If you were thinking of climbing Mt. Batur or Mt. Agung, you might want to check whether your tour is still going. Wayan Koster, the Governor of Bali, has issued a policy declaration that would ban all tourist activities on Bali’s mountains and volcanos, as of right now. Now this will probably leave you with a lot of questions, so in this article, we will look further into what it means.
While this ban on activities on both mountains and volcanos will probably be most affected by visitors who wish to hike and explore higher up, it also affects domestic tourists and even local people, from entering the mountains or volcanos.
As stated by Koster; ‘’This is in effect permanently, and local regulations will be issued to regulate everything’’.
As the restriction applies to both foreign and local tourists, Koster also stated that there would be rarely any exceptions to it, that would give permission for even locals to enter mountains or volcanos.
‘’Unless there are religious ceremonies, disaster management, and special activities that are not for tourism activities.’’ Koster declared.
But why did Koster decide to ban all activities on mountains and volcanos in the first place?
Well, this decision was made after numerous foreign visitors violated the sacred nature of the island’s holy mountains and volcanos. These incidents have caused serious injuries to tourists, public displays of nudity, and unfortunately in some cases even deaths. All these things played a major role in Koster’s decision to ban all activities.
The ban did not come too unexpectedly, as Koster announced a prospective ban on all activities on mountains and volcanos, in February beginning this year. Yet, at that time it was quite unclear what this ban would actually mean, and how it would impact both tourists and locals. Back in February, Koster said;
‘’We drafted a regional regulation specifically to make the mountain a sacred area. So that activities on the mountain can be controlled, entry is no longer free, it is not used as a tourist destination to go up to playing by motorbike to the top of the mountain.’’
What is kind of interesting, is that Koster announced this ban just days after the Indonesian central government announced four new UNESCO Geoparks in the country.
If you are a tourist wanting to visit the mountains or volcanos, while you may not be able to actually hike up them anymore, there are still plenty of nice viewpoints around Bali’s beautiful mountains like Mount Batur and Mount Agung. And although Koster may have announced this ban, it is not guaranteed that this will actually be fully implemented by the locals or tour guides, as this is something that would be quite hard to control. I guess time will tell if all activities on mountains and volcanos will actually stop.
Governor Koster of Bali’s decision to impose a ban on all activities on mountains and volcanoes is an important step in maintaining the sacredness and respect for these magnificent natural treasures. It’s become a troubling tendency in recent years for people to violate the sacredness of these locations, which has resulted in a number of tragedies that have shattered the balance between people and nature. The choice is a call for social responsibility and consciousness rather than merely a constraint. It challenges people to think about their deeds and the effect they have on these holy places. The prohibition promotes a greater comprehension and appreciation of the spirituality and cultural history connected to Bali’s mountains and volcanoes. At the end of the day, it is important that our relationship with nature should be one of reverence, respect and preservation, ensuring the sustainability of these sacred spaces for generations to come.
