The Golden Coast

Lombok’s simple pleasures and unhurried pace remain intact. For now.

One of my favorite get-away-from-it-all spots in Indonesia has long been the coastal area in and around Kuta – but not the Kuta in Bali! It’s the other Kuta, the one in southern Lombok – its appeal being that it’s the very opposite of overcrowded, overdeveloped and at times overbearing Bali.

Long known only to the hardened surfing fraternity, the south coast of Lombok has some of Indonesia’s most spectacular scenery, pristine beaches and azure seas, not to mention the huge world-class waves rolling in from the Indian Ocean. Toss in the relatively slow pace of development, and this part of Lombok is about as good as it gets if you need a break from Jakarta.

One of the pleasures of Lombok is that, with the exception of the Gili islands, it has remained much as it was when I first came here as a young backpacker in 1989. My most recent trip was more than three years ago, so I returned to Kuta in September to see how much the place had changed ahead of the opening of the new international airport in October.

Many years in the making, the new airport is touted as the catalyst to turn sleepy Lombok into Indonesia’s next Bali. South and inland from Mataram, the island’s capital, the airport is only 30 minutes’ drive from the south coast (a trip from the former airport took at least 90 minutes), which is likely to affect development in south Lombok, and the Kuta area in particular.

At the Bar

My first step on arriving at Kuta was to rent a motorbike – easily arranged – and the following morning, I set off. The coast road east from Kuta passes through coconut groves and past silver-sanded bays – an exhilarating drive on a motorbike. The first beach is beautiful Pantai Segar; even more spectacular is the next bay, Tanjung Aan, where an Emirates-based property investor had plans for a major international resort, only to pull out with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008. The bay, with its sweeping silver-sand beach, is shaped like a giant half-moon with a rocky headland, and you can see the huge surf breaking out at the bay’s mouth. It’s a good swimming spot and tends to be deserted, even at weekends, except for a few local kids selling fresh coconuts or locally made jewelry.

Continuing further east, the road ends at the coastal hamlet and surfers’ haunt of Gerupak, famous for its surf breaks just a short boat ride out toward the mouth of the bay. But you don’t have to be a surfer to take a small boat (Rp 70,000) out to Gerupak’s “floating bar” beside one of the breaks, where you can lie in the sun, enjoying the sea breeze and an ice-cold beer while you watch the surfers do their thing.

Western Wonders

West from Kuta, the road climbs over a steep ridge into the next valley, with the heights offering a wonderful view back down over Kuta and the beaches and bays beyond, and the waves coming in from the south. Up here is a gem of a restaurant called Ashtari. With its Tuscan-style architecture, international vegetarian menu, magnificent view and pleasant atmosphere, it’s a perfect spot to drop in for a bite and a drink, or while away a few hours.

The road leading up the hill, though, is now in an all but impassable condition for sedans, and those of us on bikes must dismount. The shocking deterioration of the road is, I learned, due to the number of trucks passing through, after prospecting by an international company revealed the presence of gold three years ago, although not in commercially viable quantities.

Now residents are cashing in with the illegal mining operations that dot the hillside. It seems every house on the Mawun side of the hill has a telltale roller drum and grinding machine used for the separation process. The illegal mines are in themselves dangerous – lives have been lost when tunnels have collapsed – and the method of choice for extracting gold uses highly toxic mercury. It is unclear what happens to the toxic mud left over from the process, but it is almost certainly dumped back on the hillside, mercury and all, eventually to find its way back into the food chain.

Sand Scape

The road continues in that awful condition, over the crest of the hill and down into the valley, for a couple of kilometers. Back at sea level, a small road heads left toward the sea and Mawun Bay, one of the most idyllic sandy bays in all of Indonesia. I’ve rarely seen a soul in this postcard-perfect setting, but it now has safe parking, a couple more bamboo shelters and not much else.

The small fishing village halfway around the horseshoe of the bay is just as I remember, with its handful of prahu fishing boats and shacks. This is also a great beach for swimming, as the big waves of the Indian Ocean break out at the narrow mouth of the bay, and the currents are benign.

Continuing back along the coastal road further west – which isn’t quite as bad as the hill to Mawun – the next left leads to a guardhouse and a barrier where even motorbike riders have to fork out Rp 10,000 to gain entrance to the road leading to the bay. This is Mawi Bay, another surfers’ paradise with its legendary barrels. For me as a non-surfer, it holds fewer attractions than Mawun. Back on the “main” road, the final beach is the huge sweep of wide empty sand at Selong Blanak, where the coastal track meets the sealed road leading north toward the new airport and Mataram.

This beach is more than a couple of kilometers long, and its powdery white sand and wide, gentle slope make it perfect for swimming. Amazingly, though, it has nothing but a small village with a few warung along the eastern end of the beach. Given its easy access to the north, rumor has it this will be the site for major future development, leaving Kuta far behind. For now, though, its expanse of beach is almost deserted.

The message seems to be that if you haven’t visited the beautiful coastline and beaches of southern Lombok, then it’s not too late to do so. But the quiet could be deceptive: Things are starting to change fast. Illegal mining, development and tourist overspill from Bali and the Gili islands are adding to the pressure, and the new airport only ups the pace of change. So don’t delay too long if you want to see this pristine corner of Indonesia.

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