we hiked Mt. Merbabu located on Central Java. Brief preface: we drove a car from Jakarta and had to deal with 19 hours traffic; we started our hike from Suwanting village the day after we arrived.
The journey through Suwanting was beautiful, despite the mystical stories that was been told, the pines along the way were breathtaking.
Well if you're wondering what does this story have to do with the unpleasant picture above is that picture was taken at the highest peak of Mt. Merbabu, Puncak Kenteng Songo.
I was angry when I first laid eyes on it. It was filled with unresponsible human beings busy taking pictures with their message on a paper they are holding and just insensitively throw it to the ground when they're done (look at the white trashes on the pictures above).
The most surprising thing was that there was a group of hikers who was blinded by their ego decided to camp on top of the mountain. First of all, when there's camp, there has to be a waste, either it is liquid or solid or even gas, and worst, plastics, and there's no guarantee that there would be someone who would clean up all the mess, on top of the mountain. There's also a possibility that the wastes will be blown off and spread to several places. Second of all, the source of water is far below, so it would be troubling if the water ran out, and they needed it for cook or even worse, they got dehidrated. The most foolish thing is, Merbabu is well-known of its strong wind that leads to storm. Imagine camping on a site where there's no tree to hold the wind or any kinds of blocking for that matter, and at the highest point of the mountain. It would be remarkably dangerous and stupid.
So guys, if you love something you'll take care of it, if you love yourself you'll guard your well-being, if you love your friends you protect them, if you love the mountain you maintain its beauty.