Senggigi – Bangsal – Senaru – Labuhan Lombok – Mataram
- Senggigi
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| Forest, rice fields and ocean; the vew from Senaru (top); Senaru waterfalls (bottom) |
Having been
satisfied with our experience of the short drive the day before, we then
decided to travel much further from Bangsal to North Lombok, and turn back to
Senggigi trough East and Central Lombok. Looking at the map, we expected that ¾
part of the route will pass another oceanic view. Nano is hoping to be able to
see the Mount Rinjani along the way and stop a little bit in Senaru. We are not
disappointed. Even though a light drizzle greeted us and most of view of Mount
Rinjani were obstructed by thick clouds - plus of course were short on time to
do the waterfall walk - at least we were able to enjoy a nice view of Senaru waterfalls
while taking lunch in a nearby restaurant. I wonder the kind of frogs they have
out here. Not much report on Lombok’s herpetofauna, it looks like a good place
to do some herping stuff. Wish I got time!
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| Dry riverbed on the way to Obel-obel |
The road
from Senaru to Labuhan was narrow and winding with other oceanic views. Mount
Rinjani is an active volcano and in several areas we have to pass a wide bridge
which crossed dry beds of cold lava flow from this mountain. Kids herding cows were seen along the road so
we have to drive slowly. Looking at healthy cows along the road from Senggigi,
we were wondering about Indonesian beef problem. Are we really short of local beef?
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| Young boy herding cows |
Down the
road we stopped at Obel-Obel Beach to drink coconut from one of the many traditional
roadside shops (or warung) in the beachside. What we like about Coconut in
Lombok is they are huge (I can’t finished one by myself) and very cheap (only
Rp 7000 in Obel-Obel). After Obel-obel
we keep on driving so we will be able to finish the oceanic drive before
sunset. A view of two other Gilis’ was seen from Koloh Sepang and Dasan Baru: Gili
Lawang and Gili Sulat are two of the Gili in the North East of Lombok. Further down
after Sambelia, three other Gilis were seen: the Gili Petangan and the other
small Gilis of Pasaran and Lampu. These five Gilis are mostly uninhabited and
not yet developed as the other three famous Gilis off Bangsal.
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| Smooth road |
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| The sign tell itself, coconut warung at Obel-obel beach |
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| Welcome to Obel-obel |
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| Aptly named: Ray of Hope |
Just before
Labuhan, I guess it must be around Aik Manis a glimpse of Ferry to Sumbawa was
seen between the rows of coconut palms trees. The sight in the right side is also
astonishing, a small plantation of old kapok trees. I still feel regret that we
did not take the pictures of that kapok trees. They were so tall with huge buttresses.
The one in our campus in Baranangsiang, Bogor seems small compared to this one.
Hope that the owner does not decide to chop them off in the future. They were
beautiful!
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| Busy market near Labuhan |
The feel of
the road from Labuhan through the central Lombok is different. We passed a busy
evening market near Labuhan and afterwards most of the traffic is crowded. It
was already dark when we pass through the central Lombok, thus we can’t say
that we see anything interesting. We do hope that someday we will able to take
our time in Lombok and enjoy more of the panoramic view of this scenic drive.
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| Dusk coming to Lombok |
As we noted along the road, most of the land along the coast have been bought
by various resorts. It is inevitable that Lombok will be developed as one of
the future top tourist destination in Indonesia. I hope the local government
has the will to pass regulation that any building along the coast must not obstruct
the oceanic view since the beauty of the Island should be enjoyed by all.
However, you never know with government. So while the view is still gorgeous,
take your time while in Lombok and enjoy the drive!
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