Are there permanent toilets at Sembalun Crater Rim, or do trekking groups use toilet tents?

Both are true at once, and the honest answer depends on which camp you mean. The park has installed an eco-toilet at Plawangan Sembalun, the Sembalun-side rim camp: a single unit with two cubicles, one seated and one squat, powered by solar panels. It is the only built toilet high on the mountain, it is a shared public facility rather than a private one, and its cleanliness and availability on any given day depend on how many groups passed through before you. There are no permanent toilets at the Senaru rim camp or down at Segara Anak lake.

Toilet tents are the operator solution, and the two systems solve different problems. A private toilet tent is a screened enclosure with a containment unit that your own crew erects near your tents, only your group uses, and the crew packs it out. It is standard in our packages, and we set one up at every overnight camp, which matters most for the lake night where no built facility exists at all. A bare-budget package sometimes means walking to whatever the camp area offers, which on a busy rim weekend is a long walk in the dark to a facility of unknown condition.

Ask your operator two precise questions before booking. Does the package include a private toilet tent at every camp, not just the first, and what exactly is the waste containment method, because a screen with no container is privacy, not sanitation.

Whatever you use, the carry-out rule is absolute. The park’s trekking procedures require groups to manage their rubbish, including used toilet paper, wet wipes, and hygiene products, and rangers check that groups carry their waste down. Burying paper does not work in volcanic soil crowded with camps, and nothing goes into the ground near water sources. Bring a sealable bag for used paper and wipes, keep it in the tent vestibule, and hand it to the crew with the rest of the trash at the exit.

We brief this on the first night, supply the bags, and our porters carry the waste down with the camp load. It is a small ritual that keeps the rim pleasant for the group behind you, and on a mountain this crowded, that etiquette is everyone’s water supply.