Lombok Beach

Lombok (LOHM-bohk) is often compared to Bali. The neighboring islands have many similarities and many differences. They are only about twenty miles apart. Both islands have Hindu and Muslim influences, but in opposite proportions. Both islands have beautiful highlands and white sandy beaches, but Lombok is quieter and dryer than Bali for the most part. The administrative capital and largest city on the island is Mataram. Until 1987, few visitors made the trip to Lombok. Today, Lombok is growing in popularity, but it is still relatively quiet and undeveloped, although tourism is already the second-largest industry on Lombok. Mt. Rinjani, beautiful coastlines, coral reefs, and stunning waterfalls highlight the list of popular destinations on Lombok.

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River

In the middle of the nineteenth century, British zoologist Alfred Russel Wallace observed that the animals east of Bali and Borneo were closely associated with the species found in Australia. Meanwhile, the animals on the islands west of Lombok and Sulawesi had more in common with creatures from the Indo-Malayan region of Southeast Asia. This biological border has since been named the Wallace Line. In Papua, for example, there are major areas of dense forest and swamp similar to those of Sumatra and Kalimantan, but the large mammals of Asia, such as the tiger, rhinoceros, and elephant, are absent. Instead, many Australia-originating species are found on this side of the Wallace Line, including wallabies, carnivorous mice, bandicoots, and flying possums such as the sugar glider, which uses the membrane stretched between its legs to help it float from tree to tree. This region also features tree kangaroos, which are at home among the branches but find walking difficult. The spiny anteater, a creature related to the duck-billed platypus, also is found here.

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