Lombok ("Isle of Chillies") is an island in the Lesser Sundas, Bali's nearest neighbor to the east. Bali and Lombok have been described as sister islands, but they are sisters very different from one another: while Bali is an internationally known holiday island, Lombok remained until quite recently almost unknown, visited only by backpackers and described by those familiar with the region as "Bali as it used to be". It seems that this situation is about to change, for the international hotel chains are already putting out feelers, a Sheraton Hotel is located on the south coast of Lombok.
Nevertheless it will be some years before Lombok goes the same way as Bali. Until then visitors should be careful to take account of the special circumstances of Lombok. The inhabitants have not had the experience of tourism to anything like the same extent as the people of Bali, and things that are accepted or tolerated to a greater or lesser degree on Bali may give offence on Lombok. This should be borne in mind particularly by visitors who find their way into the interior of the island and come into contact with the Sasaks, the indigenous inhabitants of Lombok.
Size With an area of 4692 sq. km (1812 sq. mi.), Lombok is only slightly smaller than Bali. The two islands are separated by the Lombok Strait (Selat Lombok), 40 km (25 mi.) wide and up to 3000 m (10,000 ft) deep, which also marks the boundary (the Wallace Line) between Malayo-Asian and Malayo-Australian flora and fauna.
The highest point on the island is the volcano of Gunung Rinjani (3726 m (12,225 ft)), the third highest peak in Indonesia. Extending from east to west, Mt Rinjani and its foothills occupy almost the whole of the northern half of the island.
Access Lombok can be reached from Bali by air (Merpati airline, a subsidiary of Garuda) in half an hour, by speedboat in 21/2 hours and by car ferry in 41/2 hours. There are several services daily by all three means of transport. Lombok's airport is a few kilometers north of Mataram. Speedboats and ferries sail between Padang Bai on Bali and Lembar, 30 km (19 mi.) south-west of Mataram.
The central bemo station is 7 km (41/2 mi.) from Ampenan and 2.5 km (11/2 mi.) from Cakranegara.
History Ruled in the 17th century by Balinese princes of the Karangasem dynasty (who regarded it merely as an appendage to their kingdom), Lombok was occupied in the first half of the 18th century by the rulers of the island of Sulawesi (Celebes). In 1740, however, the western part of the island was recovered by the Karangasem dynasty, who then controlled eastern Bali.
The eastern part of Lombok continued to be ruled by the Muslim princes of southern Sulawesi until 1849, when the Raja of Karangasem incorporated the whole island in his kingdom. In 1838 the united princedom of Lombok was established, and five years later the Raja of Mataram recognized Dutch sovereignty. In 1891 the Dutch crushed a rising by the Sasaks and then incorporated the whole of Lombok in the Dutch East Indies. Thereafter Lombok was a convenient base from which to launch punitive expeditions against Bali. The Sasak rulers of Lombok were very ready to support such actions, since they saw the Dutch forces as enabling them to shake off the hegemony of Bali.
Lombok is now part of the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Barat.
Lombok has a population of some 2.4 million, 80 per cent of whom are Sasaks, the original inhabitants of the island. Although Bali is only 40 km (25 mi.) away, there are no more than about 80,000 Balinese on Lombok. Both islands were settled at about the same time, probably by members of the same tribe from southern China. In the 17th century there was a further influx of Chinese to work in the rice-fields.
The Sasaks are believed to have originally come from north-western India, and possibly also from Burma, from where they migrated about the 14th century. Evidence of their Burmese origin may be the similarity of Sasak costumes with those of the hill tribes of Burma.
The Sasaks live mainly by farming. As on Bali, rice-growing plays a major part in the economy, though the rice terraces of Lombok are much less elaborately and systematically laid out than the rice-fields of Bali. There are also vegetable and tobacco plantations, the produce of which serves mainly to meet the needs of the local population; little of it is exported.
Although in recent decades there has been a trend towards urbanization on Lombok, the great majority of the Sasaks still live in their typical villages. The characteristic features of these villages built in traditional style are the "rice-houses" (lumbung). Usually square in shape and constructed exclusively of natural materials (clay and wood), these are raised on stilts and roofed with grass or sometimes rice straw. The lumbung is a very practical building: on ground level are the domestic and working animals, in the middle is the accommodation for the family, and under the high, curved roof are stored supplies of provisions.
Sasak houses are now being imitated in the construction of new hotels.
Religion In contrast to the Balinese, the great majority of the people of Lombok were converted to Islam in the 16th century, and with the exception of a tiny Hindu minority, mainly in the west of the island, they are still Muslims - though there are still believers, particularly in the mountain villages in the north of the island, in the old Wetu Telu religion, which shows features of the cult of ancestors, Islam and Hinduism as well as the veneration of natural shrines.
Read More
Read Less
Read More
Gunung Rinjani
Read More
Read Less
