Kesongo Mud volcano

Published: 14th August 2019

Type of volcano: Mudvolcano

Location: Central-Java, Indonesia.

Visited Kesongo mud volcano in the morning of the 8th August. I had tried getting to Kesongo in 2018, but didn’t manage to get to it because of poor road access. There is still no roads leading to Kesongo that fits a car, so you have to walk or get there by motorcycle. The area does not see many visitors at all. The locals surprised to see a foreigner wanting to see Kesongo, thought I had come to harvest some of the magical powers of spirits that is said to linger in the area. After denying this to them, and they learned that I was there just to see the mud field, they told me the spirits of Kesongo could bring visitors fortune. According to them, even some Indonesians from far off places, have come here, not to see Kesongo itself, but its spirits..

On arrival at the mudflow I was surprised on how big it actually is. Being in the middle of the dry season, it hadn’t rained for over 1 month, according to locals I talked to. The main field of Kesongo is definitely active, however being in the dry season, the mud was quite “dried up”. Especially on the outer edges. As expected, the locals told me that the mudflow was wetter and more activity could be seen during the rainy season. This means ofcourse, that I must return to Kesongo at a later stage. The locals also told me that there was another significant mudflow outside the main flow of Kesongo, this field was called `Anak-Kesongo` (Child of Kesongo), see photo 20-21.

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Total photos in this article: 21 (Available in Jpg/Raw.). (50+ photos not published)

Total videos: 0  (drone) (Available in 4K)

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8th August 2019

Photo 1. Kesongo mud volcano seen from a distance. It is really a big one. The inner/central part of the mudflow is the most active part. The outer part is now more vegetated, but still you can see the edges of the outer part, neighboring agricultural land.
Photo 2. A closer look at the central part of Kesongo. It was amazing to see that the mud fields also contain nice colors.
Photo 3.
Photo 4. Sunrise over Kesongo.
Photo 5. Looking down on the Northern edge of the active mudflow. The green/yellow areas are vegetation.
Photo 6. Outside the edges of the active mudflow, there are also areas were mud have recently made its way to the surface. This mud is dry and therefore contains more cracks than the mud seen in the more active part of Kesongo.
Photo 7. Also on the edge of the mudflow, there is a body of water, altough being in the middle of the rainy season. In the background you can see the mighty Lawu stratovolcano.
Photo 8. Me and my driver in front of the central part of Kesongo.
Photo 9. A wave of mud frozen in the dry season. During the rainy season, I think this mud is more “alive”, since the added water will make it flow easier..
Photo 10. Looking straight down at Kesongo
Photo 11.
Photo 12. Edge of the more recent mud flows.
Photo 13.
Photo 14. The uniform pattern of the mud is really fascinating to look at.
Photo 15. Grey colored wave of mud, about to covered older brown mud.
Photo 16.
Photo 17.
Photo 18.
Photo 19.
Photo 20. Around 700m from the edge of Kesongo mudvolcano, there is another small mudvolcano, named Anak-Kesongo (child of Kesongo) by the locals.
Photo 21. From the appearance of it, it looks like this much smaller mud field is active as well..