December/January, 1998
No. 032/VI/97

cover story

Christians in
Paradise
How Christianity came
to Bali

Once Upon a
New Years Eve
MC-ing a New Year's
Eve party during a
blackout

bali focus:
nusa dua and
jimbaran

The Origin of
Nusa Dua
A fable

People of a
Fertile Sea
The fishers of
Jimbaran beach

Center Stage
Steve Charles revamps
the Candraloka
Amphitheatre

Nusa Dua Nights
How to survive them

The Sacred
Wilderness
Colonial encounters with
Bali's southern peninsula

arts and
culture

Latter Day
Laksamana
A.A.M. Djelantik's
recently launched
autobiography

Kulkul
new Fiction by Gde
Aryantha Soethama

The Rat Pack
Who are Bali's literati?

beyond
bali

An Eddy in The
Counter of Time
Kayaking off the west
coast of Lombok

Slick and Cool in
Sengigi
Round midnight at the
famed Lombok resort

regular

Fashion

Adventure
Into the blue

Food
Jewel of the southren rim

Jungle Drums

Bali Update

On the Road

Home Grown
Made Adi Putra

advertising index for
Bali Echo web site

At the end of the nineteenth century, Bukit, as the arid peninsula that dangles off the bottom of Bali is called, was yet to be subject to white exploration. Colonial explorers were aware of the presence on the peninsula of the temple of Uluwatu, one of the six most sacred in Bali, but were yet to visit it. The reason for this was simple - the untamed and desolate landscape of the Bukit was considered a sacred wilderness which was the personal domain of the princes of Badung (today's Denpasar), then the most powerful kingdom in Bali. As such, it was strictly off limits to outsiders. Here, the Raja of Badung and his followers would hunt deer and venture along the limestone cliffs, where coastal scrub and cacti were believed to be the abode of numerous spirits, and therefore to harbour metaphysical powers.

The gateway to the Bukit was the large fishing village of Jimbaran, located on the narrow isthmus which offers a passageway to the peninsula. Early western reports of this village were not particularly glowing. They described locals as coarse and eager to pick a fight. Moreover, the entire area, including Kuta, was rife with malaria and other tropical diseases. In other words, white explorers had few reasons to want to venture there.

The high point of the year for the entire area was the annual odalan or temple festival at Uluwatu. One of Bali's most magnificent temples, it occupies the point of a sheer cliff, jutting out into the ocean like the bow of an incredible ship. The sound of the Indian Ocean crashing into the cliff below serenaded the ceremonial proceedings, while dolphins and sea turtles celebrated the event by playing in the surf.

After 1906, when the kingdom of Badung fell in one swoop to the invading Dutch Colonial Army, the forbidden territory suddenly became open to anybody who wished to explore it. The invading soldiers had been accompanied by a horrified young artist, W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, who found the claims of victory a farce. Disgusted by the invasion, he decided to wander into the wilderness then known as Tafelhoek or corner table.

1. Hell trees at Djimbaran. W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, 1937.
2. The cliffs of Bukit. Pen and ink drawing by W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, 1906.

continued

Copyright © 1997 Bali Echo. All Rights Reserved