Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The
Autore Pearl Farm
, along the main road 4km west of Bangsal, is a working
pearl
farm
with an enticing jewellery shop on stilts above the water. The fascinating one-hour
tours
(best booked in advance) take in the lab rooms where South Sea oyster larvae are hatched
and fed with Tasmanian plankton and the racks where the small shells are placed to grow,
and visitors also see the surgical operation whereby a pearl nucleus is placed inside a grown
oyster and a grown pearl harvested from another.
Pantai Sire
The longest white-sand
beach
on Lombok,
Pantai Sire
, 6.5km north of Bangsal, is a blind-
ingly beautiful 2km strand of sand and coral, with ultracalm waters, reasonable swimming at
high tide (wear shoes to avoid sea urchins), lots of fish around the reefs about 100m offshore
and fine sunrise views of Rinjani. The fairways of the nearby eighteen-hole
Lombok Golf
Kosaido Country Club
( 0370 640137; from $80) run down to the beach.
Tiu Pupas and Gangga waterfalls
Beyond Pantai Sire, the coast road continues north via
Tanjung
, the district capital of north
Lombok (with
ATMs
near the post office). Beyond is the village of
Gondang
, the access
point for
Tiu Pupas waterfall
, about 7km inland via a very rough track. The falls are glori-
ous, tumbling 40m down a semicircular, sheer rock face into a deep pool. In the dry season
(May-Nov), however, the water reduces to a trickle. The trio of cascades at
Gangga water-
falls
, also known as
Selelos
, is about an hour's challenging trek beyond Tiu Pupas, through
forest and ricefields and via the riverbed, bamboo bridges and a cave; guides will show you
the way.
Segenter
West of Anyar, signs point inland and uphill to the traditional Sasak village of
SEGENTER
,
a 2km drive off the main road through dry expanses of cashew plantation; bemos drop off
along the main road. The village is a more authentic and rewarding experience than the tra-
ditional villages around Kuta, and you will be guided round it (donation expected). The tra-
ditional part of the village comprises a grid of very simple, mud-floored bamboo-and-thatch
huts and the occasional open-sided
berugaq
(general-purpose hut). You'll be taken inside one
of the houses to see the eating platform, stone hearth and the
inan bale
, a small house-within-
a-house where newlyweds spend their first night, but which is otherwise used to store rice
(see
Lombok's Sasak villages
)
.
Bayan
Four kilometres southeast of Anyar, the village of
BAYAN
is the site of Lombok's oldest
mosque,
Masjid Kuno Bayan Beleq
(admission by donation) located on the eastern edge
of the village, 1km east of the junction with the road to Senaru. Said to date from before
1700, around the time when Islam probably first arrived on Lombok, the mosque is strikingly
simple in design, constructed entirely from timber, woven bamboo and palm thatch, atop
