Ijen’s Blue Flames

Mount Ijen is one of the mountains that are located in Banyuwangi. Many tourist from domestic or international countries are willing to come to this mount. The main reason is at a certain time the crater of Ijen produces blue fire. This blue fire phenomenon was first found by locals in 1950.

Why can this blue flame phenomenon happen?

Mainly, the color that resonates from the mountain is orange or red because of the lava from the earth's center. But the resonating color of Ijen's Crater is not because of the lava, but because of the gas from a highly concentrated and pressured sulphur, with a high temperature (til 600°C). The oxygen lights up because of the heat, so the sulphur will be burned and produces that blue color.

The best time to see this blue flame is at 5.00 AM in the morning. It is because of the oxygen at that time is at its best and the blue will look perfect. The blue flame isn't caused by the lava, so it can be only seen when there’s no sunlight

To see it, tourists are needed to wear a mask. Because the flames are produced sulphur gas that can be nauseating.

This Blue flame can be something to show off by Indonesians because there are only 2 countries with blue flames in this world. That is Iceland and Indonesia.