[2] The massif also contains the highest mountain in Java,[3] Mount Semeru (3,676 meters (12,060 ft)), four lakes and 50 rivers.

Mount Batok is the only peak that is no longer active, and is covered in casuarina (Indonesian: cemara) trees.

The peak of Mount Pananjakan is the most popular place to watch the entire volcanic complex of Tengger.

Nighttime temperatures in winter commonly fall below zero degrees Celsius, with potential for frost and light snow.

There are also liana trees, such as a variety from the genus Calamus, Piper, Asplenium, and Begonia, and other plants from the family Araceae, Poaceae, and Zingiberaceae.

There are also some wooden plants such as cemara (Casuarina junghuhniana), mentinggi gunung (Vaccinium varingifolium), kemlandingan gunung (Albizia lophantha), acacia bark (Acacia decurrens) and bottom plants such as Javanese edelweiss or senduro (Anaphalis longifongila and Anaphalis javanica), Imperata cylindrica, Pteris sp., Themeda sp.

Some endangered flora are protected in this park, such as Fagaceae, Moraceae, Sterculiaceae, Casuarina junghuhniana, Javanese edelweiss, and about 200 species of endemic orchids.

[2][11] The area in and around the park is inhabited by the Tengger people,[2] one of the few significant Hindu communities remaining on the island of Java.

Their population of roughly 600,000 is centered in thirty villages in the isolated Tengger mountains including Mount Bromo and areas within the park.

The Tengger people are believed to be descendants of the Majapahit empire and were driven into the hills after mass arrival in the area of Muslim Madurese in the 19th century.