Gili Sulat--Offshore Mangrove Conservation

Pringgabaya, East Lombok.  

The diversity of bio organism attracts me to dig more the great things that I could see around me. A friend of mine recommended me to see mangrove conservation that’s mostly visited by ornithologist and students from science department. Then on July, EduLand members and I rode motorbike under bright blue sky, headed to the east until I found the edge of my island. It took me three hours to reach the jetty from Mataram. I am a slow rider. As we got the jetty, Pak Jefri was already there, he curved warm smile to welcome us. We shoke his hand. “Are you ready for the adventure?” she asked eagerly. “I can’t wait any longer”.

From the jetty I could see there were about six small islands lie ahead. Pak Jefri pointed his fore finger while explaining each name of the tiny. “Gili Kondo, Gili Bidara, Gili Pedagan or GIli Lampu, Gili Sulat and Gili Lawang”. We walked to the boat, and Pak Jefri introduced us to his boat boy.  He is about 12 years old. After school and in the week end, he worked in the Jetty.

The boat machine roars, our boat headed to the east, it took me to the second farthest Gili from the Jetty which took around 30 minutes. The ocean was still and calm. On it I could see many blue balls were floating around some floating house. We passed pearl farming area which is owned by one of foreign company in Lombok. On the boat some friends were sleeping, taking pictures and chatting. As we were getting closer to Gili Sulat, all of them were ready to touch the island with their camera flash.  

Gili Sulat seemed like a half island and a half ocean. It was fascinating to experience the ambiance of brackish water in the middle of the sea. As we carefully walked on the broken path, we didn't realize that we went further and further. The leafy mangroves protected us from the sun. We could hear birds tweeted and twitted.  The foremost stopped. Behind me, some friends were grumpy. “Let’s move, hurry up”. “we can’t” answer someone in echoing voice.  The path was totally broken. It looked exactly like the broken railway in the Spider Man. We had to go down and walk on the above ground roots that soaked under brackish water. “What an adventure!” said Lele and Mudji. They took their camera and took selfi. I didn’t know how far we had gone in the mangrove forest. This mangrove conservation is about 909.003 Ha. It is the widest mangrove conservation offshore in West Nusa Tenggara. It consists of mangroves, sea grass, shrubs, barrier coral reef and open land. There is short line beach in this forest which is less than 500 meters. I plan to visit this place next year. Hopefully, next year the path and other public facilities are better. As the sun was getting down in the west, we went back. On the way back we dropped in some islands around. The trip was closed by looking upon the sunset from Gili Bidara.