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| Mekaki Bay - Lombok |
The last two weeks have been spent exploring the islands of Lombok and Sumbawa, and we have just arrived in Flores.
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| One of several Hindu processions |
Lombok - the island east of Bali remains relatively unspoilt in the south, though there has been a lot of development in the north around the Gili Islands, however they have ambitions to attract tourists away from Bali and have built a large new airport and are putting a lot of effort into developing Kuta on the south coast, with the whole seafront being paved to create a large promenade. However it is still early days and Lombok offers fantastic deserted sandy beaches along the south coast. As a result of the government relocation of people from areas with high populations there are some interesting mixes in villages, with one half of a village Muslim, from people relocated from Java, and the other half Hindu, with people relocated from Bali. These villages have generally ben created in areas on Lombok, and Sumbawa where there is little population, and the countryside has not previously been used for agriculture. In addition to the building of some infrastructure, mainly roads, there is also some development of irrigation which is essential for these areas to develop. Several times we have driven along beautiful new roads - with signposts, and white lines, to find they suddenly end in the middle of nowhere and we have to backtrack.
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| Ebony Langur |
Looming over Lombok is Mount Rinjani, the second highest volcano in Indonesia and a popular trekking destination. For a few days the top was unusually clear - it normally attracts a shroud of cloud, and on its slopes are rainforests. We were fortunate to see a troupe of ebony langurs as we drove over the shoulder of Rinjani on our way to Terjun and Sendang waterfalls.
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| Sendang waterfall |
Sumbawa comes as a complete contrast to the previous islands, as it is very dry, with mainly sedimentary rocks rather than deposits from volcanoes. The central area is very mountainous and almost completely undisturbed supporting a much drier forest, many of the trees showing autumnal type colours as we are in the dry season here. The south coast of blessed with extensive deserted white sand beaches, and on west facing shores more excellent surf. There had been very little tourist development so we always attract a lot of interest as we pass through. The north coast is very dry, and undeveloped, but again transmigration is planned with some roads laid out for new towns but with no houses. The ground supports little natural vegetation, but where it has been cleared and irrigated lush crops grow. Huge areas have been roughly cleared, but now need the manpower to create the paddies and plant and manage crops. Around Bima on Sumbawa is a huge area of salt farming, where shallow "fields" are flooded with sea water and left to evaporate with the salt scraped off the base manually using wooden rakes. Again very labour intensive.
Yesterday we caught the ferry to Flores, arriving in Labuan Bajo in the late afternoon after sailing past Komodo Island.
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| Dry landscape of Sumbawa |
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| Houses for transmigration |
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| With no rubbish collection - some roads are blighted |
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| Bima salt farm |
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| Sumbawa traditional houses |
Lombok - the island east of Bali remains relatively unspoilt in the south, though there has been a lot of development in the north around the Gili Islands, however they have ambitions to attract tourists away from Bali and have built a large new airport and are putting a lot of effort into developing Kuta on the south coast, with the whole seafront being paved to create a large promenade. However it is still early days and Lombok offers fantastic deserted sandy beaches along the south coast. As a result of the government relocation of people from areas with high populations there are some interesting mixes in villages, with one half of a village Muslim, from people relocated from Java, and the other half Hindu, with people relocated from Bali. These villages have generally ben created in areas on Lombok, and Sumbawa where there is little population, and the countryside has not previously been used for agriculture. In addition to the building of some infrastructure, mainly roads, there is also some development of irrigation which is essential for these areas to develop. Several times we have driven along beautiful new roads - with signposts, and white lines, to find they suddenly end in the middle of nowhere and we have to backtrack. 
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