Mt. Agung: Is it safe to travel to Bali?
Questions about safety to travel to Bali...
I've read this a lot since September last year (2017). Articles, travel-writings, social media have been dominated by this news and people's posts are sometimes too overreacted.
However, I'm trying to understand people's concern, especially those who are far away from the island and are about to come. They cannot see themselves the real situation on the island and perhaps are trying to sort out all infos available about this natural disaster.
Mt. Agung is located in Karangasem regency which is approx 60 kilometers (km) east from city centre Denpasar. For those who live within 10-12 km exclusion zone were advised to camp outside the zone. I, myself, live in Denpasar and have some friends as well as neighbors who come from Banjar Prangsari, Duda village which is 9 km away from mount Agung. We keep communicating about the situation of their village, of mount Agung and of the camp outside exclusion zone where their family stayed temporarily.
Bali, is it safe to travel?
I would say, YES.
Denpasar, city centre, the place where I live in, is located 60 kilometers away from Mt. Agung, and we are doing our routines. Popular tourists area in Kuta, Jimbaran, Seminyak, Legian, Nusa Dua, are safe as well. Those locations are further in the south of the island and there is no direct impact of Mt. Agung eruption except less tourists seen in the neighborhood. Tanah Lot, Bedugul, Ulundanu, in Tabanan regency is safe. Lovina in the north of the island is safe as well as the west part of the island. I won't mention all tourist places one by one because they are a lot!!! and they are safe except the exclusion zone. The following is a screenshot from Google map showing the distance from Mt. Agung to Denpasar and the location of Kuta in the south part of the island.
Even, many villagers in the camps are starting to go back home, want to continue their normal live, checking their homes, their snake fruit field, doing their work/job...; meanwhile in the camp, they couldn't do a lot of stuff...well...of course...they are keep waiting...
In this short post, I hope I could ensure you that Bali is safe to travel. The Ngurah Rai airport has been back to normal. Travel warning might be issued by some companies and some travel writing might be too overreacted but final decision of whether to come or not is your personal choice. Some Balinese rely on tourism for living thus I hope you could make your decision wisely. For those who initially wanted to come, you can email me: kennybalidriver2008@gmail.com to get an update and real time information of the island.
(Denpasar, 2 January 2018)
I've read this a lot since September last year (2017). Articles, travel-writings, social media have been dominated by this news and people's posts are sometimes too overreacted.
However, I'm trying to understand people's concern, especially those who are far away from the island and are about to come. They cannot see themselves the real situation on the island and perhaps are trying to sort out all infos available about this natural disaster.
Mt. Agung is located in Karangasem regency which is approx 60 kilometers (km) east from city centre Denpasar. For those who live within 10-12 km exclusion zone were advised to camp outside the zone. I, myself, live in Denpasar and have some friends as well as neighbors who come from Banjar Prangsari, Duda village which is 9 km away from mount Agung. We keep communicating about the situation of their village, of mount Agung and of the camp outside exclusion zone where their family stayed temporarily.
Photo 1. Mt. Agung (SS: Jan 2018)
I would say, YES.
Denpasar, city centre, the place where I live in, is located 60 kilometers away from Mt. Agung, and we are doing our routines. Popular tourists area in Kuta, Jimbaran, Seminyak, Legian, Nusa Dua, are safe as well. Those locations are further in the south of the island and there is no direct impact of Mt. Agung eruption except less tourists seen in the neighborhood. Tanah Lot, Bedugul, Ulundanu, in Tabanan regency is safe. Lovina in the north of the island is safe as well as the west part of the island. I won't mention all tourist places one by one because they are a lot!!! and they are safe except the exclusion zone. The following is a screenshot from Google map showing the distance from Mt. Agung to Denpasar and the location of Kuta in the south part of the island.
Figure 1. Map showing distance between Mt. Agung and Denpasar, source: Google Map
Even, many villagers in the camps are starting to go back home, want to continue their normal live, checking their homes, their snake fruit field, doing their work/job...; meanwhile in the camp, they couldn't do a lot of stuff...well...of course...they are keep waiting...
Photo 2. Situation and activity of villagers in evacuation place (SS, Jan 2017)
In this short post, I hope I could ensure you that Bali is safe to travel. The Ngurah Rai airport has been back to normal. Travel warning might be issued by some companies and some travel writing might be too overreacted but final decision of whether to come or not is your personal choice. Some Balinese rely on tourism for living thus I hope you could make your decision wisely. For those who initially wanted to come, you can email me: kennybalidriver2008@gmail.com to get an update and real time information of the island.
(Denpasar, 2 January 2018)
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