Rafting Adventure at Pekalen River with Songa Adventure – Last part of 4

Rafting in Pekalen

The last day of the trip is rafting in Pekalen river Probolinggo, we have been to Ijen Crater and Enjoy The Blue Flame, To Sukamade and release Turtle activity, we enjoyed the stunning moment of beautiful sunrise of Java from Mt Bromo. it such an amazing trip.

This is the last day of our exploration, we’ve climbed to the summit of Ijen crater then paid off by the amazing blue fire, we also have struggled to cross the steep rocky mountain and across rivers to watch the turtles lay their eggs on Sukamade beach and release their babies on the beach in the morning, we also discover the exotic Mt. Bromo, and now we will try rafting at Pekalen river, according to information we received, this river is one of the best rivers for rafting adventure in Indonesia.

Pekalen river located in Probolinggo, on the district named Condong, can be reached approximately 1 – 1.5 hours of Bromo, Pekalen river’s reputation as a rafting location was known throughout the country, challenging rapids and adrenaline, in contrast with 4 people my friend who already tried rafting in Bali, I’ve never done rafting adventure before, this will be the first challenging experience, we are very excited to explore this river.

We arrived at the rafting operator base camp after a trip through the street full of holes and seemingly has not been repaired, after a chat with the officer on guard as necessary, we then transferred to rafting location at the top by a courier who might come from local villagers through the same streets. Along the way, our car was rubbing against by local people who ride motorcycles, it seems he was trying to avoid a hole in the road so accidentally nudged our car, we went down and found the motorcyclist deeply regrets the incident, he displays his countenance as if pleading for apologizes even though he did not say these words, we don’t intend to prolong this trouble, moreover we are also in a hurry, when we left we were just told to the father of cyclists to be more careful while driving.

When we arrived at Songa Rafting basecamp, there is a slight problem occurs, the courier who drove us from the bottom to the basecamp charged us for extra because he has led us, we are confused whether or not such a procedure, I took the initiation to call the contact person of Songa Rafting and asked if we should give additional charge for the courier who drove us, and fortunatelly our contact person was on the location, she then met the courier that the costs are borne by the Songa, the issue is not really how much should we pay for to the courier, we are just afraid this will be a bad habit of charging wildly outside specified.

We were greeted with a welcome drink, fresh tea in bottles by the rafting operator Songa, while my friends relax after the trip, I completed the payment administration for rafting adventure, shortly after we relax, all rafting adventure participants (coincidentally the time that there are so many participants coming from Surabaya and surrounding areas) were collected for briefing before we transferred to Pekalen river. We were transported by truck which took us to the river to begin the adventure to explore Pekalen one of the best rivers for rafting activities in Indonesia, through the residents villages and yard, uphill road occasionally make us have to hold on to the pole on the side of the truck, after about 20 minutes , we finally arrived at the starting point of Pekalen river rafting, everyone was grouped of number of 4 or 5 people, each group was escorted by a guide who is experienced, before long we started across the river with a special boat rafting.

We shouted at by high cascade, we also admire several waterfalls that we passed over the crossing point on the rafting river, a waterfall is a natural nest of bats numbered in the thousands or even tens of thousands. Halfway we all stopped for a break and enjoy a hot drink made from grain processed ginger also tasted delicious fried banana, before long we went across Pekalen river, one of my friends had tried rafting in Bali and he said Pekalen river is cooler and more challenging, is likely to be commensurate with his reputation, Pekalen river is one of the best river rafting activities in Indonesia.

Pekalen river exploration with route 12 km lasted approximately 2.5 hours, when rafting activities completed, we again transported by trucks to the Songa basecamp for rest and lunch. And it was great, once enjoyed a simple lunch after exploring the river. We then showered and ready to go back to Surabaya and end our tour in East Java. It was late afternoon when we left Pekalen river, and we are still going to travel again for 3.5 hours to arrive in Surabaya.
By evening, we arrived in Surabaya and stopped at restaurants on. A. Yani street for dinner, that night we ate grilled chicken and sate, one of the typical Indonesian menu, it seems my friends from Singapore like the menu, and we eaten all that on the table, nothing to left except the plates, next we drive to the hotel where my friends would spend the night, before going home tomorrow morning to Singapore.

This was the fun tour, getting to know new colleagues, get to know their way of life, their daily life, their culture, and customs, as well as how we see each other to discuss the economic situation of each country. Five days is relatively short, but I think it’s more than enough to make us very familiar and close each other. I believe that someday I have a chance to meet them in their country.. Amen!