Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Located 35km due east of Bali, Lombok is inevitably compared with its more famous
neighbour, although it differs in almost every way - physically it's drier, drought-prone
and more rugged; culturally it is mainly Islamic, with a far less developed artistic herit-
age; and even its flora and fauna are distinct, Lombok being on the Australasian side of
the biogeographical divide known as the
Wallace Line
.
Lombok also offers a very dif-
ferent experience for the visitor, with large tracts of unadulterated wilderness, plenty of
empty beaches and a lot less traffic and commerce. Things are changing fast, but Lom-
bok's essential character remains intact and accessible rather than buried beneath a
veneer of tourist development.
Measuring 80km by 70km, Lombok is slightly smaller than Bali. The mountainous
north
is
dominated by the bulk of the sacred volcano
Gunung Rinjani
, at 3726m one of the highest
peaks in Indonesia and a popular trekking destination. Most of the population lives in the
central plains
, in a broad, urbanized corridor that runs right across the island from the cap-
ital,
Mataram
, in the west, to the port of
Labuhan Lombok
in the east. Lombok's largely
agricultural
economy
is focused around this region, producing rice, cassava, cotton, tobacco
(a major export), soya beans and chilli peppers. The provincial government is encouraging
diversification on Lombok, with
tourism
as one of several potential growth industries.
The main focus of Lombok's tourism is its coast, most famously and successfully the trio
of tiny islands known collectively as the
Gili Islands
: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili
Air. But Lombok offers many other shorelines that are equally stunning and far less crowded,
especially around the
south coast
, which centres on the small surfers' resort of
Kuta
, and
around
Sekotong
and
the southwest peninsula
, with its many enticingly tranquil white-sand
islets. The most developed coastal resort is
Senggigi
, on the west coast, which makes the
most convenient base for a Lombok stay, if not necessarily the most charming. Despite the
many attractions, the
tourist presence
on Lombok is nowhere near as pervasive as on Bali.
The island hosts around six hundred thousand tourists a year, compared to the three million
annual visitors that descend on Bali. As a result it's easy to find remote villages, unspoilt
coastline and people still living traditional lives. However,
facilities
are often minimal and
unsophisticated: you will find plenty of chic and luxurious accommodation on the Gili Is-
lands, in Senggigi, Pantai Sire and Pantai Medana, but elsewhere choices are fewer and sim-
pler.
