Lazy Days on Gili Air

I only spent one day on Gili T., then took an island hopping boat to Gili Air, a more laid back and less developed island. It’s easy to get stuck on Gili Air, which I did. This island still maintains mostly bamboo huts, like the one I stayed in ...

While staying on the island I did my best to minimize the resources I used and the trash I created. This meant quick showers, refilling a water bottle at local restaurants, and if I did generate any trash (paper, broken headphones, etc.) I took it with me when I left the island. I spent tranquil days reading in a hammock, tanning on the beach, and I went snorkeling for the first time in my life. I went with guide from the guest house where I was staying and we rented snorkels and fins from a local vender. Amazing. Internet access is so slow to the point of being useless (which explains the delay in posting these entries), but I did have a chance to look up some eco-snorkeling tips before my original departure. Like, many websites giving eco-advice, these tips seem obvious, but then you see the pictures of people holding up the coral they found … anyway, here’s the link.

(Gili Air)

There are far fewer visitors that stay on Gili Air. While Gili Trawangan has a community group called SATGAS managing the community’s and tourist’s interests, the only type of local authority on Gili Air and Meno is from the local village head who handles disputes. At this time I’m not sure if any waste management programs have been started? Most of the places are still locally owned, but two professional dive schools have opened on Gili Air, as well as a few upscale establishments. One place even tries to appeal to visitors by offering a “gym.”

On my last day on Gili Air, and the Gili islands in general, I sign up for a full day glass bottom boat tour of the three islands. I was also able to visit Gili Meno for the first time. From what I understand most visitors to Meno, especially during the offseason, are just day visitors. I went with an Italian couple, a German couple, and the Indonesian 2 men who operate the boat to various snorkeling places around the islands. Their boat, along with a few other glass bottom boats originating from the other islands, tie up to a pre-arranged anchored buoy – so everyone is snorkeling at the same spot. We end up seeing several turtles, brightly colored fishes, and at one location a large stingray quickly zooms by some meters under our feet. And, if the call to prayer seems mesmerizing to my foreign ears usually, it seems even more so when snorkeling underwater and hearing it echoing around the fishes.

It’s a Catch 22 when it comes to the fish surrounding the islands – visitors love seeing the multicolored fish, but they also love eating them. Each night the restaurants on the islands display a selection of newly caught fish available for BBQ, and served with rice and vegetables. While Gili Trawangan is trying to work with fisherman to modify their fishing methods, there is still a steady demand for fish created by tourism … and, um, I admit it’s delicious.

After several days spent on Gili Air, I finally drag myself away. Taking the slow boat away from the island, I can’t help but ponder the future of this little island. Tourism will undoubtedly increase, but I just hope the island is able to adopt some appropriate management strategies to keep the tourism industry in balance. Gili Air has such a tranquil character and rich marine environment it would be sad to see it overexploited for only short-term gain, but as the projects on Gili Trawangan demonstrate even the best intentioned sustainable development ideas can lead to problems.

The Gili Islands

I brushed away the flies and continued to wait for the boat. Other passengers dozed on the nearby benches. Farm women waited outside with woven baskets brimming with food. This food was destined for island restaurants - short juicy bananas, spiky bunches of pineapples, unknown greens, buckets of fish, and one lady held a chicken by its feet. From where I sat, melting into a bench in the Indonesian noontime heat, I could clearly see brown naked boys laughing and jumping off docked boats into the clear blue water of the sea. This is the tiny port of Bangsal, a departure point for the Gili islands – Gili Air, Gili Meno, and Gili Trawangan – off the Northeast shore of Lombok. To reach the Gilis one can either go the slow and cheap way, a public boat from Bangsal, or the fast and expensive way, a speed boat from Bali (well, relatively expensive- $20 versus .50 cents).

The Gilis look like a slice of paradise with their impressively blue clear water, bamboo huts, horse drawn wagons (no motor vehicles are allowed on the islands). Located in the waters off the NW corner of Lombok, the Gili islands remained uninhabited until fisherman from nearby islands started setting up homes, and starting coconut plantations. Rumor has it that a German travel writer visited during the 1980s, and this is what led to the development of tourism on the island. Originally guests would just stay in the homes of villagers, but tourism has since grown and all the islands offer hotels, guest houses, and restaurants.

The first place I visit is Gili Trawangan. Many of the bamboo huts on this island have been replaced with more solid and posh establishments, but there is still a relaxed beach vibe – at least during the day, during the nighttime Gili T. is known for its party reputation. Walking around the island there was a fair amount of building going on, and places planned for hotels – like “Eden Edge,” though when I walked past it didn’t look particularly Eden-ish. This island is also supposed to be the smallest island in the world with its own Irish pub.

(Eden's Edge - said completion "2008"?!?)

While the other two islands have remained more rustic and less “spoiled”, Gili Trawangan’s popularity has led it to become the most developed and pricey of the three islands. The island is home to several foreign owned dive schools and up market hotels established by international business interests. Gili Trawangan has also become the subject of several case studies discussing sustainable tourism. In particular, I found an excellent 4pg article discussing “What Hinders the Path to Sustainability?” The paper discussed several of the barriers the island faces and what actions have been taken.

In brief, the dive schools organized the Gili Trawangan Eco-trust and started charging divers a tax of about $3. The collected money then went to projects to repair damaged coral by using metal rods to create artificial reef, paying fisherman not to fish using explosives and other environmentally dangerous methods, organizing beach cleanups, and running a waste management disposal program. However, from the theory stage to implementation the projects hit snags due to various barriers like lack of resources, education, and motivation. I did witness the rods still in place helping to re-grow reef, but many fisherman continue using explosives and damaging the marine environment. The beach cleanups had organizational problems and ended up fizzling out, and the waste management system without the proper knowledge ended up being just a large dumping pit. The walls put up around the pit were stolen, and the big open pit ended up breeding rodents and disease. However, this took place on the interior island, where most tourists don’t venture.

Trekking at Gunung Rinjani

The gigantic Rinjani volcano dominates the small island of Lombok. It reaches to the hight of 3726m and is the second largest volcano in all of Indonesia. Tourists, Travelers, and pilgrims climb this holy mountain, which usually takes four to five days of intense hiking. However, not me!

It’s true, I really hate climbing mountains, even if this is a good example of well managed community-based tourism. So instead, I will leisurely sip my coffee at a pleasant café, where I can see and appreciate Gunung Rinjani, while still being able to write this entry from the comfiness of civilization :)

(Here's a pic provided by Wikipedia)

Besides reading that Rinjani is a good form of community based tourism in a guidebook and hearing positive word of mouth recommendations, I also discovered that the APEIS (Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategies) lists the Rinjani program in their summary of best tourism practices. The community based tourism management program at Gunung Rinjani was implemented through the funding of New Zealand Aid, the Indonesian National Park Service, and the West Lombok Tourism Office.

Most trekkers follow a route that takes them from the town of Senaru (West) to Sembalun Lawang (East). There are two information centers set up where visitors can arrange treks, the Rinjani Trek Center-RTC in Senaru and the Rinjani Information Center-RIC in Sembalun Lawang. The centers use a rotation system so that all qualified trekking guides get their turn, and the same trek packages at the same fixed prices are offered at both.

Behind the scenes, to develop the tourism at Rinjani the different participating communities were given a needs assessment survey. The results of this survey were used for developing capacity building programs in obvious activities like guide training, cooking, and improving English, but also for related tourism aspects like screen printing for souvenir tee-shirts, training for cultural performances, women’s weaving, handicraft production, and general management/bookkeeping ideas. A Rinjani Trek Newsletter was developed to share information with all the various stakeholders, and updates on how the revenue generated from the trekking is being channeled back into education and conservation programs to help the local environment and communities – thus sustaining tourism for the long term.

www.info2lombok.com

The Pondok Pekak Library and Learning Center

On my final day in Ubud, I spend a leisurely day visiting the Pondok Pekak Library and Learning Center. Named after a priest/healer from the area, Pondok Pekak roughly means “Gradfather’s little resting house in the rice fields.” Located near the large (and only) football field in town, the center offers a relaxing place to spend an afternoon. The center was started in 1995 primarily as an expat library, but has expanded their focus into encouraging local kids in the “love of reading” mentality. This led to the development in 2001 of a children’s library with books in Indonesian and English. As their brochure attests, and I can well believe, they have a collection of over 10,000 books in a wide range of topics including Indonesian, Balinese, and SEA studies.

An on-sight learning center offers traditional music and dance classes, woodcarving lessons, Indonesian language courses, etc. Plus there is a restaurant, tours can be arranged, and water bottles refilled for a minimal charge. The library has become self-sustaining because of these services and programs offered to tourists.

It’s at this center that I finally find a copy (actually 2 copies) of the Natural Guide to Bali – a guidebook that I had read about online, but could never seem to find. This guidebook is unique as it rates places based on how traveler-friendly, nature-friendly, and community friendly they are. Basically, it’s trying to appeal to more conscious travelling, and letting people go beyond the price when choosing a guesthouse, restaurant, or a sightseeing activity.

Selecting a few books, I find a cozy place to read on the 2^nd floor of the building.

In the evening I decide to try the Bali Buddha cafe listed in the Natural Guide to Bali book. In the book it gave the restaurant/organic health food store extra points for a project they run called ABC solutions, a waste management program they organize with local households and small tourist operations to collect recyclable waste, sort it, then transport it to the Denpasar recycling facility. They charge roughly $5 US a month for the service, so provides a good service to the community as well as providing extra income for their business which is visited mostly by tourists and expats.

The restaurant is located above the organic food store, so is rather small in size – about 10 tables and another room that acts as a sitting/waiting room full of couches. When I arrived the restaurant was full, but by the time my food arrived I had found a vacated table next to an interesting faux-wall made up of linked together wind chimes. I have to agree with the guidebook, the food is very good and healthy, while going that extra step to provide a valuable community service within the area.

Ubud’s Sacred Monkey Forest

On my second day in Ubud, I walk to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary on the far South side of town. This tourist attraction is run by the Padangtegal village, and contains local holy temples – and it really does have a lot of monkeys.

There are three holy temples in the forest. The first is the Holy Bathing Temple, its use is pretty self explanatory, and it’s located next to a stream. The second is a large temple called Pura Dalem Agung, and the third is a cremation temple that’s located next to a graveyard. One must pay careful attention when walking around these temples, since monkeys really are everywhere – I almost tripped over quite a few (probably not the best interaction between a human and the revered monkeys of the “sacred monkey forest”. ) Staff in green outfits stand around the park, and give guidance on feeding the monkeys. I asked one of the staffers how many monkeys are in the park. “Over 300.”

The Sacred Monkey Forest is run by a council called The Padantegal Wenara Wana foundation, and different stakeholders and village members serve on the council. Their goal is to maintain the sacredness and culture of the area, while promoting it to domestic and international visitors. No easy task, as tourism has jumped from 800 a month in 1986 to around 10,000 visitors a month at present. While the early morning and late afternoons are fairly quiet, the temple receives a large amount of tour buses during the day. Here are the 3 goals of the foundation, as listed on their website:

· Educating people about the importance of conserving the Sacred Monkey Forest's natural and cultural resources.

• Maintaining a team of highly trained staff members that are responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the Sacred Monkey Forest.

• Monitoring and whenever necessary restoring the integrity of the Sacred Monkey Forest's natural and cultural resources.
  
  
• Unfortunately, due to the rainy weather my pictures of the place weren’t that great, but if you’d like to see the monkeys here is a video someone youtubed.
  

So, is this an example of responsible tourism? Unfortunately, the information office next to the forest was closed when I visited. The only thing I saw besides some darkened and locked offices were cheeky looking monkeys hanging out on the balcony nearby. I asked Sherry, the Ubud expat I met, about the forest and she did mention the local village was benefiting economically from the tourism. Environmentally, tourism has created a reason to protect the woods and animals inside – though with all the bananas being handed out the monkey community seems to have expanded disproportionately with the size of the forest. And what about socially, what are the effects of this site as a tourist attraction – does it still maintain a cultural meaning to Padangtegal village???

www.monkeyforestubud.com