THE LAND

Lying less than two kilometers off Java's eastern tip, Bali is the westernmost island of the chain that contains the Lesser Sundas. Its northern coast faces the Bali Sea, the eastern coast lies 24 kilometers west of the Indonesian island of Lombok in Nusatenggara, and the southern coast faces the Indian Ocean.
    Compared with some of the Indonesian archipelago's giants, Bali is quite small, with an area of only 5,632 square kilometers, about the size of the U.S. state of Delaware. The mushroom-shaped island measures 90 kilometers along its north-south axis, and 135 kilometers from east to west. The neck of the island at its narrowest is only 18 kilometers wide.
     A geographic extension of Java, Bali shares much the same topography, climate, flora, and fauna as the mother island. Roughly 18% of Bali's arable land is covered in rice fields, 27% in dry fields, 23% in forests, 17% in commercial gardens, and 12% in valleys, with the remaining acreage covered by urban and suburban areas. Most of the population lives in the rural villages of the southern half of the island. The island's largest expanses of forests are found in the thinly populated west and around the six volcanoes ranging from Gunung Agung to Gunung Patas.
    Bali's dry months (May-Sept.) prevent the development of true tropical rainforests or fetid malarial swamps. It is an island blessed with a golden mean in natural resources, a salubrious climate, and uncommon fertility.

TOPOGRAPHY

Bali is noted for the great beauty and variety of its landscapes, from coastal lowlands to exhilarating high mountain lakes, barren limestone plateaus to thick monsoon forests. Hills and mountains are everywhere and the surface of the island is scored by fast-flowing rivers, deep ravines, rugged saddles, and alluvial slopes covered in rich volcanic ash. Except for the coastal plains, there are few flat areas.
     A west-to-east volcanic chain (an extension of Java's central range) divides the island in half. Crater lakes are found at Batur, and Bratan, Buyan, and Tamblingan in the rich submontane rainforest area around Bedugul. Bali's mountains, floating amongst the clouds and covered in tall forests, stand in contrast to the wild and rugged beauty of the volcanic craters, some of which are still active.
     The south-central plains are intensively cultivated. Terraced rice fields dominate the landscape-myriad small rectangles of still water mirroring the clouds. As you leave the heavily farmed southern plains and head north, the landscape changes from cascades of rice fields to gardens of onions, cabbages, and papayas thriving in the cooler climate. Thatched-palm huts change to sturdy cottages made of wood, tile, and stone, built to withstand the heavy rains.
     In the alpine highlands of Bali are mountain streams, prehistoric tree-ferns, wildflowers, creepers, orchids, leeches, butterflies, birds, and screaming monkeys, while tall pines and cypress soar high above the mountain villages of Bedugul, Kintamani, and Penelokan. The island's far western region, known as Pulaki, is an unspoiled, underpopulated marine and forest wilderness. Legend has it Bali's first people had their origins here in a lost, invisible city.
     In the far north there is a sharp drop from the mountains to a narrow strip of fertile coastal plain around Singaraja. The lowland coastal fringe of the north is narrow, and the absence of rivers makes the land dry and less suitable for intensive rice cultivation. In contrast to the southern coast, the water off the calm north shore is shallow for up to a kilometer out to sea. The palm savannahs, tall grasses, and clusters of pilang (Acacia leucophloea) trees give the Prapat Agung Peninsula of the far northwest a distinctly African appearance.
     The length of Bali's coastline is 460 km. Only about eight percent of the beaches consist of white sand, and they are found mostly in the famed resorts of Sanur, Kuta, Uluwatu, Nusa Dua, and Tanjung. The remainder of the beaches, such as a magnificent 30-kilometer-long stretch in Tabanan Regency, feature gray-black volcanic couscous-like sand and are almost deserted-like being on another planet.
     The coast from Sanur extending down through Benoa Bay is long and sheltered, lined with 1,400 hectares of natural mangrove forests and mudflats. Because so many of the original mangrove stands suffered from the effects of saltmaking, shrimp ponds, coral collecting, and the charcoal industry, a major reforestation project has been underway along this coastal strip since 1992.
     Bali's six volcanic peaks, all exceeding 2,000 meters, trap rain clouds that swell the rivers rushing down from the highlands through deep, narrow gorges overgrown with lush tropical vegetation. Running parallel to each other north to south, irrigating the rice fields on the lower slopes, are Bali's two major rivers, the Pakrisan ("Kris River") and the Petanu ("Cursed River"), their history steeped in myths and legends. Both are regarded as holy; it is on their banks where most of the archaeological remains of Bali's ancient kingdoms have been found.
     The astonishingly rich coastal plains of the south have given rise to Bali's unique civilization. Until recent times, the entire southern drainage of the island has been politically divided into eight small but powerful rajadoms. These partitioned, pie-shaped realms of south Bali were always aligned north to south along the ravines rather than east to west-travel on Bali has always been hampered by deeply cut longitudinal ravines. Even today, because of the island's difficult topography, most highways carry traffic north and south.
     Bali lies over two major tectonic plates-the rigid Sunda plate to the north and the Indo-Australian plate to the south-that grind over one another, producing frequent geologic instability. One of the worst natural catastrophes of this century was the 1917 earthquake in which a series of tremors devastated the eastern and southern regions of the island, followed by a major eruption of Gunung Batur. When the tremors came to an end, 1,500 people had died and 2,431 temples and 64,000 homes had been destroyed.
      Another extremely destructive eruption of 1,717-meter-high Batur occurred in 1963. In August 1994, after lying dormant for 20 years, the volcano began to erupt again, venting more than 600 times a day and shooting hot ashes and smoke into the sky for months. Bali's highest and most revered mountain, Gunung Agung, which also erupted in 1963, destroying villages and covering fertile rice fields with rivers of lava and showers of ash and debris.

The Periphery
The climate and landforms on the island's fringes and Bali's offshore islands differ drastically from the lush lowland plains. The far eastern peninsula of Karangasem, surrounding Gunung Seraya, is arid and hot, the land difficult to cultivate. In the far south, the tableland of the Bukit Peninsula, with its scarce water and bushy thickets, is Mediterranean in appearance. The western and southern shores of this barren plateau are lined with rugged, 150-meter-high limestone cliffs and deep caves.
     The islands of Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan, and Nusa Penida in the deep strait between Bali and Lombok are as dry and inhospitable as the Bukit. On these austere islands of limestone hills, poor rocky soil, scrubby vegetation, and open grassland, the inhabitants live in coral-walled villages and eke out a subsistence living growing maize, beans, and cassava. The reefs and clear waters of these sister islands make for spectacular diving.

Spatial Orientation
Geographically, Bali is divided by its chain of mountains into two halves, Bali Selatan ("South Bali") and Bali Utara ("North Bali"). The Balinese of North Bali call South Bali "Bali Tengah" (literally, "Central Bali"), which refers to all the regencies in Bali except Buleleng.
     Among the chain of volcanic mountains traversing the island from west to east is Gunung Agung (elev. 3,014 meters), Gunung Batukau (2,276 meters), Gunung Abang (2,152 meters), and Gunung Batur (1,717 meters). Legend tells of Shiva dividing the sacred Hindu mountain Mahameru and placing the two halves on Bali: Gunung Batur to symbolize the female element, towering Gunung Agung symbolizing the male.
     These lofty mountains play an important role in the lives of the Balinese and are accorded awesome respect and veneration. On top of the peaks dwell the divine spirits who bring prosperity and good fortune to the people; the mountain lakes and rivers are the source of the land's fertility; and their eruptions, though often destructive, have enriched the soil immeasurably.
     The Balinese have even devised their own mountain-oriented system of spatial orientation. Directions are given either toward the mountains (kaja) or toward the sea (kelod). Kaja is usually associated with holiness, the source of life-giving water. The highest of the island's mountains, sacred Gunung Agung, is known as the "Navel of the World," the focal point from whence the world springs. Since their sacred mountains are "north" and the sea "south," these are the cardinal points for the Balinese. Their villages, their houses, and even their beds are aligned in these directions. Temples are oriented on the same axis, with the most sacred courtyards and shrines in the kaja end of the temple. In the family compound the orientation persists: the kelod end of the home is where the pigs are kept and garbage is thrown; the kaja end lies closest the mountains.
     Even for the people who actually live north of the mountains, the direction toward the mountains is kaja. Many villages, such as Sayan west of Ubud, are divided into two sections, a "north" Sayan (or Sayan Kaja) closest to the mountains and a "south" Sayan (Sayan Kelod) closest to the sea.
     You cannot translate kelod and kaja into English or Bahasa Indonesia. People in the north and south who say "kaja" will point in opposite directions. But in Bahasa Indonesia or in English, those saying "utara" (north) or "selatan" (south) will point in the same direction.
     It's said the Balinese are one of the few island peoples who don't turn their eyes toward the sea, but gaze instead upward toward the mountains. They believe everything high and mighty like the mountains is magical, healthy, and divine, whereas the ocean is the domain of the underworld, the source of threatening, impure, and harmful forces: fanged demons, monsters, sharks, poisonous sea snakes. The Balinese are thus very cautious when they're around or in the sea. Few Balinese know how to swim. Only during low tide do small children venture from shore to catch tropical fish trapped in shallow tidepools. Balinese women may sometimes wade a short distance out but they always come splashing fearfully back to shore, holding up their sarung before the incoming tide. Not surprisingly, the Balinese dwell in the intermediary region-the rich farmlands between the mountains and the sea-between, as it were, heaven and hell.
     The Balinese seem to have an innate and infallible sense of direction. No matter where they are-even in California-they always sleep with their heads facing toward Bali's mountains. The impure, baser parts of the body, such as the feet, face kelod, toward the sea. To do otherwise would offend the gods.
     If s/he is unable to achieve proper orientation, a Balinese will feel uncomfortable and out of balance. S/he will almost invariably turn a map so the top is oriented toward kaja, facing the mountains which afford the most obvious landmark. When giving directions, a Balinese will not say "left" or "right" but "kauh" or "kangin," as in "the banjar is fifty meters to the kauh of the marketplace." If you ask a bemo driver where he's going, he'll say "toward the kelod" (south, toward the sea). Because this system of orientation only has relevance on Bali, a Balinese can easily become lost when abroad or on another Indonesian island.

CLIMATE

Bali, lying just eight degrees south of the equator, basks in the even and warm climate of the tropics-eternal summer, nice sea breezes, and a monotonously high humidity of around 75%. There are basically two seasons. The "rainy season" (musim hujan) lasts from October to April, with December and January the wettest months. The "dry season" (musim panas) runs from May to September, with August the driest month. July is the coolest month, and February, March, and April are the hottest months of the year. The highest humidity occurs in February.
     Rainfall can occur in the dry season from time to time, which keeps this small island a verdant paradise. Even in the rainy season the sun shines somewhere on Bali everyday. Rain most often arrives in the late afternoon and at night and can last for several hours. Just as common are short, sharp tropical showers which can quickly give way to blinding sunshine. Rainfall is usually not heavy and continuous; only one or two days per year does it rain all day long.
     When the monsoons are at their peak there are strong winds, though because of its proximity to the equator, Bali avoids the terrors of typhoons and cyclones. Bali is subject to the northeast and southwest monsoons, with most of the rain arriving from the northeast. Because of the monsoon climate, you can sense the wind coming from just one direction.
     Bali's high mountains attract rain; the southwest monsoons dump their loads on the southern plain, where rainfall averages over 2,000 millimeters per year. The mountains could average 3,000 millimeters of rain annually. The south and west receive an average of 200 rainy days per year, while the arid narrow strip in the north gets only 50-80. This is why northern farmers, who live in the rain shadow of the mountain ranges, cultivate maize, dry rice, manioc, beans, and copra. In the higher and cooler regions, coffee, cabbage, tobacco, and peanuts are grown.

Temperatures
With each day the same length and with the surrounding seas exerting a moderating influence, the average temperature on Bali at sea level is a lovely 26° C throughout the year. Only in January and February does the heat ever get unbearable. In the windy, cloudy Balinese winter (July and August), when southeasterlies blow up from the cool Australian interior, the east coast can even get decidedly chilly.
     Since nowhere on Bali is more than 40 kilometers from the sea, there's usually a light sea breeze to cool you down. The island's crisp mountainous regions are five to 10° cooler than the lowlands and are wet the year through. Indeed, May, June, July, and August in the highlands can get downright cold (18-20° C).

Day Length
Bali's location near the equator assures that the lengths of day and night remain relatively uniform. The shortest day, in late June, and the longest day, in late December, have only about an hour's difference between them. A mother will indicate to her child when to return home from the market by simply pointing to the place in the sky where the sun will be. Since the sun's position in the sky changes only a fraction from one day to the next, this homespun method is a way to make appointments and keep time with uncanny accuracy.

Best Time to Visit
It's recommended visitors come during the dry season months May through September because during this "winter" period the weather is more reliably pleasant, with months of uninterrupted tropical sunshine. But this is also, of course, the tourist season. Since you're competing for accommodations, goods, and services with many more tourists, prices are higher. There is also a greater need to make reservations for flights and rooms at least a month before your arrival. The most expensive period of all is the two weeks on either side of Christmas and New Years, when Australians are on holiday and domestic tourists flood in from Java.

ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

Bali has big ecological problems, its extraordinary culture and unparalleled natural environment coming under increasing stress. As far back as the 1930s the filmmaker Andreas Roosevelt suggested the island be turned into a sort of Hindu theme park, insulated from contamination by the modern world. He wanted Bali maintained as a living cultural museum to remind the rest of us what we had lost. Roosevelt's well-meaning but absurd proposal obviously never was taken seriously.
     The devastation of the Balinese environment over the last 20 years is shocking. With virtually no enforceable environmental protection laws, no environmental monitoring, few waste disposal programs or facilities, and great social inequality in the face of undisciplined growth and development, Bali desperately needs a master plan for sustainable long-range development. The present situation poses an extreme danger for the present inhabitants as well as for generations to come.
     The lack of planning and ineffective environmental regulations are a far greater threat than any cultural influences from abroad. Motivated solely by economics, the Balinese are doing it to themselves at least as much as we're doing it to them. Although you do see occasional signs of a new environmental consciousness, restaurants still throw their waste into roadside drains, households dispose of garbage in irrigation canals, and rubbish piles spill down into streams where people bathe.
     A walk down Kuta Beach reveals sand full of bottle caps, cigarette butts, and plastic wrappers. No attention is given to preventing leakage of toxic liquids from rubbish dumps. Fishermen plunder the coastal waters of coral, fish, and shells. Small plastic bags of tropical fish are sold to dealers for Rp500, who in turn sell the fish to buyers in the cities for Rp5000-7500 a bag. The same fishermen could rent out their boats at Rp10,000 per hour to tourists who come to view the island's beautiful tropical fish.

Tourism
Although tourism increases employment, raises incomes, brings valuable foreign exchange to the island, and has helped improve the standard of living of vast numbers of Balinese, it's also a big part of the environmental problem. This is especially true now that, due to the unregulated spread of alcohol licenses and discos, "beach" tourism has become dominant over "cultural" tourism.
     In the 1990s the illegal mining of building materials-limestone, sand, rock-for hotel construction and airport extensions is out of hand, particularly in the Badung area. Typically, small violators are punished while the major criminals are left alone to go on wreaking havoc. Because of the extensive harvesting of coral for the tourist industry, many reefs around Bali have been totally destroyed. To prevent further erosion of beachfront, long, ugly concrete jetties have been built in Nusa Dua and Candidasa.
     The construction of a monumental gold statue of Garuda on the Nusa Dua Peninsula, an Rp80 million monstrosity rivaling the Statue of Liberty, is underway. Other depredations include a gigantic statue of Garuda in the main Tuban intersection and the huge Nirwana Hotel Resort in Tabanan Regency. The cause of reigning in unchecked tourism development is not helped by Bali's present governor, Ida Bagus Oka, who seems to have the tendency to blithely rubber-stamp any project that originates in Jakarta.

Deforestation, Erosion, Water Depletion
Because of Bali's dense population and high carrying capacity, the destruction wrought by deforestation is not surprising. Today about 19% of Bali consists of forests, and efforts are underway to reforest (reboasasi) 39,000 hectares to bring that percentage up to the perceived ideal of 30%.
     Commercial tree plantations-coconut palms, eucalyptus, teak-are found only in the 77,000-hectare Bali Barat National Park, the one area that Bali's original flora has been left intact and secure. Buffer areas around the park have been established by the government to protect it from exploitation by firewood cutters.
     The problem of erosion was recognized as far back as the 1930s, when the Dutch observed that growing population pressure had shrunk the island's forest cover to 13% of its previous total area and that the spread of ravines from runoff threatened cultivated land. In 1934 the Dutch prohibited any further clearing of riverbanks and encouraged the cultivation of bamboo thickets, arenga sugar palms, and other perennials.
     Under the weight of its population, Bali's infrastructure is strained to the breaking point. To satisfy the requirements of the populous Badung Regency, water from the Ayung River is being taken from Peraupan with the result that farmers in the Krobokan area are forced to wait much longer to get water to their fields. A study commissioned by Gajah Mada University predicted that by the year 2000 the average water needs of Bali will reach 73% of the total water supply.
 

TANAH LOT-R.I.P.

     Although a prosperous agricultural region, Tabanan has always cast an envious eye on Kuta and Ubud and since the mid-80s has sought to increase its earnings from tourism. Toward this end, in 1992 the district head made a secret deal with giant, Jakarta-based business conglomerate BAKRI to build a mammoth hotelpolis overlooking the world-famous seaside temple of Tanah Lot. The temple is considered one of the six most important religious sites in all of Bali because of its charisma and unreal location on a small island offshore.
     The 121 -hectare estate will eventually contain luxury villas, a five-star hotel, resort condominiums, 18-hole golf course, sports center, and private beachfront. Permits were issued and by 1993 the project started without the environmental impact report (AMDAL) required by law. When news of the private deal surfaced, there was a major uproar. Even the usually circumspect Bali Post dilligently published excerpts from the public debates stirred by the project before its supporters were intimidated and backed off. 
     The overwhelming majority of Balinese favored canceling the project, though it enjoyed the support of Bali's Jakarta-appointed governor, Ida Bagus Oka. In a biting editorial, the governor paternalistically chastised the critics and urged everyone to accept the inevitable march of modernization. This resulted in an even larger and more vociferous demonstration in which participants demanded his resignation. But ground was broken in Marnh of 1994 and the resort was opened in August of 1995. You can see advertisements regularly appearing in Asian in-flight magazines. Toun.sm has arrived in Tabanan Regency-Big Time.
The Scourge of Plastic
Plastic is a big problem. In Old Bali scavenging dogs controlled the buildup of organic garbage, but starting with the widespread use of plastics in the 1960s you saw for the first time in Bali's history rubbish piles (banana leaves degrade, plastic doesn't). Today, plastics are everywhere. Even homestays serve water in plastic cups and bottles. After a storm the beaches of Bali are full of plastic litter; plastic clogs rice field irrigation canals. Plastic refuse in drains is a haven for mosquitoes and their noxious diseases.
     The population practices a mixed bag of waste disposal-it's either buried, burned, or recycled. Javanese collectors pick up plastic and sell it to recyclers who truck it to Surabaya. Governor Oka's wife has publicly encouraged people to burn their plastic rather than recycle it, and Indonesia's environmental minister's wife has urged that every woman take to market cloth bags rather than depend on plastic sacks.

What's to Be Done
There is a nascent environmental movement on the island. The menu at Ubud's Mumbul Restaurant states "Save Bali! Don't use plastic bottles!" Restaurants are starting to serve beverages in glass bottles only. Water purifiers are becoming popular. To their credit, about 25% of Bali's forest is protected in four nature reserves, the largest of which is 196-square-kilometer Bali Barat National Park.
     A number of emerging environmental groups are determined to save the island from further pollution. The Wisnu Foundation, a nonprofit Indonesia-based organization founded on Bali in 1993, has begun an integrated waste management pilot program in Pupuan, involving a composting project to deal with wet garbage from hotels. The foundation sells organic compost-no rocks, no weeds, no smell-at Rp400 per kilo. All proceeds are reinvested into current and planned recycling projects. Another group, the Bali Sustainable Development Project, has exerted pressure on the restaurants of Ubud to use recyclable bottles rather than plastic water bottles.