Rural Lombok – Senaru, Sembalun, Tetebatu & Mount Rinjani

The village of Senaru on the island of Lombok is a beautiful place, very rural and set in the foothills of Mount Rinjani volcano. We took an amazing one-day hike, a tough walk though rivers to waterfalls, through jungle, peanut and tobacco plantations and through the rice terraces where we had lunch sitting in a farmers hut. Our guide, Nur was from the Sasak community and part of the women’s cooperative which has worked to give women equality, a right to go to school and earn money for themselves. This was so interesting, she took us to her village, talked us through daily life and explained some of their rather unusual traditions…… fascinating.

Mount Rinjani

Our next base, the rural village of Sembalun and its surroundings with Mount Rinjani still dominating the landscape. Known for its high altitude valley with its plethora of produce grown here. We hiked through the valley amongst acres of chilli, garlic and strawberry fields, backbreaking work for the locals, no machinery to assist. The view across the valley reveals a patchwork of farmland. We visited a local coffee farm, we have visited many before but they are usually touristy, not this one, this was rustic and real. The farm ladies were busy cooking a ton of crackers, preparing for a coming circumcision celebration, it felt like the party had already begun, we were the centre of amusement for a while, excited laughter and loud chatter then we were presented with our own ton of crackers, they eat so many of them here. It has been interesting in Sembalun and at 1100m above sea level we have had hot days but cold nights, first time the sweatshirts have made an appearance on this trip. Time to move on now.

Our arrival in the village of Tetebatu coincided with the arrival of rainy season on this side of Mount Rinjani so our first day was a complete washout. On our second day the rain stopped however the sun didn’t really make an appearance. Nevertheless this is a beautiful part of the island, lush rice fields and a low key village life, it is likened to Ubud in Bali but without the crowds and traffic. We trekked through monkey forest, total opposite to the one in Ubud, no crowds of people, no feeding stations for aggressive monkeys. This forest is wild and natural and home to the very shy Ebony Leaf monkey (Black Lemur) we were lucky enough to see 2 groups of these. Time to move on now, heading to the airport for a flight to the Island of Flores in readiness for our next adventure.

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Tetebatu