Rinjani Dawn Adventures - Trekking Tours — Local services in Lombok

Great organisation to do the hike with! The guide Han or Han solo as we called him together with the porters worked really hard to provide us with a great experience. Great views, good food catered to hiking and good equipment. Pick up and transfer to our hotels before and after. Payment with cards, all made as easy as possible. And the pay off on top of the mountain was gold. We did the 3D2N option. Recommend! Disclaimer: do not do this hike if you are not very fit, it will be very hard. We were fit and still struggled. And definitely wear hiking shoes. Running shoes will NOT do. (Prepare to slip a lot otherwise) Full story: We did the hike with a group of 5 which was a nice social but not too busy experience. As we had different speeds, han tried to provide everyone with support from the porters so we could all do the hike in our own speeds with someone always there to watch and help you. Great! The first day takes about 6 hours of hiking mainly up to the base camp. Tough but doable. Base camp was a bit busy in my opinion, about 300 people trying to sleep on a narrow mountain esdge. However, you won't spend much time there. At about 0200 the next morning you start the final ascent to the peak. Which will take 3-4 hours. Starts tough, small easy but narrow section and the final push to the summit will knock your sox off. Every step on gravel will feel like 10 steps. Especially if the altitude sickness hits you (which most of us got) But once you finally make it you feel like a king. Again, with much help from Han. After that you descend back to base camp in half the time. And after a rest and some food you decent further to the crater lake. If you are like us, you will have hiked 12-14 hours and rest there. After a long rest you start early on your last day which takes you back up the last hill and back down through the jungle and finally arrive at the gate in senaru which took us another 10 hours of hiking. Conclusion: for the experienced hiker and/or very fit athlete this will be a challenge but for the average or unfit this is not for you.

Some pointers for the organisation: do the briefing slower and make sure everyone is aware of how many hours of hiking and what type of terrain they can expect. Before departing from a break or starting point, try to give us a five minute heads-up so all the hikers can prepare and leave at the same time rather then some people having to wait for others. Try to do more mini briefings for the next parts after a stop of so all hikers know what to expect. How long, what terrain, possible dangers and mostly how everyone is feeling. And lastly, not so much for the organisation, but the amount of trash on the mountain was horrible, I'm not sure how long these hikes will be good if everyone keep leaving trash like this.

Much love for...

We did the 2D1N Rinjani Summit Trek and unfortunately, we were quite disappointed overall.

First, the positives: Our guide was very friendly and kind, and we are extremely thankful to the porters – they did an incredible job and worked unbelievably hard. That’s the reason we’re still giving 2 stars.

However, we were expecting much more professionalism and organization for the price we paid. Our guide barely guided us – we were rarely informed about what was going on or what to expect next. We clearly communicated beforehand that we are fit and prefer a faster pace, but our guide already seemed tired on the first day. We often had to wait for him.

The tent situation was honestly a disaster. While all other providers had similar high-quality tents, ours was completely different – unstable, extremely loud, got wet during the night, and flapped around like crazy. It was one of the only tents with that issue, and we couldn’t sleep a single minute. Which is critical on a hike like this.

The food was okay and there was plenty, but we had informed the company three times before the hike that one person is vegetarian. They confirmed it every time, but we still got meat every single day.

Also, the gear provided was either broken or in bad condition. At first we were given two left gloves (luckily we noticed), the trekking poles were already damaged, and the rain poncho tore on its own without any movement.

The summit day was extreme – we saw absolutely nothing at the top. Strong rain, storm, and wind made the climb crazy. Even our guide said he had never experienced anything like it before. We later heard that only about 10–20% of the hikers made it to the summit that day. Again, no information or communication from the guide – we just kept walking in the dark without any real idea of how far or how long.

That said, at least our guide stayed with us the whole time. We saw other groups where the guide turned back and people had to continue on their own – so we do appreciate that he kept going with us.

One more thing: The company promotes itself as eco-friendly and responsible on their website. But during the trek, we honestly didn’t notice any of that. It seems more like a marketing tactic than a real commitment to sustainability.

For the price charged, we expected more – especially basic things like proper tents and working equipment.

We really appreciate the kindness of the staff, but the experience itself didn’t match the promises and definitely needs improvement. Not recommended in its...

We booked our hike with AEF at rinjani dawn. Communication was smooth and easy. They provided me with a packing list of essential items to bring.

Our package was the 4 days 3 nights premium package including better food, chairs, tables and more comfortable tents. We also had an extra porter to help us carry about 10kg - mostly clothing, tripods and some electronics.

In terms of the hike, our guide AWAN was friendly, informative, helpful, watchful and funny. He is a good communicator in terms of what to expect on the hike, level of difficulty etc and he knows the trail well. He always had water, soft drinks and biscuits available for us (although we didn’t always consume it). We felt safe when hiking with him leading the way.

Cooking and food every meal made for us was 5/5. Some highlights: we were served hearty noodle soup for breakfast. The best nasi goreng and line caught tilapia fish from the lake for lunch. Then banana fritters with chocolate sauce for tea time, gado gado and rice for dinner. Every meal also came with either ginger tea, coffee or regular tea as we wished. Then fruits for dessert which was great.

How the team were able to do it all with little equipment, a tonne of enthusiasm and resourcefulness blows my mind. The camping tables and chairs also added to the overall comfort of the experience.

Sleeping comfort camping mats provided were thick enough and padded enough for us and sleeping bags were super warm. Your mileage may very depending on your weight and height. I am 5ft9 about 82 kg and the mats were comfortable enough for me.

Hats off to the 3 porters ( Daliq, awal , Adi ), that accompanied us that always ensured our tent and some snacks and drinks were ready by the time we got to the campsite. When we came down from rinjani, they had snacks ready, when we stopped for lunch in the shade during the hike, they had the mat rolled out for us and we waited just 10 mins before being served a feast.

The dana segara lake was especially wonderful as the guys setup our tent at a more secluded area of the lake away from the other campers within the area. The zero noise and peaceful environment was priceless.

Toilet situation as pleasant as it could possibly be, the guys had the zippered and covered fabric enclosure with extra toilet paper handy.

Overall a fantastic experience with a friendly, reliable, helpful and caring bunch of guys. No hesitation in...