BALI NATURE

Land Scape & Seascape

If in other countries landscape & seascape are luxurious things and expensive, on the country, they are common things in Bali. The beauty of the land is the part of this life, so it is natural that people should protect it without any feeling that protecting is a must for them. Even though the technological development and the need of modern technological implements force some changing in its progress, it will become as nothing if we compare it with the other parts of the island which are allowed to be virgin forever. The beauties of the land exist anywhere; inserted between the very tiring tours, or peeping between the split setting sun’s smiles.

The Climate

The climate is fairly pleasant, with only two seasons a year, the dry season from March to September and the rainy season from September to March. However, very often the rain becomes too friendly with the people and it drop any time it pleases even during the dry season. The sky is cloudy and the air is humid, the sunshine always illuminating it during the years. Temperature ranges from an average minimum of 25^oC to an average maximum of 33^oC, except at the hill sides (of course!) where the temperature could sometimes drop to an average of 18^oC or even lower.

The Flora

Rice is the chief product of the fields besides tropical vegetables, maize, peanut, and beans – especially Soya-beans. The plantations mainly produce coffee for local consumption and export, oranges which are also for local consumption and export, coconuts, bamboo, and within the last year’s people cultivate clove, tobacco, and Jambu Mete (Anacardiun Ocidentale).

Local timbers are not of good quality for building, the Jati (Teakwood) on this island are not too good. Wood for Bali is supplied from Kalimantan and Java, especially during the last years, as the local timbers become shorter and shorter.

The best woods for sculpture are ebony (black or black-brown), sabo or sawo (Manilkara kauki, brown and heavy), bentawas or mentaos (White and heavy), nangka (jackfruit-wood, yellow and brown, heavy) waru (Hibiscus, white, light, used only for painted carvings), randu (Kapok-wood balsa, white, light, used only for painted carvings), pangkal buaya (crocodile-skinned wood, white, heavy), kepelan (green brown, light, used only panels and frames), and pule (white, light, used only to make masks).

Besides the certain fruits which are only available during their seasons like mango (August to November), lychee (July to September), Watermelon (January to May), mangos teen (January to May), Durian (December to April), the hair-ringed fruits /Rambutan (January to May), and several others, there are various kind of fruits which are available anytime and anywhere. All the year people sell bananas, papayas, oranges, pal melons, pineapples, belimbings (Averrhoa Bilimbi), jackfruit, salaks (snake-skinned fruits), and many others.

Tropical vegetables for local consumption are supplied by the local farmers. Sub tropical vegetables are cultivated on the hillsides, but the variations are not more than cabbage, cauliflowers, beans, peas, lettuce, celery, tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots.

Flowers are planted to use in the many offerings the women prepare everyday. There is no intensive flower production, but farmer’s plant sub-tropical flowers and orchids on the hillsides to supply the cities, especially Denpasar and its surrounding tourist resorts. The famouse flowers are bunga pucuk or kembang sepatu (Hibiscus rosasinensis), jepun or kamboja (frangipani), kenanga or sandat (Canangium odoratum), cempaka (Michelia champaca), melati (Jasmin), and mawar (Rose). Banyan tree is only planted on the temple yards or holy places.   

The Fauna

Various birds fly everywhere. Some of them are good singers but the others, especially the small ones and chirp anytime, are good rice-eaters which are hated by farmers. Reptiles are found anywhere. One can always find the harmless garden lizards, iguanas, cicaks, toke (gecko) – two kind of small wall-lizards which are always found hunting for mosquitoes on the house walls – or sometimes an ular sawah (rice-field snake), a kind of black-brown small sake, which is harmless too. One can always find the exceptionally beautiful butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, grasshoppers, and many other insects.

Turtles are hunted for their meat, an important part of offerings for a certain ceremony; Pigs are raised by the Balinese house-wives while the Balinese husband keeps the colorful domestic cocks for fighting. Farmers breed their cattle not only for the beef but also to use for work in the rice fields. There is no ranch in Bali, but since long time ago this island is active exporter for Hong Kong and Singapore.

Buffalo are found only in the western parts of the island. Very often one finds a group of wild deer on the west coast, swimming across the narrow straits to or from the reservation of Blambangan peninsula in East Java. In the west part of Bali there Bali Starling Conservative to protect the Bali Starling (Jalak Bali) that almost totally disappeared.