BALI ISLAND

Bali is a small island, midway along the string of island, which makes up the Indonesian Archipelago. It’s adjacent to Java, the most heavily populated island, and immediately west of the chain of smaller islands comprising Nusa Tenggara. Bali has an area of 5620 sq km, measuring approximately 140 km by 80 km.

Bali is dramatically mountainous the central mountain chain which runs the whole length of the island includes several peaks approaching or over 2000 M. Gunung Agung, known as ‘Mother Mountain’, is 3142 m high. Just 8° south of the equator, Bali has a tropical climate, which is hot, all year. The average temperature hovers around 30°C (mid-80s°F) year around. Bali is a densely populated island, with an estimate 4,5 million people in 1999. The population is almost all Indonesian; 95% are of Balinese Hindu Religion and could be described as ethnic Balinese. For hundred of years, Bali has sustained a substantial population with intensive wet rice cultivation, supported by an elaborate irrigation system which makes careful use of all surface water. Bali’s economy is basically agrarian: the vast majority of the Balinese are peasants who works in the fields, and agriculture contributes about 40% of Bali’s total economic output, although a much smaller proportion of its export income.

Tourism accounts for about one third of the economy not only in provision of accommodations, meals and services to visitors, but also in providing a market for all those arts and crafts. Music, dance and drama are closely related on Bali, with Balinese dance the most obvious example of the three elements working together. Traditionally, painting, carving and other decorative arts were employed only for the adornment of temples and the making of ritual offerings and festival trapping.