



Verified AWESOME trekking on Mt Rinjani with Tutik Rinjani Trekker! Found this company online with good reviews so contacted this company. The whatsapp replies were pretty prompt and the pricing is relatively reasonable as compared with other companies so I decided to go ahead with this company.I went on a 3d2n trip with my husband. The guide assigned to us was Zaidan. He had picked us up at airport to our accomodation for the first night. The lodging was good, it was a traditional Indonesian wooden house with an attic feel. It's also very quiet, I had a good sleep that night. Zaidan also briefed us on the trek and gave us some options based on our physical fitness after going to the summit.The next morning, we met Tutik and our porters, Pian and Repal, and we set off for Rinjani. Pian and Repal were very good. They went ahead of us so that they can set up resting area and lunch. All the meals were awesome. It's local food, served with fruits and hot beverages. Snacks were also provided throughout the whole trip to address hunger pangs. Zaidan helped me to carry my bag when I got tired, which I am very grateful. When we got to the rim, the tent is pitched already. The tent, pillows (rectangular foam) and sleeping bags are clean. The sleeping bags are very warm so don't have to wear many layers to keep warm. It is very windy at the rim and the tent managed to keep out the wind. I couldn't sleep well on the first night as the tent is flapping from the wind. We feedbacked to Zaidan and the porters fixed it right away. I had a very good sleep on the 2nd night.On the summit day, we woke up at 1 plus in the morning to have a light breakfast before heading for the summit. What looks so close to us is actually so far away! The last bit to the summit is gruelling. I guess we were too slow and Zaidan had to pull me up the gravel path. I was about to give up as I got too breathless in the thin air and tired (from the lack of sleep). I had to stop every 5 steps but Zaidan encouraged me to go on. It was super windy along the way as well and Zaidan passed me his sarong despite himself freezing as well. we made it up to the summit finally. Zaidan helped us to take a lot of photos as my fingers were frozen (it's impossible to remove gloves)My husband and I were thinking how to descend from summit as the sides of the mountain are very steep and the gravel path is very slippery. What I didn't expect was Zaiden taught us to run down from the summit and down the mountain! It was very fun, as though you are skiing on a rock mountain. Subsequently, he also told us when we should run and when we should not. I had trekked many times but it was my first time running a mountain. I guess it is possible because the ground is loose sand. When we descended from the summit to the rim, we got very tired (from the lack of sleep and physical fitness) so we skipped the hot spring and spent one more night on the rim. When we got out of the forest, we were driven to the office to drink up and clean up ourselves (we were super filthy because of the sand & dirt) before they sent us to our next destination.Zaidan recommended us to go to Mt Tambora next time.Overall, I must say the team has done very well in making sure that we feel comfortable throughout the whole trip. Looking back, I still couldn't believe we made it to the summit because it was so tough. If I were to go again, I would ask for Zaiden!