Paradise Found
Southern Lombok is different. It's only an hour from Bali, and even closer to the popular Gili Islands, but it may as well be on a different planet.
In Lombok there is virtually none of the typical tourism "syndrome" that affects Bali. The hustle, the traffic jams, the multiplicity of choices for accommodation, electronic gadgetry, the pollution, noise, the overwhelming ennui that eventually tends to ruin the typical tourism destination. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
What southern Lombok has, what sets it apart, is a natural beauty that is completely unspoilt; vast rolling ocean beaches with surf that attracts devotees from around the world year round, rolling hills deeply green all the way to the pristine, gleaming white sand beaches with impossibly blue seas where the diving is as good as the surf; coconut groves, hidden shady idylls with flowing creeks and jungle tracks giving way to rich savannah, rice paddies, and farm land covered in every type of local food crop.
What development there is is extremely sympathetic to the local environment and conditions. The Novatel hotel, for example, at Kuta Lombok, is a landmark project of beauty and sensitive integration, spilling seamlessly onto Seger beach and reef only minutes from the coastal village.
In the same way the rich Hindu religion and traditions have made Bali, Island of the Gods, such a popular and even unique travel/tourism destination, so the rich Sasak culture and devout Islamic traditions have made Lombok special and different.
The Sasak culture is beautifully represented in the dramatic wooden, bamboo and thatched-roofed dwellings in already famous villages such as Sadr, and in the many-hued, richly coloured, hand-woven cloth and clothing, vegetable-dye paintings and wall-hangings, stone and wood and bone carvings and implements that are testament to a culture and traditions stretching back through the millennia: a warrior culture moving slowly into a new era and jealously guarding its rich cultural heritage, and its extraordinary natural environment. Primitive and ever-changing. Different. Sasak style.
So much so that Lombok has emerged as the New Destination - Paradise Found.
And the winds of change are blowing gently through this Garden of Eden, providing exciting, reliable investment opportunities for the locals and newcomers alike.
The almost breathtaking beauty of the vast, unspoilt Lombok coastline represents some of the best investment opportunities in the world today.
The land - especially beachfront and mountains with views of the beach, as well as many other areas of pristine, stunning natural beauty - offers investors, small and big developers, dream-makers, families, surfers, divers, adventurers, travelers looking for an idyllic retreat, unprecedented opportunities to realize their ambitions, large and small.
Early travelers, going back to the days of the celebrated "hippy trail" through Southeast Asia, India and even the Middle East, will remember Bali when Poppies Lane was still a dirt track, where the bikes rarely had motors, and the green coconut groves were broken up by rice paddies, rather than bristling building sites and gleaming new shopfronts.
Investors and land buyers with the vision to foresee the inevitable transformations that have shaped Bali since those early days are now pointing to the "boom" that is set to transform Lombok from the sleeping green giant that has not yet woken to the 21st century.
A major US$ 600 million dollar investment project by UAE-based investment group Emaar is underway in south Lombok, with welladvanced plans for a five-star resort, including a full-sized international golf course that will be one of the best in the world on completion. Together with the Bali Tourism Development Board it will see the development of Lombok's new international airport and a major highway joining it to the southern beaches.
Despite recent reports in the Indonesian media to the contrary, Emaar have not pulled out of the project and remain committed to south Lombok. The Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, BKPM and Emaar will continue the commitment to realize the property investment project in Lombok. The main terms of the joint venture agreement between Emaar and the Bali Tourism Development Corp., a 100 percent-owned legal entity of the State Ministry for State Enterprises, are that the BTDC will inject the land into the project company, and Emaar will develop the site.
Emaar are one of the savviest and best funded developers in the world today and they are committed to transforming the sleepy southern Lombok village of Kuta into a major international tourism destination. Apart from the obvious impact of such a world-class tourism destination, Emaar is committed to a massive infrastructure development program that will benefit the entire region, with everything from roads and water to power and land preservation strategies. Its experience in such programs in the Middle East, the UAE and elsewhere in the developing world already make it a world leader.
The beauty of southern Lombok has to be seen to be believed. Places like Tanjungan for example. An immense double-sided natural amphitheatre of brilliant white, pristine coastline onto which the greenest turquoise-blue ocean with world-class surf breaks crashes over rocks, reef and sand with complete disregard to its breathtaking beauty.
It is only one of a dozen such magnificent places whose very names conjur images of intangible beauty: Air Guling, Mawon, Gerupuk, Seger, Tampah, Teluk Awang, Selong Blanak, and Gili Muse.
And financial doldrums or no, there is still the new Lombok International Airport, due for completion this year and operational early 2010. It will open the doors onto this natural paradise in more ways than one. It will be a 15 minute drive from Kuta, Lombok, on a new bitumen road. Suddenly, international visitors will have a direct connection from their homes to this heavenly new destination. Lombok unlocked.
For thousands of people in Lombok it will be a gateway to the modern world and, in particular, to the sacred pilgrimage, the Haj. For Middle East travelers and investors looking to far away shores, it might be something of a Haj in reverse - an earthly journey to "Surgah Perdaus", paradise itself.
No wonder there is a palpable air of excitement and expectation in southern Lombok. The tourism and growth that has already become a strong feature of the economy in the North, Sengigi and the magnificent Gili Islands, is set to spread to the areas of unsurpassed beauty along the southern and eastern coasts.
Everyone is now focused on ensuring that the growth will be steady and well planned and that preservation of the natural environment, as well as the cherished Sasak lifestyle, will be the top priority. Lombok's time is now!
