Munduk Region | Turtle Conservation and Education Centre

Munduk Region

This region, located deep in Bali's interior, is rapidly becoming as popular as the island's beaches. After the much visited inland destination of Ubud and mount Batur, Munduk is now starting to attract some serious attention as a great trekking destination, as well as for its agritourism.

Trekking tracks at Munduk vary from soft beginner's trek lasting approximately two hours, to a stenuous trek lasting up to seven hours. The choice of route will determine what views you will see along the way. If you choose the soft trekking option, you can take in the beauty of the local villages and check out the number of clove, coffee, avocado, cacao and orchid plantations, before heading off to the Tanah Barak Waterfall. Two other waterfalls that are also popular are Air Terjun Melanting and Laangan, both of which are surrounded by coffee and clove forests.

Munduk's cultural aspects become more visible if you opt for some more moderate trekking. 

Trekkers are introduced to the Bali Aga tribe who live in the village of Pedawa. In addition to enjoying the unique local bamboo houses and traditions, you can also watch palm sugar processing. For those who love a bit of olde-worlde adventure, a historical trek will take you to the Tamblingan Temple. For around four hours, this endlessly fascinating trek, follow artefacts and building left by the ancient Majapahit Kingdom.

Although Munduk is relatively unknown, this charming village has historically played a central role in the history of Balinese trade. During their occupation of Bali in 1908, the Dutch build a guesthouse in Munduk as a holiday house for their staff. The Colonial Government then started exporting coffee, cloves and vanilla from the area via businesses which were later inherited by the local community.    

Turtle Conservation and Education Centre

The island's of the Gods Beaches are a paradise not only for sunset and muscle-relaxing massage lovers, but also for wild turtles. Often called "Turtle Island", Serangan Island to the south of Bali is blessed with one of the largest turtle population in Indonesia. In its turtle poaching heyday, up untill around a decade ago, thirty thousand of these lovely creatures were caught annually on average. This tragedy, coupled with a reclamation project carried out in 1994, contributed greatly to the declined of the turtle population here.

In order to stop the illegal trade in turtles and maintain their population, the local government, in cooparation with the USAID Bali recovery program and the WWF, founded the Turtle Conservation and Education Centre (TCEC) in Serangan on 20 January 2006.

At the TCEC, visitor can learn all about the life of turtles, and visit the hatching centre, the baby and adult turtle pond. Visitors can also check out the audio visual centre, in which marine-themed documentary films are screened. When visited the place, the TCEC staff explained that there were six kinds of turtle living in Indonesia. Three of these come to Bali to lay their eggs, namely the green, hawksbill and olive ridley turtles, and there also found out 500 eggs that hatch, ten of the junior turtles will survive and flourish if they are taken care of in the centres whereas, on average, only one will if they are released into the sea. Apart from turtles hunters threats come from the turtle's natural predators. 

Admission to the TCEC is free, however visitors are encouraged to make voluntary donations to support the centre's efforts to maintain the turtles population. Tip for visitors : don't take flash photograps of the turtles, especially close up, and do not make to much noise, because it can have an impact on the animals psychological wellbeing which, in turn, may prevent eggs from hatching. A more important tip for visitors : don't buy turtle meat......