Dear friends,
Welcome back to the News Page…
We were happy to take 4 days non-diving at the end of May. We took the ferry in Padang Bai, and then drove to Senaru where we started to climb the Volcano Rinjani. The story of a 3 days walk...
During one of the last safari, we were lucky enough to spot the Micromelo undatus, beautiful for its colours and pattern. A very uncommonly spotted animal!
As usual, if you have any comments or question, contact us to info@skubaskool.com

BALI NEWS
A 4 hours ferry journey took us to Lembar in Lombok where our guide was waiting for us. He drove us to Senaru (400m) a tiny village at the feet of Rinjani Volcano where we started to walk the next morning at 6am. We walked during 3 days and camped 2 nights before reaching the summit offering us an amazing view over Sumba and Bali
Gunung Rinjani is the highest point in Lombok (3726m) and the second highest point in Indonesia. It has a major significance as hydrological feature, being the major water-catchments for the whole island. The protected area measures only 41 330 hectares where lies on the northern side the original vegetation of evergreen forest while in the lower mountain forest the dominant tree are Podocarpus and Engelhardia, Corybas, Corymborkis, Malaxis Orchid. As on so many mountains in Indonesia, a species of Edelweiss Anaphalis viscida grows near the summit.
There is little fauna on Lombok, for the monkeys, civets and other larger species such as wild pig and Java deer thought to have been introduced. The only feline predator is the largely nocturnal Leopard Cat. Nearly 80% of more than 50 mammal species in Lombok are bats. 2 kinds of monkeys can be seen here, the common long-tailed Macaque that we even found at the highest levels of Gunung Rinjani, stealing cake and banana from the trekker, and the darker Javan Lutung, a leaf-monkey which we also spotted on our first day walking. During those 3 days, we could listen birds singing, we could hear gecko and other lizard hiding as well as many other reptiles (40 species) such as various snakes and the Reticulated Python.
On the 2nd day, we reached the crater (2030m) where lies the beautiful kidney-shaped lake of Segara Anak which is about 6km across at its wildest point and 160m deep. The water lake derives its artificial looking blue-green colour from the high levels of sulphur and other mineral. In a middle of its curves, stand the new cone, Gunung Baru, which is only a couple of hundred years old. Rinjani is an active volcano and erupted as recently as 1994, changing the shape of its inner cone and sprinkling ash over Lombok…
We really enjoy this stunning walk trough the forest, up to the summit. I definitely recommend this trek to every good walker loving nature, plants and out door activities. Breath taking landscape, to be done and done again!