Yogyakarta / Central Java, Indonesia

Merapi Volcano location is at the border of Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province & Central Java Province in Indonesia. It is about 500 kilometres east of Jakarta. Merapi is the most active of the 69 volcanoes with histories of eruptions in Indonesia. It has 3 - 7 years cycle of eruption. Last eruption on 26 October & 5 November 2010 killing more than 300 people, but its deadliest eruption occurred in 1930 when more than 1,300 people were killed. Heat clouds from another eruption in 1994 killed 64 people. Name of Merapi could loosely translated as "Mountain of Fire" from the Javanese combined words; Meru means "mountain" and api means "fire". Smoke can be seen emerging from the mountaintop at least 300 days a year. Merapi Volcano is special place for the people of Java Island as it is one of four places where officials from the Royal Palaces of Yogyakarta and Solo make annual offerings to placate the spirits of Javanese mythology.