Jungle Trekking and Lake Cruising in Tamblingan, Bali, Indonesia

Tamblingan is a district in midland of Bali. The air is cooler there. I was there few days ago for trekking in a tropical forest.

As always, in anything outdoor activity I do, I preferred to start in the morning. It is less hot. It was 9.30 when I was standing in gate to the forest.

THE FOREST

We met the trekking guide at the starting point outside of the forest. He gave us a wooden stick to help us navigate the forest. Then he showed us (me and a client) the entrance to the forest.

The local people in Tamblingan has built this unique gate to enter the forest.

Trekking in this forest was not that difficult. The path has been created long time ago so it is easy to walk there.

The trekking guide, Wayan, was obviusly very familiar with the path that went into the forest. While walking along the forest, he showed us some plants, including teak, resin trees, orchids, many types of berries.

The forest was quite thick with trees growing.

Orchid plant grows on tree.

Little mushrooms growing in the forest.

Golden cherry plant.

This blue flower could be found in some places in Bali. We make tea from it.

Fern could be picked up and used as vegetables. _Trumpet flowers.

We went deeper into the forest. And the path was sometime blocked by lying trees. According to Wayan, during the rainy season, heavy rain could cause the trees to fall down. It was a bit strange for me to know that trees could fall during rain. Seemed that the trees root did not hold to the soil quite strongly, or maybe the rain was very heavy, or maybe because of the soil. It was quite sandy.

This path was created to walk around the forest. Many fallen trees we found during our trek. The guide was explaining the reason why trees fell in this forest. More trees falling. Some area of the forests could not be acessed because the path has not been made. We had to walk underneath this fallen tree. That's one big tree, I thought.. We had to walk around this fallen tree.

During our walk for about 45 minutes, I have seen a lot of trees. These ancient trees were all very beautiful. I just wandered to myself how trees can be this beautiful.

At the end the walk, the guide picked some golden berries. He gave us the berries to try. I have never had them. They were quite sweet.

I continued walking. The trees become less and less. I thought this must be the edge of the forest. Then something coming that made me startled!! It was a little girl riding motor bike in the middle of the forest. Can you believe that?

A little girl riding a motorcycle.

The trekking guide told us there was a family who live nearby the forest. The were farmers, and sometimes working in the lake nearby as a boat peddlers. Ah, I see. So, we were quite close to the lake.

THE LAKE

We got out from the forest and found ourselves at the edge of Lake Tamblingan. The water was blue, in contrast with the green forest surrounding the lake. We walked on the jetty to get to our boat.

The side of the lake. Entering the boat. Getting ready to have good time cruising across the lake. Please, I am taking photo of both you. You will appear in local magazine, I said to them as I took their photos.

There was a lady who waited for us. She sat at the back of the wooden boat holding a paddle. There were two boats attached to each other by some kind of woods. My client walked to the first boat, and sat there. I went to the second boat.

The lady paddled the first boat, and the trekking guide who "transformed" himself into a boatman, paddled my boat.

And our boat journey through the Lake Tamblingan started. We were excited to be in the middle of the lake. Every we saw was water and forest. It looked very marvelous.

There were some nets spread on the lake, with plastic bottles as buoy. This was to catch tilapia fish. The fish that had sooo many bones but quite tasty.

There was a Balinese Hindu temple by the lake. Since it was full moon, we saw some group of people who were praying by the lake.

After paddling for about half an hour, we reached the other side of the lake. We went out of the boat. And our journey ended here. Thanks for reading.