Saturday, December 14, 2019; Benoa, Bali, Indonesia. Elephant Safari Park
The Sapphire princess was just approaching its anchorage off the southern tip of Bali outside Benoa harbor. The final approach to the Ngurah Rai International Airport is over the harbor. This is our last excursion for this journey, and it would require tendering to the dock inside Benoa Harbor. The ship employed all 4 of its tenders, in addition to two Bali based passengers ferries. It took about 45 minutes to motor into the dock from the anchorage. The conditions were calm, and it was warm and humid. There is a small terminal building without public wifi. There was a parking lot on the outside of the terminal building so excursion buses could park onsite- a big improvement over the situation in Phuket.
The buses were actually mini-buses, with a capacity of 25 passengers. There were 18 on our bus, so we could spread out a little. The AC on the mini-bus was no match for the heat and humidity of Bali, so it was a little warm inside the bus, even with the AC running full blast. While we have all seen idyllic pictures of white sand beaches with blue water and palm trees, what we encountered on the streets of Bali were quite a different scene.
Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, behind China, India and the USA. It seems that all that population lives within a few hundred yards of all the narrow roads that serve the island. Development along the roads is extremely dense- buildings are shoulder to shoulder, with few side roads or alleys apparent. From the port of Benoa to the northern outskirts of Denpasar the shoulders are lined with open front shops and businesses. It seemed for a stretch of several miles, there was one yard after the other of building materials businesses, with inventory stacked up in the open- Roofing here, appliances there, yard and garden supplies, lumber and statues in one business after the next. There seemed to be very few cross streets and with the density of development, it was nearly impossible to see what was more than 300’ from the roadway.
In close proximity to Denpasar, the capital of Bali, there are a few 4 lane roads, but the denizens of the island use the lines painted on the roads as mere suggestions of how traffic should be distributed on the roads. The vast majority of roads are more like paved 2 tracks that are barely 20’ from one edge of the pavement to the other. Businesses have their wares right on the edge of the pavement where there are no sidewalks, and where there are sidewalks, these are no more than 18” wide.
Struggling within this paved strip are at least two lanes of vehicular traffic mixed with motorcycles and scooter that weave in and out in just about any direction with no regard to human life or safety. In short, it is utter madness. It doesn’t help us that they try to drive on the left side of the road when they can but there are frequently illegally parked vehicles squeezing all that traffic into 20% less width of roadway.
While helmet use among two wheeled conveyances is common, it is also not uncommon to spot toddlers standing up between the legs of mothers or grandmothers piloting scooters, or straddling fuel tanks on some motor cycles. Sometimes there are up to 4 riders on a scooter ranging from toddler to grandparent headed somewhere in the insane traffic.
Our bus made a bee line from the Port of Benoa to the Elephant Safari Park in the center of the island, which is a nearly 2 hour drive in the traffic. The entire island is less than 60 miles wide but the traffic is terrible, so it can take several hours to go from one side of the island to the other. There is a mountain range running across the center of the island from East to West. This includes several impressive looking shield volcanos. Some are active. It wasn’t until we were well north of Denpasar that we could see these mountains. As we got further north, we passed through several “villages” which were indistinguishable from each other, but marked with roadside temples and schools.
Speaking of temples, Bali is largely Agama Hindu, which is a local version of Hindu combining animism, ancestor worship and a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. This is a contrast within the world’s most populous Islamic nation, the Republic of Indonesia. Their temples and shrines are inhabited by a variety of fantastic creatures. On Bali, in palaces and larger temples, most of these are elaborately carved from sandstone. As such, they are inherently less colorful than the brightly painted sculptures seen in Buddhist and Hindu temples in Malaysia. Another interesting feature is the common practice of wrapping clothing, mostly in the form of colorful saris around the statues, and the adornment of many with flowers. Offerings in the form of various flowers and fruit in small flat trays woven from palm leaves as frequently stacked high in front of some of these shines. There is also incense burning, but not to the extent seen in some other countries.
As we passed through one of these villages, we drove past a motorcycle accident where the motorcycle driver was lying on his back on the edge of the pavement with his motorcycle on its side. He looked conscious, but in obvious pain. Our bus crawled pass him as it worked its way north through the traffic. About 20 minutes later, an ambulance passed us headed south towards the scene of that accident.
This was not the only unfortunate sight on Bali. There seems to be no evidence of organized regular trash pick up, so there are heaps of trash visible peaking out from the tropical growth in the rare undeveloped bits of land visible from the street. We did see a few piles of burning trash near the road that included plastic bags being burned.
90 minutes north of the Port of Benoa, there were brief stretches of open between roadside store fronts that revealed lush terraced rice fields interspersed with fish ponds, banana and coconut groves and mango groves. There are tiny shrines interspersed between the fields and we were surprised to see scarecrows erected in the rice fields. Some had ducks running about. Closer to the city, one would have no idea that tropical jungle and rice fields existed beyond the solid store fronts along the islands’ roads. On either side of the road, there were irrigation canals with periodic cascading waterfalls, lending an bit of exotica to the shoulders.
As we approached 2 hours north of the port, there were villages interspersed between rice fields and plantations with ongoing construction, but at these construction sites, raw materials like gravel and bags of cement lay obstructing one of the two lanes of the road, causing frequent traffic backups and more chaos. A tourist would certainly be taking their lives into their own hands to try to do any driving- car or cycle- on this island.
It seemed like civilization eventually petered out and we entered into the jungle as the road climbed into the foothills of the mountains, getting even narrower. We made it to the Elephant Safari site just about lunch time.
Our bus was one of the first to arrive, so we were ushered directly to the elephant riding station which is an elevated loading platform. The elephants are fitted with a wide saddle that two adults can sit side by side on. The elephant driver sits on a simple pad on the elephant’s neck. The drivers use voice signals and their bare feet on the tops of the elephant’s ears to get the elephants to do what they want them to do. The drivers do not use any sort of stick or whips, and the elephants seem to have no qualms with participating in this activity. It apparently is a welcome distraction for them to get to take tourists for rides around their park. They also get rewarded by getting to interact with visitors and get fed treats.
The elephant ride was certainly much easier on the bottom and back than camel riding, although one prone to motion sickness could easily find the motion to be a bit much. We walked through the jungle and around the large park for about a half hour. Chickens scratched about in the underbrush, and at one point, we ambled past a Balinese cow. We learned that the elephant we were riding was a 30 year old female named Nikki. We saw the bull that sired Nikki’s now 5 year old baby, tethered on a concrete pad with shade overhead and vegetation to munch and play with. There are a lot of elephants on the site. Some are allowed to wander about freely, while a few are tethered by their ankles on a chain. They seem to find many ways to amuse themselves and are highly intelligent and aware of their surroundings. We saw one pick up a fallen palm branch and use it to wave it about and brush things off its back. They do spend a lot of time munching on vegetation as it takes a lot of vegetation to keep something as large as an elephant on the go.
About halfway through our ride, thunder rumbled and shortly thereafter, the sky opened up with a torrential rain. It was a good thing they gave us large umbrellas, which kept our heads and shoulders dry, but our pants and shoes got a good soaking. Our ride culminated in a huge pond that the elephants get to play and swim in. It wasn’t so deep that we got wet, but the elephants can submerge themselves in the center if they wish. It is interesting to see how they use their trunks as snorkels in the water. Those trunks are very useful appendages. At one point, they elephant stopped and posed for the photographer, taking in a load of water and then spraying it out like a fountain on cue. They are happy to sell you that photo at the souvenir shop at the end of the tour.
After our ride, we dashed into the restaurant pavilion as the downpour was letting up and had a buffet lunch. The food was rather unremarkable, but did feature some Indonesian fare. I did manage to run into a tiny fragment of a very hot bit of a chili pepper. They had a chicken curry that was bone in and quite mild while the beef curry was even milder and tough.
Once we were fed, it was time to go play with the elephants and feed them. They had several elephants lined up on one side of a simple rail and we could interact with them freely. We had smuggled some bananas and apples from the ship to give to the elephants, but the park also had baskets of bananas, apples and other fruits you could buy for $4 to offer the elephants. It is amazing what they can do with their trunks. They could just about snatch your iPhone out of your hand if you weren’t paying attention, and they could easily pick your pocket. Maybe the trainers have them do that to supplement their income. The end of their trunks are surprisingly soft, while the hair on their heads and bodies are more like stiff bristles on a broom. They are very clever and their eyes are remarkably expressive. The new Disney Dumbo CGI has got the eye about 40 times too big and creepy. Then we walked over to a different enclosure where they have a new mother with her 5 month old calf, who was just too cute for words. It seemed to enjoy running around playing like a toddler, and didn’t shy from playing with visitors. While we were posing for a picture the baby elephant got a hold of my cruise card on my lanyard and was checking it out. The baby elephant’s trunk was so soft and supple, it was more like an octopus arm than the huge adult elephant trunks, but of course, it didn’t have suction cups.
Then we had some time to just hang around, so we headed to the gift shop when all of a sudden, there was a loud trumpeting and splashing in the pool. A group of 3 adolescent elephants were playing games, racing each other from one end of the pond to the other, trumpeting and splashing each other. It was quite a show, and it was amazing how loud they can trumpet. Then all too soon it was time to head to the bus for the long drive back to the port.
As we returned to port, the scenery was quite altered by a huge monsoon downpour that turned the narrow road into a muddy stream in places. Our bus was drenching the poor motorcycle and scooter drivers that dared to pass us or were unfortunate enough to be on the side of the road as we splashed by, throwing up a huge curtain of muddy water.
Traffic heading back into the port was considerably lighter than it had been in the morning. Perhaps, most locals knew better than to be on the roads when the afternoon monsoons arrived. We arrived at the dock over an hour late. The last tender back to the boat was supposed to have left at 5pm, but there were at least a thousand cruise ship passengers in line waiting to load up onto the tenders. Our bus was one of the first ones back, and we didn’t bet back aboard the ship until nearly 6pm. At 7pm, passenger services made an announcement looking for a group of Russian passengers, asking them to call the passenger services Desk. If they were still ashore on Bali, being more than 2 hours past the all aboard time, it looked like they would have to book a flight home. We usually book our tours through the ship because they guaranty that they will hold the ship for us, and that is a big relief when you’re in a foreign land with so many unknowns regarding traffic and travel times.
We did participate in a Movie Quotes trivia, and got beat by one point. We picked the wrong movies for “We come in peace, we come in peace”, and “Christmas tree? Buddy chopped one down in the park”.
We watched a show by one of the Cruise Director’s staff, Emma, who has done many trivia games with us. She did a tribute to singing Divas, and we discovered that she is really a very talented singer in her own right. We then wound up the evening with a do-it-all magician/comedian/psychic who put on a pretty well choreographed show with good audience participation but we have seen all the illusions, and heard all the jokes, and knew the outcome of the psychic demonstration, even if we could never figure out how they are done. We’ve just seen them so many times, we’re a bit jaded when it comes to magic and illusionist shows.
It’s saddening now to think that we are on the very end of this cruise adventure for us, which started in Prague. That now seems such a long time ago. We have traveled nearly halfway around the planet on the Sapphire Princess from ancient Europe, through the Middle East and deep into exotic Southeast Asia. But in Singapore, the ship put out the Christmas decorations while we were exploring the Marina Bay Gardens and Hotel, and today, we started hearing Christmas music in the buffet. I guess it’s a reminder that it is indeed time to think about getting back home to family. We have two sea days and then it’s time to disembark to Singapore and prepare for our long flight back home.
