The story of Sophia and Louisa’s island brings new focus to Sekotong’s spectacular Gilis
A DOCUMENTARY film is about to show the world a new natural attraction in scenic southwest Lombok, helped along by three students from a junior high school in Mataram, Rahmat, Hafiz and Alya, who won a writing competition with a composition on “Pulau Sepatang.”
While the three students were working on their project they met an Australian woman named Clara who had come to Lombok to visit a little island off the Sekotong peninsula that two members of her family, Sophia and Louisa, had found by chance and explored years before but to which they had never returned.
The island, Sepantang off the village of Mas Buwun and one of Lombok’s outermost gilis, has now been dubbed Sophia Louisa Island. It is about one hour’s boat journey from Teluk Sepi in Sekotong.
The documentary is being made by the West Lombok regency with the logistic support of the police. It showcases the great natural beauty of the island and its surrounding ocean. Its purpose is to promote the island as a new destination for tourists and highlight the environment of the southern gilis as an alternative to the Senggigi area, which with the northern Gilis – Trawangan, Meno and Air – forms the island’s leading tourism destination.
The waters around Sepantang (Sophia Louisa) are very rich in corals and marine life such as lobsters and crabs, according to local people who fish in the area, and offer an unspoiled underwater environment. The few foreign tourists who have ventured there so far say it is astoundingly beautiful with plentiful fish and other marine creatures.
Sepantang is now set to join the other southern gilis – Nanggu, Sudak and Tangkong – as a new jewel in the crown of Sekotong’s tourism profile.
These three islands are already popular destinations. Gili Sudak, a 30-hectare island featuring stunning white sand, is promoted as Romantic Island. Gili Tangkong also has the white sand that is the hallmark of the peninsula coast and offers spectacular seascapes and panoramic views of the Sekotong coast. Up to now visitors have reached the island by crabbing boats from Tawun on the mainland coast. Tangkong is now the focus of a US$1.55 million resort development that will capitalise on its popular name of Honeymoon Island.
Gili Nanggu, popular with day visitors and tiny at only 12.5 hectares, features unusual rock formations along its shores and a cool glade of forest trees in the middle. The island now has showers for visitors to use after snorkelling or swimming there among rich corals and spectacular marine life.
Gili Nanggu, popular with day visitors and tiny at only 12.5 hectares, features unusual rock formations along its shores and a cool glade of forest trees in the middle. The island now has showers for visitors to use after snorkelling or swimming there among rich corals and spectacular marine life.
source:enchanting-lomboksumbawa.com
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