Bali is a very beautiful place with fantastic weather year-round and has unique eco-system. Beaches, mountains, jungles what else you want for a perfect vacation? And if all of this comes with living off grid and self-sustainable; then it’s a big YES! It was my son’s first vacation and he was thrilled to see big trees in the rainforest, and seeing his favorite owl and hippo in their habitat in reality. It was a great opportunity to give such a fantastic sensory exposure to a rapidly developing child and provide him a wide realization of the surrounding and Nature in general. We could see a great positive difference in him after just a few days of vacation. That’s a perk of traveling with kids!
Balinese food
There are many famous beaches in Bali but we avoided them completely and stayed in the mountains and jungles, to avoid crowds and enjoy serene Nature. This part of Bali is filled with art, culture, village living and very close to nature, away from all commercial tourists things and parties. I read so much about ‘Bali Belly’ before going there, it is diarrhea famous amongst tourist who visits Bali. But from our experience, I would say the food of Bali is the most sustainable feature of Bali if you stay away from the commercial coastline. Stay in the mountain where locals stay. Because they grow almost all the vegetables, fruits and even spices in their garden. They also keep ducks and chicken in their rice paddies. These rice paddies are almost like a backyard for them! So there is very less chance you get Bali Belly, we never did.
Interestingly, I found out that the farmers prefer to keep ducks in their rice paddies so that they can avoid pesticides. This duck farming a traditional way of organic farming. These ducks eat insects, weeds, even seeds of the weeds and they don’t do any harm to rice crops. Duck droppings work as natural fertilizers, which reduces the need for the chemical fertilizers.
One incidence I would like to share about how fresh the food could be. Being Indians we missed spicy food and requested at a point, turmeric powder to be added in our dish. After a little discussion, the chef visited us and told that they don’t have turmeric powder because they use fresh turmeric roots in their food. That was the point I fall in love with the freshness of the Balinese food.
On this tiny island, they grow amazingly tasty fruits like Snakefruite, very delicious Mangosteen, Rambutan, Jeruk and many more and of course different types of coconuts. We were lucky and had a chance to pick snake fruits from the tree during our rainforest stay. The spices like clove, cinnamon, vanilla are also grown in Bali. Here is the picture of cocoa beans drying on a roadside in an interior village on Mount Batukaru.
Tranquility is filled in an air of Bali, once you leave behind the coast and start going to the mountain. Even in Ubud you can just sit back in your hotel balcony at Ubud Alaya and hear the sound of nature; wind, rustling trees, chirping birds, ducks; it’s heaven! One morning I got a chance to see and capture some interesting birds in the camera, couldn’t find names but you will enjoy the pics.
Balinese Art & Culture
After visiting stone and wood carving towns around Ubud, one starts wondering how the art also could be a sustainable thing! In Bali I think they can make art out of anything, the rice terraces are the best example. Firstly how they thought of growing rice on the mountain steps? I haven’t seen any green mountain more beautiful than those in Bali. And the most notable thing about those rice terraces is the water management system. For this same reason, these rice terraces are listed as UNESCO world heritage sites. Amongst all the rice terraces in Bali, Jatiluwih rice terraces are the widest.
Balinese culture is so unique that it’s impossible if you don’t find yourself intrigued. It’s a tiny Hindu island, you can see Ganesha idols in all the entrances but the beautiful Balinese temples are idols-less, their main idol chambers are empty.
Their daily morning ritual of Canang Sari, Bali Offering is not just beautiful attention to details but has a deeper meaning of self-sacrifice, a spirit of thankfulness.
I found Balinese dance, very graceful, I was lucky to try Balinese dance at one of the temples. Watching the Kecak fire dance at Uluwatu at the sunset time is one of the amazing cultural experience.
Things To Do In Bali
Here are some of the places in Bali, I will recommend visiting, which are either must visit for a cultural experience and some of them are also away from crowds and will give you a glimpse of real Balinese lifestyle. Also listed a few places from where you can buy local sustainable souvenirs.
- Lake Batur & Pura Luhur Batukaru
This was one of the least crowded and very beautiful temples in Bali. There is a huge garden around the temple, where kids can play and you can have a relaxing afternoon.
- Spice and fresh produce market in Tabanan
You can buy locally grown spices and vanilla etc from this market directly from farmers.
- Uluwatu Temple & Kecak Dance
- Jatiluwih Rice Terrace
- Ubud Market, where you can buy local handicraft, art, Sarong, Balinese batik clothes all in one place.
- Puri Saren Agung, Ubud
- Art Galleries where you can buy Balinese painting from a local artist
Bali Wildlife
There is so much wildlife on this island. I won’t talk positively about the monkey’s in Monkey forest or at Uluwatu temple. Because those monkeys are aggressive, sometimes they hurt people as well. Our local driver told us that these monkeys are not looked after properly and because of the lack of food they have become so aggressive. For example, the Uluwatu area in Bali is arid, there is not enough food for these monkeys so they grab things from tourists hoping it is food and the worst is the Temple management who earn good money from entry/dance fees don’t feed them. So it is definitely a very non-sustainable example.
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| Komodo Dragon |
The right way to experience wildlife is to travel to National parks and protected areas. Read here an interesting guide to travel to Komodo Island with older kids. But then if you are traveling with younger kids, like we did, you have the only option of visiting a zoo or safari. I do not support zoos or safari and using animals for a commercial purpose is not just cruel but also not sustainable. However, honestly, seeing a Komodo Dragon was on my bucket list and I wanted my son to see wildlife early on so that he develops interest and get to know more about our beautiful planet.
So, we visited Bali Safari, my son enjoyed seeing wildlife there. Seeing Komodo Dragons, the largest monitor lizard on earth was an experience. They are vulnerable species and are on IUCN red list. They are found only in Indonesia and very few are in wild on Indonesian islands like Komodo and Gilli.
On one hand, I totally agree that wildlife belongs in the wild, but we can not deny educational and public awareness use of zoos and safaris. Provided the animals are kept in the right conditions and looked after properly. Also, the zoos or safari should help in wildlife conservation and breeding of endangered species.
Sarinbuana Eco Lodge, Bali
The highlight of our Bali vacation was the Sarinbuana Ecolodge, winner of 2013 Wildforest best Ecolodge. We never stayed this close to Nature in the tropical rainforest before, the nights were so calm and still noisy with all the natural sounds, it felt like an adventure (with all comforts ;D)! This lodge was truly an eco-lodge, we could see so many sustainable features around us all the time. The wooden Balinese style villas and rustic furniture were made up of local timber. The washroom was covered but outside, it was an ecosystem in itself. Very intelligently there were plants on the side and walls of the shower, which were thriving on washroom water or rainwater. I saw a few insects and snails thriving on these plants too!
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| Sarinbuana staff picking fruits from the garden |
There was a vegetable garden and almost all their food came from their garden. Every morning we had to give an order to all our meals during the day so that they could pick raw food from their garden and then cook it. A true farm to table experience! This is one thing I would love to do sometime during my life!
There was a dedicated compost area, seeds area and recycle area, which makes it easy to understand, how their organic vegetable garden works. There are organic, recycle waste bins are kept in all villas too. Linda, the owner of the lodge showed me around for sustainable features. The grey water from the washroom is taken to leach fields and on that water vegetation is grown for which doesn’t require fertilization too. Therefore, they request guests to use only organic soaps and shampoos. A fishpond is made near the spa, which keeps control over the insects. There is a lamp installed near the surface of the water, the insects are attracted to the lamp and the fish can eat them all.
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| Vegetated leach field |
Few animals are sheltered in the lodge, rescued monkeys, rabbit, etc. The lodge follows green housekeeping. The sustainable features are used in building a structure to reduce energy consumption. Skylight is used in the restaurant and kitchen. It was a pleasure of hearing some interesting things about eco-lodge from Linda. Sarinbuana eco-lodge founder Norm and Linda are staying in Bali for a quite long time, they have developed some more eco-resorts and are involved in environmental consultancy work. Their environment oriented rich library could be a feast for any nature lover.
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| Treehouse terrace |
Living in eco-lodge, close to nature felt like a challenge to us on the first day, we are not used to having moths, geckos, spider, bees in the bedroom or banging of them on glass doors while we sleep. And then a good morning from a pet cat jumping in your bed :)! But this cat instantly became our favorite. My son woke up and started mimicking the meowing cat, the morning was never this beautiful before!
We could not sleep longer after sunrise, but we all were very fresh, energetic and happy.
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| View from treehouse living room |
Seeing a beautiful tropical rainforest, palm trees and the sky from our bedroom was ecstatic! The fresh smell of pure Nature is out of the world. Sometimes I feel, in these big urban cities where we stay, we kind of forget the fresh air, the smell of the un-spoilt jungle, trees. During the day we used to see the top of mount Batukaru, which was just next to us but till the sunset clouds and fog used to gather to cover the mount and the mount used to go out of sight. We explored the surroundings of an eco-lodge, yoga barn, water whole down in the valley, snake fruit plantation, rice paddy and at the day end, I gathered all the treasures collected during the day on a rustic table on the balcony hanging on tropical rainforest. The Bali orange blossom, smelling like Jasmine, snake fruits and a keepsake tropical forest leaf for my natural collectibles.
We went into the valley during the daytime, but the forest gets crowded with trees and it gets dark as you go down in the valley. We walked a lot and hiked back to our treehouse, but we’re not tired at all, we were fresh, energetic and tranquil; that’s the magic of staying close to nature. It explains the fitness level and stamina of these mountain people. On last day from our treehouse to the car, there is a long uphill path, and one of the local average physique helpers took our 30 kg bag on her head and walked up to the car, just like that!
Our stay at Sarinbuana felt like a staying with a local Balinese family. Those lovely Balinese ladies, from nearby villages, made fantastic food, played with our son while we had dinner. An elderly lady was called from a nearby village when we booked our Balinese massage, that was the best massage. All the staff right from driver to caretakers and Linda made us feel at home! It was lovely to see how Linda and Norm have created employment for people in nearby villages. I would say it was not just an eco-lodge, but it was truly sustainable for the environment as well as for the people living in surrounding villages.
The road from Sarinbuana to Denpasar goes from mount to mount through crowded trees, rice terraces, beautiful villages and hundreds of village temples.
Eco-living in Bali was so fantastic that I would have never left from there if possible.
Finally, I would like to inform about Bali kids charity, this organization provides medical care for ill orphans in Bali. Here you could do donations or donate their wish list items. I preferred to buy medicines from Dubai, which were listed on their site and asked them to arrange to pick up from my hotel in Ubud. If you can manage to spare some time, you can visit them and drop your donations.
On my next trip, one of the thing I would like to do is to visit Green School Bali, it is the school which educates for sustainability in a natural environment through our purpose-driven curriculum. If you planning your trip to Bali, also refer to Greener Bali for more tips on sustainable tourism to Bali.
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