The Krakatoa Volcano – Krakatau Volcano Indonesia is a group of islands consisting of three islands and one volcano. These islands and volcano were formerly a single giant ancient Krakatoa – Krakatau volcano. It is believed that the ancient volcano erupted at around 600 AD and tore apart into three islands which now surround the current active volcano. Due to the volcanic activities, once again the southern part of the remaining island formed a new volcano, followed by the formation of other two volcanoes to its north. All of them joined up together and created a 9 km long and 3 km wide fire island.
Destructive Eruption
August 27, 1883 was recorded as the day of the biggest eruption the volcano ever had. More than 36,000 people were killed and its 30-40 m high tidal wave devastated the surrounding area. The two volcanoes on the north plus half cone of the southern volcano were gone. The baby volcano itself just grew around 30 years. The smoking cone you can now see is a grandchild of Krakatau, Anak Krakatau (the Baby of Krakatau), which first appeared in 1929 and has been growing every year.
The actual height of the old Krakatoa - Krakatau was 813 m. The actual height of anak (child) of Krakatau was 194 m in 1987 and 300 m in 2006. Visitors can opt for a day trip taking 10 or 6 hours. However it is also possible to stay over the night camping at Krakatau Island.
The Big Bang of Krakatau in 1883
In 1883 Krakatau - Krakatoa tossed 18-20 cubic kilometer of material 30 km high in to the atmosphere. The heavy material fell back but the soft particles gas and ash rose up to the atmosphere. The hot wave of volcanic gas and ash was circling around the globe 7 times for 4 days; it caused Blood Red color, Orange and other fantastic colors of the sun set. For four to five years it was possible to see here the Blue Moon (1883 – 1888). The Krakatau Volcano - Krakatoa volcano explosion had the power of more than 100.000 ton atomic boom.
The Rebirth of Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatoa Volcano)
Forty years after the main explosion, at the beginning of 1927, volcanic activity was seen in the sea covering the old caldera, between the sites of the two northern most former volcanoes of Krakatau, where the greatest activity had occurred at the time of the cataclysm. A series of eruptions 185 m below the surface of the sea resulted in the emergence of three new islands, one after the other. They were all soon destroyed by surf.
A fourth emerged from the sea on August 12th 1930. It remained above water, and was aptly named Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau). It grew by the accumulation of ash, and suffered a devastating eruption in 1952, and another very destructive one in 1972. It is now 300 m high and 2 km in diameter, and is still active. The northeast coast, north forel and east forel land are now vegetated; the succession of vegetation is still at an early stage, over 200 species of higher plants Casuarina Equisetifolia (Cemara) being the dominant trees and 36 species of birds were recorded in 1980.
The three outer islands of the present Krakatau volcano group (Rakata, Sertung and Panjang) are however the remnants of the previously huge volcanic island called "Ancient Krakatau". It had 11.000 m in diameter and it was 2000 m high. According to records in the Javanes Book of King it exploded and collapsed perhaps in prehistoric times but possibly as recently as 416 AD.