The final destination of my trip to Bali was a 3-day stay on the island of Nusa Penida.
Nusa Penida is 12 km offshore from Bali to the south-east. Administratively it is separate from Bali, but culturally it is an integral part, with a similar Hindu majority and one of the most important Balinese Hindu temples.
Nusa Penida is Bali’s poor cousin, with fewer residents, fewer tourists, poorer soils, climate and agriculture, and noticeably lower living standards.
Area: 202 square kilometres. Population: 45,000. Population density: 2.2 per hectare; that’s less than a third as dense as Bali.
Nusa Penida is a limestone island, so the soils are less fertile and less retentive of moisture than the volcanic soils of Bali. The climate is seasonally dry.
There’s no spare water to grow rice. The main crops are maize, cassava and rosella grown in stone terraces using wet-season rains, and set among woodlands of Cashew, Teak, Banana and Coconut Palms.
The remaining cover of native forest is just 0.02% - about 30 hectares – comprising the beautiful and accessible Tembeling Forest. Needless to say, I made a beeline for that forest.
The south-west coast, facing on to the Indian Ocean, is rugged and spectacular.