Result for : beautiful birds bays and the underwater world

Alexander Reeuwijk

Alexander Reeuwijk is an expert in the field of the history of evolutionary theory, together with Redmon O’Hanlon’s he wrote the book “Darwin, Wallace and others’ in which the contributions of Darwin and Wallace on evolution are compared. Alexander has traveled extensively through the ‘interior’ of Indonesia, He visited Sumatra, Sulawesi the Moluccas and spend one month in Aru where he studied the Greater Bird of

David and Sue Richardson

and Sue are passionate researchers and collectors of Asian textiles and since first visiting Indonesia in 1980, David and Sue have systematically visited every part of the archipelago, both overland and by sea using a variety of local vessels. Over the years David and Sue have assembled one of the finest and most comprehensive private collections of Indonesian and other Asian textiles, many of museum quality. They are members of the Textile Society of America as well as the Oxford

Gert De Jong

the Moluccas for six months as a student in marine biology studying dugongs and seagrass. He fell in love with the oceanic islands of eastern Indonesia and its people. He then worked as an ecology consultant in studies on marine mammals, and as a teacher of biology in Amsterdam. In 2008, he started a conservation project for the seabirds that were breeding on remote Indonesian islands. For pan-tropical seabirds, such as frigate birds, there are only a few islands left

Jeffrey Mellefont

the Australian National Maritime Museum, where he had a long career as a publisher and editor. Formerly a blue-water mariner, celestial navigator and skipper, Jeffrey became a specialist marine writer and photographer and has made a lifetime study of the fascinating maritime world of Asia and in particular of Indonesia. He has published extensively on these subjects in both popular and academic journals. Jeffrey has been visiting Indonesia since 1975 when he was immediately drawn into the maritime life of

Ray & Angela Hale

and Angela Hale have travelled the length and breadth of both Indonesia and Malaysia in search of endangered species. They have discovered and photographed hundreds of species from the endearing Orangutans to the tiniest of insects. Over the last 20 years, Ray has delivered many lectures around the world and is passionate about reconnecting people with nature and conserving the Earth’s endangered animals. His aim on this trip is to ensure that the guests, be they entomologists, wildlife photographers, experienced

Dr. Lawrence Blair

the past 40 years living in, exploring and making films about Indonesia. In 2006 he wrote and presented, for SKY TV UK, the five-part series Myths, Magic and Monsters, which explores the stranger sides of both nature and the human mind. He is also the writer, presenter and co-producer (with his late brother, Lorne) of the internationally acclaimed series RING OF FIRE, (PBS in the States, and BBC in the UK) which won two Emmy awards in l988, and awakened

Dr. George Beccaloni

and historian of science, who worked at London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) for more than 20 years on butterflies and other insects. He enjoys natural history photography and travel, and has visited Indonesia five times, twice as a speaker on tours. George has studied Wallace’s life and work for c. 16 years and is the founder and Director of the Wallace Correspondence Project. In 1999 he set up the Wallace Memorial Fund, which restored Wallace’s grave in Dorset and paid

Dr. Kees Groeneboer

and 30-year resident of Jakarta, Dr. Kees Groeneboer is passionate about the spectacular birdlife of his adopted homeland. He has travelled extensively though Indonesia’s eastern isles on countless missions to see, hear, and identify as many as possible of these graceful, colourful and often-endangered denizens of the forests and the cliffs. He often shares his enthusiasm with others by leading specialist bird-watching cruises aboard the Katharina during which he embellishes his bird expertise with his in-depth knowledge of Indonesian history

The Mysterious Caves of Tomolol

The spectacular destination of Raja Ampat features karst topography, with limestone and small karst islets so undercut by waves that they look like mushrooms, covered with rich green jungle to create an extraordinary landscape of rock islands. With all this limestone around, it is not surprising that erosion has also created a labyrinth of fascinating caves and narrow passages to explore, the most famous of which is the mysterious cave system of Tomolol on the east coast of Misool Island,. Read More

Spice Islands Eclipse: Astronomy, Celestial Navigation and the Spice Trade.

the sun in the historic spice islands. In March 2016 a total eclipse of the sun tracked across the Indonesian archipelago, from Sumatra in the west to the remote, eastern group of islands called the Moluccas. It was some three hundred years since a total solar eclipse had taken the same track through these historic islands of spice. At the time of that previous eclipse, the Moluccas were dominated by the United Dutch East India Company. This corporation of armed Dutch merchants. Read More

Snorkelling the Reefs of Raja Ampat

The Amazon of the Seas.”  the Coral Triangle is a geographical term used to describe the waters stretching from Borneo to the Philippines and East to the Solomon Islands. This is the center of the world’s marine biodiversity and the Indonesian Archipelago makes up the lion’s share.  If this is the grand stage where the coral and fish of the world come to play, then it is certainly Raja Ampat that steals the show. Earning it’s top billing as the epicenter. Read More

The Garden of Good and Evil – Indonesia’s Fabled Spice Islands

ine if you will, a tropical paradise: a miniscule string of emerald green islands immersed in an aquamine equatorial waters, far from the cares of outside world. The shorelines of these lush island gems playfully alternate between dense jungle, volcanic lavaflow, dramatic cliffs, and white dreamy beaches. The warm equatorial sun, and rich volcanic nutrients have all magically combined to create pristine and colorful sub-aqua wonderland In fact, the water is so clear that one can see the brilliant coral. Read More

The Manhattan Transfer and the Rhunhattan Tearoom

the 350-year anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Breda in 1667 which ended the second Anglo-Dutch war. In one of the clauses in this document the Dutch exchanged the island of Manhattan for the nutmeg growing island of Rhun in what was to become the Dutch East Indies and therefore gained a complete monopoly over the nutmeg trade. The nutmeg fruit showing the nut with its bright red outer covering of mace (Ian Burnet) This was not just the real. Read More

The Dutch Church in Banda Neira

The church in Banda Neira was established in the 1600s to serve the residents of the Dutch colonial occupation of the remote Banda Islands. Behind the building can be seen the summit of the volcano named Gunung Api ,or Fire Mountain. The original wooden church was destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in 1852 in this neo-classical style. With its solid Doric columns, white plaster and sturdy brickwork, it is a good example of a provincial Dutch-era church and is now . Read More

Manuk Island – A Bird Sanctuary in the remote Banda Sea

The last stop on our East Indies Spice Exploration Voyage 2016, before reaching the Banda Islands, is the tiny island of Manuk which is just the tip of a volcano which pokes itself above the Banda Sea. The Ombak Putih approaches Manuk Island Manuk is an andesitic volcanic island that rises 3000 meters from floor of the Banda Sea at the easternmost part of the Indonesian island arc. Because of its steep cliffs and rocky coast it is almost impossible to land. Read More

Wallace Trails and Sails

and Sails’: Well, I Don’t Know About Anyone Else, but I Certainly Had Fun! This year’s ‘Wallace Trails and Sails’ cruise has just ended. As ever, it was sad to say goodbye to everyone in Sorong – it’s amazing how close you can get to fellow passengers during an 11-day cruise which just throws random people together. This year’s cruise had many of the elements of the two previous Wallace cruises but together with the cruise leader, Caroline Delman, we introduced. Read More

Water World – Indonesia’s Beautiful Boats

the watery world of Indonesia, a diverse island nation comprised of a myriad of cultures, ethnicities and eco systems, where just a short voyage across the water can transport a traveler into an entirely new world. Although geographically separating one island from the next, these waters that divide the land also unite the country, for it is Indonesian’s relationship with sea that binds these vastly different islands and its people together. The name Indonesia is coined from a combination of Latin and Greek, meaning Islands of. Read More

Pinisi and the Art of Boatbuilding in Sulawesi Recognised by UNESCO

the 17,000 equatorial islands comprising the Republic of Indonesia, the ingenious arts of timber boat building have been a crucial enabler of human ventures from prehistoric times until today. As ports, kingdoms and states developed, distinctive traditions of boat building and seafaring underpinned trade, politics and warfare, transport and communications as well as day-to-day livelihoods and subsistence … more so in this sprawling tropical archipelago than in just about any other region in the world. Click here to read the full. Read More

Subak – The Cultural Landscape of Bali

the beauty of its sculpted rice terraces. These vibrant green plantings and layered mirrors unfold like giant stairways from the mountains to the sea. Known as ‘sawah’, the padi fields of Bali are a thousand years old, and achieved through an ancient system of aquatic engineering. Irrigation is critical to Balinese wet-rice agriculture because of the long dry season that extends from April to October, while the substance of rural life is dependent on the accuracy of the water flow as. Read More

Birds of Paradise

“Birds of paradise glisten like seldom glimpsed denizens of an Asiatic harem, who are clad in gold of many hues and dipped in the purple of dawn.”––Thomas Forrest, The Breadtree Fruit, 1784. No other bird family is as beautiful or as rich in diversity of plumage and courtship behaviour as the flamboyant birds of paradise, of which there are 39 species, ranging from the size of a starling to the size of a crow, with certain types sporting tails of up. Read More

The Prettiest Flight

the start of SeaTrek’s Dances, Dragons & Magical Lakes’ cruise, make sure you get a window seat and don’t even think about reading a book. Instead, sit back and relish one of the world’s prettiest flights. If it’s a clear day you’re in for a treat, and – if you’re on the left-hand side of the plane – you’ll see a string of volcanoes, beginning with Mt Agung in Bali followed by Mt Rinjani in Lombok. Flying over the elongated. Read More

Island Etiquette: The Protocols of a Village Visit

the same way that you wouldn’t dream of entering someone’s house without ringing the doorbell, our tour leaders here at SeaTrek would never contemplate bringing a group of guests to a remote island village without first getting the thumbs up from the ‘Kepala Desa’ (the head of the village). It’s very important to establish a relationship with the people that we’re going to be meeting and reassure them that we will be respectful of their privacy.  When we’re researching. Read More

Sumba Heart and Soul

l clinging tightly to its animist traditions, Sumba Island is a destination seductive to the soul.  Here are a just a few reasons why we find Sumba such a sensational destination. SUMBA- WHERE ANCIENT TRADITIONS RUN DEEP Hanging precariously off of the Nusa Tenggara Archipelago like a delicate pendent on a chain,  Sumba is a gem of an island whose remote obscurity seems to have allowed it to escape the very passage of time. With its rugged rolling savannah and low limestone. Read More

Here be Dragons – Komodo National Park

the shape of the world and its boundaries were shrouded in mystery, ancient mariners and map-makers would scrawl the warning “Here be dragons”, along the borders of their parchment charts. The indication of giant lizards and sea serpents was intended to serve as a warning for fellow explorers, suggesting that what lay in the unexplored regions of the earth was as terrifying as it was enticing. For some maritime adventurers the presence of dragons did not serve as a deterrent, but rather as. Read More

Home of the Bugis Boat Builders – Wera, Sumbawa

and seven billowing sails, the traditional Indonesian sailing ship known as a pinisi evokes a bygone era. SeaTrek’s vessels Ombak Putih and Katarina are built in the pinisi style. Built by hand in the traditional manner, they continue the living spirit of majestic sailing ships from the golden age of sail, which ended in the West in the early twentieth century, but thrived until recently in the waters of Indonesia. Today the name ‘pinisi’ lives on in big, motorised timber traders. Read More

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 – 1913): Naturalist Extrordinaire

the greatest naturalists of all time. Not only did he jointly publish the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin in 1858, but he made very many other major contributions to biology and to subjects as diverse as glaciology, astrobiology, anthropology, and epidemiology. Wallace spent eight years (1854 – 1862) travelling in the region he called the Malay Archipelago (Indonesia and neighbouring countries), studying its natural history and human inhabitants. He discovered natural selection half way through his trip. Read More

The Birth of Frankenstein from the Belly of a Volcano

over two hundred years ago, a little-known mountain on a relatively obscure Indonesian island became the epicentre of the ‘mother’ of all volcanic eruptions. It was the most powerful eruption in recorded history; more ferocious than Krakatoa with its 18-metre tidal wave, and more violent than Vesuvius, which buried alive the city of Pompeii.  Mt Tambora, located 200 nautical miles east of Bali on the island of Sumbawa, was once the highest mountain in Asia, but in April 2015,. Read More

Whale Sharks - Gentle Giants of the Seas

the largest living fish species, and swimming alongside these magnificent creatures is one of the ultimate bucket-list experiences. Although they resemble the whales from which their common name is derived, they are not whales but sharks. They belong to the group called Chondryichtyes, which includes sharks, rays, and skates. The enormous whale shark can grow up to 12 metres in length and weigh up to 20 metric tonnes, which is about the size of a small bus, but on average. Read More

Beware Of The Boogeyman: He’ll Catch You If He Can.

the origin of the term ‘boogeyman’ – that shapeless mythical monster, which jumps out of the wardrobe at night to frighten little children? In many cultures, the allusion to the boogeyman is used by parents to frighten their children into good behaviour, but in Indonesia, the boogeyman or “Bugis” man is real. The Bugis are the master shipbuilders and seafarers of South Sulawesi. Their exceptionally strong pinisi schooners – upon which the design of the Ombak Putih and the Katharina is. Read More

Expert Review: Indonesia's Jewels of Raja Ampat

the language of Bahasa Indonesia, is a vast seascape comprised of more than 1,500 islands covering an area of 40,000 km² of land and sea. Well known to divers for years, this area is just now being discovered by travelers that like to stick a little closer to the surface. The pinisi motorsailer Ombak Putih—meaning “white wave” in Bahasa Indonesia—was to be my home for exploring Raja Ampat, and I cannot think of a more appropriate ship for the adventure. Read More

The Fabulous Flying Fox

The sky rapidly changes to glowing golden hues and the sun sets on yet another incredible day at sea. You sit back on the top deck with your drink in hand and imagine that it just can’t get any better than this. Sure enough, it can and it does. Gazing towards the horizon you see fluttering activity, and soon enough that blazing sky is filled with graceful creatures taking wing. You can’t believe your eyes! It’s a sky full of. Read More

Island to Island – Textile Tour in Eastern Indonesia

and Sue Richardson initially through their extensively researched publication on Central Asian textiles – Qaraqalpaqs of the Aral Delta. As we connected on social media I was intrigued by their technical passion for textiles and an upcoming textile tour of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Eastern Indonesia that they had planned. Needless to say, Jack and I marked our calendars anticipating our first travels in this varied culture. Sue and David Richardson partnered with a company from Bali named SeaTrek and. Read More

Spinning the Earth – The Ceramic Craftsmenship of Masbagik

is often our journeys on land that stoke our passion to explore the seas, and perhaps no other stop on Sea Trek’s island-hoping itineraries provides a more striking difference to the open ocean and salty air than a visit to the village of Masbagik, a community that has mastered the art of working with fire and earth. Although Eastern Lombok has always been a very poor region, the hills that surround the village of Masbagik are rich with a red. Read More

Collaborating to Create Cleaner Seas

the planet, the Java and Banda Seas are filling up with plastic. Indigo V Expeditions and SeaTrek Sailing Adventures in Bali hope to help change that. SeaTrek Sailing Adventureswas founded more than 25 years ago and has been headed by Seattle couple, John Priebe and Marla Araki, for the last 18 years. The company is now taking steps to position itself to be a conservation-oriented company driven by marine-based tourism. Director Frank Hyde is heading up the effort utilizing his 20-plus years as. Read More

Attenborough: The forgotten story of Alfred Russel Wallace

Russel Wallace was a pioneering naturalist who discovered thousands of new species, published numerous books and conceived the most important theory in biology independently of Charles Darwin: evolution by natural selection. But whilst Darwin has gone on to become a household name, Alfred Russel Wallace has largely remained in his shadow to this day. On the 100th anniversary of Wallace's death, Sir David Attenborough tells the story of this extraordinary explorer and explains why Wallace is, in Attenborough's opinion, the "most. Read More

Nutmeg: Facts & Figures

the sixteenth century it was worth its weight in gold. The early history of Southeast Asia was driven and moulded by the Arab, Chinese, Malay and European adventurers who sailed in search of the fabulous wealth that it offered. The exotic nutmeg – or Pala as it is known in Indonesia – has a very rich heritage.  Read on for some fascinating facts: Nutmeg is indigenous to the volcanic soils of the Indonesian Banda Islands, and in the 15th and 16th centuries,. Read More

What To Bring On Your SeaTrek Cruise

Clothing The tropical climate means you can safely leave all of your warm weather gear at home. Bring cool cottons, T-shirts and shorts. We cruise during the dry season in each of the regions that we visit but rain is always a possibility so bring a lightweight waterproof jacket; it can sometimes be a bit windy on the boat and this will also help keep you warm. Likewise, a lightweight fleece could be useful for pre-dawn trekking or if there is. Read More

The Life-Giving Lontar Palm

The lontar fan palm can be seen all over Indonesia, yet many of us are unfamiliar with it, mistaking it, perhaps, for the coconut palm. Its versatility is extraordinary. Its trunk, which can grow to 30 metres in height and to a thickness of about 90 cm is hewn for beams and posts; its branches are cut for walls and fences; and its broad leaves are woven into baskets, birdcages, water vessels, fans, hats – including some that have been. Read More

Pearl Culture

The magic secret of the pearl is a mystery of origins. Believed to reflect the soul of an oyster, a natural pearl is an accident of nature, formed when an irritant – such as a parasite or a piece of debris – causes the mollusc to secrete a fluid that coats the invader. This irritant forms the nucleus of the pearl, then layer upon layer of the coating, known ‘nacre’, is deposited on the irritant until a lustrous pearl is. Read More

In Search of the Five Holy Springs

the “Lost Coast”, a string of fishing villages, collectively known as Amed – the start-point and finish-point for Seatrek’s Komodo cruises – on Bali’s eastern tip. Hugging a dramatic coastline of steep headlands, coves and coral reefs, Amed is a wonderful destination for those who wish to escape. We had heard a story about Toye Masem – five sacred springs, all within close proximity of each other, with each one purported to spout a different taste. Knowing that these aquatic sources. Read More

A Day at the Races

The rough narrow racetrack through the rice fields was lined with thousands of people; illegal betting was rife, and I had just escaped being trampled to death by a pair of magnificently decorated bull buffaloes. We were at Negara in West Bali, watching the famous buffalo races. The sport, believed to have originated as a simple ploughing contest, is staged every year between July and November. Despite my near-death experience at the side of the track, the non-existent safety measures, the. Read More

Komodo’s Cockatoo

the beautiful birdlife. A notable white-feathered resident of Komodo Island is the yellow-crested cockatoo (cacatua sulphurea) also known as the lesser sulphur-crested cockatoo and not to be confused with its larger Australian cousin. The parrots’ namesake, Sulphurea Hill, with its spectacular outlook over Loh Liang Bay, is a great place for spotting them, and if you don’t see them you will almost certainly hear them, screeching to each other across the valley while they go about their business of the. Read More

Keeping Traditions Alive with Marine Tourism

and New Zealand guests on this handsome motor-sailer, during a 12-day voyage through some of the most historic – and most remote – islands of our vast, archipelagic neighbour, the Republic of Indonesia. My role was to deliver nightly lectures about the maritime history, cultures and traditions of the islands we were sailing through. It’s a truly extraordinary maritime world of 17,000 islands, and one in which the Australian National Maritime Museum has taken an increasing interest over recent years. The. Read More

Six Tips for Isolating Yourself in Paradise

and a bit of time can be daunting. All too often we fall into default mode, which is Disney World, or Costa Rica (because it’s close) or choices that are easy, or seemingly accessible. The problem with this kind of planning is that everyone else does the same thing. As a result, you’re guaranteed large crowds of tourists. I know: not only did I grow up in Tourist Central (Florida) I also worked for Disney World on Opening Day- yeah, THAT. Read More

The Funeral of a King

and ask us if this is what they wear every day. The answer is no – just like us they keep their best costume for special occasions for ceremonies. Fortunately for our guests, our visits during the Textile Tour count as a special occasion. The importance of textiles for ceremonial occasions was drummed into us on our latest visit to the island of Sumba. During our previous visit there in May 2015, we were honoured to be invited to the funeral. Read More

Balinese Feasts and Travel Tales Aboard Katharina

The Katharina on Seatrek’s ‘2015 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival’ (UWRF) cruise. The UWRF cruise is an annual event, which started in 2014, for which a writer (or two) attending the festival is invited to join and contribute with some literary input, storytelling and thought-provoking conversation. For this cruise, Tony Wheeler – co-founder of Lonely Planet, and Janet De Neefe – Founder and Director of UWRF, restaurateur, and owner of Casa Luna Cooking School, were the celebrities. Janet and her team. Read More

Total Detox...Are You Up For It?

the eye could see, there was sea. Bathwater warm, punctuated by leaping porpoises, the occasional hump of an island in the distance. Royal blue, turquoise, full of life. The ironwood deck, smooth and clean, stretched to the bow of the ship Katharina, soft spume hitting our faces. The sun was brilliant, but shadowed by the big canvas covering that provided daytime shade. Around the deck was a variety of chairs, including cushioned areas where you could stretch out and nap. Nap. Come on, man, when’s the. Read More

Swimming with Whale Sharks

The Ombak Putih was moored in the bay off the village of Bolango Botubarani near Gorontalo, North Sulawesi.  We’d travelled 12 hours from Bali, changing planes in Surabaya and Makassar, before finally reaching our destination. When we stepped aboard the boat, we were given the good news that there had been a sighting of whale sharks earlier in the day. “Will they come back tomorrow morning?” I wondered out loud. The answer was “Yes, probably” because the local fishermen were. Read More

Recycling for a Better Tomorrow

rsquo;s responsibility - EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!   “There is no such thing as 'away'. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.” – Annie Leonard, Proponent of Sustainability. Taking care of the Earth is a responsibility that we all share. Did you know that up to 40% of your household waste can be recycled and reused? Here in Bali, Waste Collection & Recycling company, ecoBali, promotes responsible waste management and creates green awareness and eco products with the aim towards. Read More

Ten Tales Of Ternate & Tidore

the clove-perfumed island of Ternate. Ternate and neighbouring Tidore are ancient Islamic sultanates. They were once the world’s only source of cloves, through which their rulers became among the wealthiest and most powerful sultans in the region. Much of their wealth, however, was wasted on fighting each other. Ternate’s volcano, Gunung Gamalama, erupts with unsettling regularity. It dominates the entire island leaving only a narrow coastal strip and the lower slopes of the mountain for plantations. Since 1538, it has erupted 60. Read More

In a Nutshell

the fabled Banda Islands on any one of SeaTrek’s spice cruises and at some point you will find yourself wandering through the beautiful and bountiful nutmeg forests, each one a vast orchard tucked beneath a towering old-growth canopy. The nutmeg tree is sun-sensitive and therefore cultivated under the cover of the soaring kenari trees, which can reach up to 50 metres in height. Many of them are more than 300 years old with buttressed roots that grow out from the. Read More

Swimming with Manta Rays

the highlights of a SeaTrek Komodo trip is the opportunity to snorkel with giant manta rays at Karang Makassar or Manta Point, which despite – and because of – the strong currents, is one of the most interesting places in the Komodo National Park. Manta Point is a cleaning station, a specific location where manta rays come to get cleaned by parasitic copepods and a variety of small cleaner wrasse species that pick parasites from the mantas’ hovering bodies. Mantas. Read More

Komodo Dragon Trivia

agons, called ‘ora’ or ‘land crocodile’ by the locals, are the world’s largest living lizards. They can grow up to 3m long and weigh up to 100kg. Although the komodo can run briefly at speeds up to 20 kilometres per hour, its hunting strategy is based on stealth and power. A komodo ‘smells’ by collecting air with its forked tongue and then depositing it on receptors on the roof of its mouth. Using this method, it can detect a dead animal up. Read More

Bali’s Secret Fleet: a Glittering Armada

These could be the world’s most spectacular traditional fishing craft, but their home port is a remote estuary on the Indonesian island of Bali that few visitors ever see. SeaTrek expert lecturer, Jeffrey Mellefont, unveils a boatbuilding tradition steeped in ritual, religion and magic. Article reproduced with permission of the Australian National Maritime Museum, from its quarterly journal Signals (No. 110 March 2015). View. Read More

A Magical Wishing Lake

the day since Tambora had erupted and caused the tsunami that had filled Satonda’s crater with seawater. I was standing at the side of the lake, and I had a dilemma. In 2000, I had visited the lake for the first time. I had made a wish and it had come true. It was the type of wish that doesn’t come true immediately – along the lines of “I wish I could still be living in Indonesia and still be. Read More

Mystery of Sea Gypies' Amazing Ability to Freedive

the here and now amongst Indonesia's sea gypsy Bajau. Read More

A Trip to Tenganan Village in East Bali

the hills, 5km from Candidasa in East Bali, is a remarkable 700-year-old walled village called Tenganan, where the residents practice a time-honoured lifestyle based around ritual and ceremony. Tenganan is one of Bali’s original pre-Hindu settlements and a stronghold of native traditions. The villagers are the Bali Aga people, descendants of the aboriginal Balinese who resisted the rule of the post-Majapahit kings, fiercely safeguarding and maintaining their own culture through the conviction that they are descended from the gods. Ceremonial longhouses,. Read More

Flying Foxes

atonda Island, off the north coast off Sumbawa, we witnessed an arcane sunset mission as hundreds of thousands of flying foxes emerged in a steady throng from the forest, reminiscent of a fleet of enemy aircraft intent on avoiding radar detection. Unlike their smaller cave-dwelling cousins, these large fruit bats hang out in camps high above the rainforest floor, keeping cool by fanning themselves with their huge wings, which can measure up to 1.7 m from tip to tip. They. Read More

Indonesia’s Living Dinosaurs

omodo Island, our guide, armed with a forked stick, led us inland through the hot and dry monsoon forest surrounded by open savannah grasslands. Timor deer and wild boar darted nervously through the prickly palms; prey to the dragons that have no enemies apart from their own kind. The reason why these primeval apex predators have survived unmolested for so long is attributed to the fact that the treacherous whirlpools and rip currents in the seas around Komodo and Rinca. Read More

Festive Recipe: Tomato Sambal

the UWRF, writer, owner of Casa Luna Cooking School and two restaurants in Ubud delights us with a hot recipe, a traditional favorite of Indonesia, Sambal ! We hope this spices up your season festivities!     Sambal tomat / Tomato sambal If you only make one dish from this cookbook, let this be the one! Tomato sambal can be used to accompany a thousand dishes from Indonesia to the Mediterranean. Try it with eggs in any shape or size, grilled fat sausages, fish or any meat, roasted. Read More