Magic Island of Bali

Photography by Heinz Von Holzen

Bali is an Indonesian island located at 8°25′23″S, 115°14′55″E, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It is in a chain with Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Bali is a tourist destination and, along with Java, known for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather and metalworking, and music, especially that played on the gamelan.

Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java and about 8 degrees south of the equator. The island is 153 km long and 112 km wide (95 by 69 miles), with a surface area of 5,633 km². The highest point is Mount Agung at 3,142 m (10,308 feet) high, an active volcano that last erupted in March 1963. Mountains cover from the centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Mount Batur is also still active. About 30,000 years ago it experienced a catastrophic eruption — one of the largest known volcanic events on Earth.
The principal cities are the northern port of Singaraja and the capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. The town of Ubud (north of Denpasar), with its art market, museums and galleries, is regarded as the cultural center of Bali.
In the south the land descends to form an alluvial plain, watered by shallow rivers, dry in the dry season and overflowing during periods of heavy rains.

Its population of over 3 million is mainly (about 93%) Hindu, but a very small part is Muslim (mostly coastal fishermen).
The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), Sanur, Jimbaran, Seminyak and the newer development of Nusa Dua. The Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the isthmus joining the southernmost part of the island to the main part of the island.

There are major coastal roads and roads that cross the island mainly north-south. Due to the mountainous terrain in the island's center, the roads tend to follow the crests of the ridges across the mountains. There are no railway lines.

The 2002 Bali Bombing occurred on October 12, 2002 in the town of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people and injuring a further 209. It is considered the deadliest act of terrorism in Indonesian history. The majority of the dead were foreign tourists, especially Australians, but nearly one fifth were Indonesian nationals.
A number of Indonesians were sentenced to death for their parts in the bombings and in October 2002 Abu Bakar Bashir, a leader of the Jemaah Islamiah organisation often accused of being behind the attacks, was charged over his alleged role in the bombing. In March 2005, Bashir was found guilty of conspiracy over the attacks in Bali.