Mount Karangetang is an awesome Jurassic Park-looking volcano that dominates the remote island of Siau in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
You can’t go anywhere on tiny Siau island without seeing this majestic volcano and its twin smoking craters. If you’re lucky, you may even get to see it spouting molten lava and rock bombs at night, which it does pretty often.
In this guide, I’ll share my experience hiking the Karangetang volcano in 2021, and I’ll give some tips in case you plan to climb it yourself.
Is It Safe?
First of all, let’s talk about safety. Karangetang is a highly active volcano — probably one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
The local guides are knowledgeable and any seismic activity is monitored by the Indonesian government, but there’s still plenty of risk involved in climbing this mountain. It may erupt at any time.
You can climb to the top of Karangetang if you’re feeling extra crazy, but to be safe most people only hike partway up this mountain and peep at the smoking craters from a distance (and even that is a bit risky).
Climbing any active volcano carries some danger obviously, but this one is unusually active, so proceed at your own risk.
My Local Guide: Dominik
I would highly recommend going with a local guide for this hike, because the trail is hard to navigate otherwise.
I did this hike with Dominik, a local guide in Siau island with many years of experience climbing Karangetang. His brother also joined us for the hike and helped clear vegetation with a machete, and their dog came along too.
He can also help arrange other tours and activities in the area, although we set those up through the Kalea Beach Resort, where we stayed in Siau.
My Local Guide: Dominik
I would highly recommend going with a local guide for this hike, because the trail is hard to navigate otherwise.
I did this hike with Dominik, a local guide in Siau island with many years of experience climbing Karangetang. His brother also joined us for the hike and helped clear vegetation with a machete, and their dog came along too.
He can also help arrange other tours and activities in the area, although we set those up through the Kalea Beach Resort, where we stayed in Siau.
Mount Karangetang: What To Expect
• Starting The Hike
My guides and I started this hike very early because I wanted to be sure to get clear views of the volcano.
That turned out to be a good decision, because when we exited the treeline some thick clouds began to roll in, slowly obscuring the summit.
There was a 30 minute scooter ride to the trailhead on the south side of the volcano, and then we started hiking at 3:15 AM.
