Badas and the Buffalos

Badas

Badas was a disappointment. We stopped here for one night, anchored amongst the commercial traffic while savouring the fumes belching out of one of the ships at the dock. And there wasn’t a t-shirt shop (or any other shop for that matter) in sight.

The next morning, we unplopped the anchor from the mud and headed west towards the anchorage for the next scheduled rally stop at Gelora Beach. That anchorage also looked a bit sketchy, so we sailed past it and navigated into a small lagoon at Potopaddu. It might not be very far from Jelora Beach, but it is a world apart in terms of tranquillity. There is room here for around four boats – 008° 22.873S, 117° 10.391E.

One of the events put on by the rally organisers was mangrove planting. We were too late to participate, but we did get a front-row view.

Gelora Beach Resort hosted the rally event, and the resort owners kindly provided transport for us outliers to get there from our remote location. Like other welcome events we have experienced, the organisers did a great job. But unlike the other ones, the organisers decided to give a demonstration of a seaplane landing outside the resort.

The initial request was for all boats to leave the anchorage for 15 minutes to make way for the plane. Needless to say, this went down like a bad comedy act. The plan was subsequently revised, and the aircraft landed with boats in place and tense-looking boat owners paying much attention.

The reason for the seaplane landing was to illustrate to someone, somewhere, that international travel to Indonesia is possible. There are more islands here than in the Maldives (17,508 at the last count), but not so much tourism outside of Bali. I wasn’t convinced this act would make it fly, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Buffalo Racing

Way up towards the top of our Indonesia bucket list was the buffalo racing. Actually, it was near the top of my list. I’d seen the dramatic images and wanted to see the racing first-hand in Jarok, a 15-minute drive away. And to get there, the organisers herded us into minibuses.

The buffalos are incredibly well looked after and command high prices. The spread is high, but if you fancy owning one yourself, expect to pay between USD 4.3k and USD 16.5.

The objective, apart from staying on the A-frame strapped between the buffalos, is to target the stick you can see in the photograph below. The animals must pass one each side of the target.

They also let the rally participants have a go for IDR 50,000. Anthony (from Windsong) in the photos below did a really good job – even though he seemed to be aiming for me rather than the post,

Then, we were carted off to Pulau Bungin, which I believe to be the most densely populated island in the world. Most of the inhabitants here are Bajo people, who we first came across back in Sampela.

Next, we are off on our holidays to Gili Air.