#cious explorer

EXPLORING BALI’S VOLCANIC CANYONS

REDISCOVERING THE PARADISE ISLAND OF BALI

Weekend tourists, newlyweds, backpackers, surfers, in-between-ers filling their gap year. Those are only some of the faces easy to spot on at the Ngurah Rai International Airport, showing how attractive this small island to various kinds of travellers. It is almost impossible to find the old-Bali where it is serene with lots of off-the-beaten tracks nowadays.

However, some places still remain untouched, at least until recently. Driven by their passion to discover, a team of Indonesian explorers assembled and led by ICOpro’s Mika Denissot has been pursuing the canyons in Bali’s central mountains

Their most recent accomplishment is the-long-project they have been planning for some time. They took the challenge to explore Canyon of Fire (locally known as Tukad Api). Scouted while exploring the neighboring Aling Gorges in 2010, it was seen as a high-volume, narrow, and a challenge bound for serious commitment for a team that was still developing at the time.

The bottom section of Tukad Api (named “The Corridor”) was first descended on September 2013. The team waited for the driest period of the year, which meant a more manageable water flow. Another obstacle is limited daylight to explore from 12 hours exploration they can only count on 6-7 hours of natural light, as the canyons are often narrow and deep. Out of 25 drops,

the highest was 42m, and a lot of them back-to-back. With a total vertical descent of 350m and 1,700m in length, Tukad Api provided a rewarding challenge to the group.

A second descent was held in July. The purpose of this was to establish anchors which will help them cut the actual descent time. This time it took them 9 hours between approach, descent and return. The remoteness of these places allied to the lack of a recreational canyoning community based in the island assures most of these environments are kept as pristine as they were found: ever-green, pure and true to its origins.

A JOURNEY TO THE TOP OF BATUR

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, INDONESIA! A JOURNEY TO THE TOP OF BATUR

Commemorating the 69th independence day of Indonesia last August, together with several high school fellows I had a trip to Mount Agung. It is the highest mount in the island, located precisely in Karangasem prefecture. There were two tracks we could follow as the entrance. The first one is Pura Besakih track and Pura Pasar Agung track. I opted for the first one. It was a longer track, however with more attractive and scenic panorama.

We started the trip 8AM sharp from Denpasar, and spent around 1.5 hours to reach the entrance post. It is important for us to start the journey with pray to the deities and asked for their blessings, Mount Agung is one of the holy mounts in Bali, anyway. Pura Pengubengan was the last temple in Pura Besakih before we actually start the hike. To reach this temple, we could take a walk from the northern part of Pura Besakih through the local’s gardens for around an hour or used vehicles. We met other hikers at the temple, which dominated by other high-school students, especially from SMAN 3 Denpasar who put this agenda annually to celebrate the Independence Day.

11.30AM and we finished our lunch before continuing the hike to Mount Agung “Boycamp”, which was actually the base camp for those who wished to spend the night to reach for the early summit attack the next day. It took us 6 hours to reach this spot, with the first 4 hours passing through lush heterogenic tropical forest. The density of the trees made the dews easily trapped by the leaves and after awhile, fell down to the ground creating the illusion as if it was raining. The last 2 hours we passed through the pine trees forest, with sandy rocky track.

6.30PM we finally arrived at the camp. The sun was almost set and I took several shoots to save the magnificent views. We were unable to set up tents due to the uneven ground, and had mattress and sleeping bag, instead. Boycamp was located above the cloud, thus saved the hikers from the tropical rain. The milky-way was super clear at the time I went up there, and several shooting stars were seen in the beauty of night sky.

We planned to have to start the summit attack at 3.30AM in the morning to chase the sunrise, 2 hours away from the Boycamp. We started the journey after breakfast with the track to the summit dominated by sandy rock, pushed us to be more careful. It was a narrow track with steep cliffs at both of the side. The early morning wind was not easy on us, either. Finally we reached the summit at 5.30AM, just before the sunrise. At the time the sun rise from the east, we were having a ceremony, rose the National flag, and sang the anthem of Indonesia Raya. A moment later, when the sun was becoming clearer, Mount Rinjani of Lombok Island, and the caldera of Mount Batur were seen.

TAKING THE SOBEK CHALLENGE RAFTING THE WHITE WATER OF TELAGA WAJA RIVER

For this edition, CIOUS team took the challenge of Telaga Waja white rafting held by Bali Sobek. Sobek pioneered White Water Rafting in the 1980’s and has been well known internationally over 20 years for the quality and safety products, which enabled them as the current market leader for this type of adventure.

This might less well-known than Ayung river White Water Rafting, but was way better in terms of experience and views one would encounter along the stream. It has difficulty level 3 (sometimes 4), but still safe for the first-timer and beginners. The location that nearby the famous art-town of Ubud made the rafting develop its name and gaining more people to come by the years.

Our team started fresh at the morning, around 7.30 AM, from Denpasar to Munchan village, Karangasem regency. It took us about 1.5 hours of car ride to the starting point. Soon after we arrived, we had a short-briefing about safety prior to the rafting. The safety preparation including life-vest and paddle for each of the team-member.

The next part is get into the water and try our best to have fun while listened to our instructor. It did gave us quite a fun time, as well as new challenge. The route was 14km long, divided by 18 spots, and will be finished around 2.5 hours. Telaga Waja has been widely known for its spontaneous yet heavy swift, constantly all year-round.

  The view along the river was stunning. Lush rainforests, waterfalls, rice paddies, canyons, were all some of the eye-candies one can indulged while paddling along with the stream. In a continual spray of white clear water, we would also rush past steep banks ancient hanging trees, whilst rafting straight through cascading waterfalls of cold natural spring water. The Sobek guides would give instruction and work together with us to safely navigate the raft through torrents, twists, tight turns and inclined rapids.

One thing we were should be continuously aware of, was the overhead obstacles that existed in some spots, such as bamboo bridges where we had to lay low in our raft. The other overhead obstacle would be water dam, 4 meters high and required us to jump altogether with the raft. Of course, all of these acts would have been told and instructed clearly beforehand. Prepare your best pose or the best screaming mimic (considering the thrill caused by the jump), since this was where the professional photographer took our picture.

The waterfall was the end of our white water adventure. There were very sparse changing rooms at the end to change, but according to prior experiences, some of the shy ladies opted to stay wet. At the end of the river journey, SOBEK prepared buffet and then the driver would drive you back to the nearest spot from your accommodation.

We would say, and suggest, this trip not only for those seeking different white water rafting experience, but also suitable for family weekend-trips as it would introduce children the fun way of enjoying nature. Pretty mean for a change of views of white sandy beaches and over-crowded shops of South Bali.

Surf Camp at FRii Bali Echo Beach

On the Saturday, June 21, 2013, CIOUS Team got an opportunity to join the Surf Camp by FRii Bali Echo Beach. Around 4 PM we went to the hotel and check in to stay one night at FRii Bali Echo Beach Hotel located in Jalan Munduk Catu Batu Bolong – Canggu. Then at 5 PM we went to a sunset party at the rooftop called The Warung. We enjoyed the sunset while talked about the surf in Bali, either the location or the tides. We got a lot of surf information before going to practice in the next day. On the 10 PM we went to our room and slept, so we could have enough energy for the next day.

On Sunday morning, we enjoyed our breakfast at 9 PM. Then we joined the tour around the Canggu area by a Land Cruise car. We were excited for the journey, enjoyed the rice field view, and visited one of the temples in Cemagi Village, Mengwi called Pura Gede Luhur Batu Ngaus. At 12 PM we went back to the hotel and took lunch before the surf lesson.

Around 2 PM we went to the Batu Bolong Beach and got the surf lesson from Marco Eyras from Argentina and Bagus Ardiasa from Bali as our instructor of surfing. They came from Journey’s Surf School. Beside them, Moyo Muaipa from CSC The Pro Rider, who was an owner of one famous café in Canggu, also accompanied us in the surf lesson. As a beginner, we got many lessons how to become a surfer. They told us how to move at the beach, how to stand on the surfboard, how to bring the surfboard, and many technical ways to start it. Then time to practice on the beach.

The waves was big enough when we took the practice, but we never worried because the instructor had been escorted us on the beach. We got some fault in the first trying, but after we did it many times, finally we could stand on the surfboard, what a good experience! At 5 in the noon, we finished our lesson and went back to the hotel. We prepared to check out time and went to the home.

Although we got some accident on the beach as a beginner, we were happy. The experience in trying surf camp gave a new spirit on the weekend, and we want it again. For those who want to get a surf lesson, you might spend $75 and the price is included the surfboard, surf instructor, and coffee break at FRii Bali Echo Beach. For more information, you can visit www.friihotels.com or call +62 361 846 9178.

Thank you FRii Bali Echo Beach and Journey’s Surf!

Rice Field and Cultural Village Cycling

Our adventure with Toekad Rafting became a little different than usual this time. If we spent our first Toekad experience by crashing fun and swift river currents, this time our adventure began by pedaling the bike for 2 hours long around the picturesque villages in Ubud and tried get closer to the local people’s lives.

Exactly at 10 in the morning, we’re ready to go to our starting point: the village of Tegal Alang. From this picturesque village, we pedaled with superb views towards Padukuwi around us. We stop by at the Prajapati Temple and absorb a useful knowledge about the temple. After that, we continued the journey to Kelabang Moding to see the old, exotic Balinese traditional architecture with our lovely guide explained why every room is separate from each other. We visited Subak Sok Wayah to enjoy a fresh coconut while seeing local people paint gorgeous paintings. The track is beautiful with green rice field on the right and small ravine on our left side.

Arrived at our finish point at Campuhan village, we were picked up by the car to return to Toekad and had lunch. There are two cycling routes you can choose; Ubud Cycling Track (USD 69) or Kintamani Cycling Track (USD 75). All package include premium facilities such as return hotel transfer, bike and helmet, guide, lunch buffet, refreshment, hot water shower, towel and insurance for USD 50.000. Thank you Toekad Rafting!