Lombok Part 1 – Jeeva Beloam Beach Camp
My memory of Lombok when I went on a company trip more than 10years ago was : beautiful beaches and clear sea, uncommercialised, laid back. So when I learnt about Air Asia’s plan to fly there, I immediately convinced Daddy to go there for a holiday. We planned to break our holidays into 2 parts, touristy Senggigi and a quiet part of Lombok.
After much research, and trying to pick between the 2 famous Lombok hotels Jeeva Klui and Qunci Villas (both highly rated in Tripadvisor) as our Senggigi base, we found out that the Jeeva Klui management have another camp like property, Jeeva Beloam Beach Camp, just opened, in a very remote part of Lombok.
We contacted a few properties South of Lombok and Jeeva Beloam, we were attracted by Jeeva Beloam’s offer (all inclusive, camp like, remote) and decided to go there as the first part of our holiday.
Jeeva Beloam initially did not want to accept the 2 girls since the property does not have facilities for children and being far from everything (nearest public health facilities an hours away); but after a few email exchanges with them, we managed to persuade them and agreed to take full responsibility of the girls’ well being while there.
The plan was set. We would spend the first part of our holiday in Jeeva Beloam Beach Camp then to Jeeva Klui.
♥November 25th♥
We arrived late morning in Lombok, and easily spotted April, our Jeeva Beloam camp host, who came to pick us up.
Jeeva Beloam is located at Tanjung Ringgit, the remote South Eastern tip of Lombok (so remote that roads are not paved, and there’s no electricity supply). The 90 minutes drive from the airport took us on small country roads going through rice and tobacco farms. April was obliging and stopped upon our request whenever we saw something interesting.
A warung spotted along the way
Most tobacco farmers have already harvested their tobacco, leaving the fields pretty barren.
We even managed to make a pit stop at a salt farm using salt pans or salt evaporation ponds.
(From Wikipedia : Salt evaporation ponds, also called salterns or salt pans, are shallow artificial ponds designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The seawater or brine is fed into large ponds and water is drawn out through natural evaporation which allows the salt to be subsequently harvested.)
Salt farmer drying sea water
Pools of seawater, which will dry up and turn into salt
Salt farmer ready for work
Zaria picking up salt crystals found along the salt pans
After passing the last village where electricity services terminate, the rest of the 11km car journey was on a semi paved road built by the Japanese during WW2, hence it was very bumpy (but the girls had fun rocking around in the car).
Upon arrival at Jeeva Beloam, we were greeted by other warm Camp Hosts, AND a spectacular view.
We were told we were the only guests there during our stay, so we have this whole luxurious camp all to ourselves!
The five available Berugas, i.e. rooms
The key to our Beruga
The view from the restaurant.
The view from our balcony.
There’s no electricity supplied to Jeeva Beloam, lights were powered by solar panels, and power from generator was only turned on from 6pm to 6am daily. Hence during the day, we only got sea breeze instead of fan; but after 6pm, we can have the aircon turned on, and all power sockets working (to charge our phone, camera batteries, laptops).
Our room.
Tea and Coffee making facilities (fresh supplies of hot water was provided in flask instead of using electrical kettle)
The shower
As this is an all inclusive stay, all activities like cycling, soft tracking, snorkeling were included and we got 3 meals from the camp. A set menu was provided for each meal, but the chef will accommodate any special requests, if the ingredients were available.
The lunch menu on the day we arrived
The dadar gulung we had which consisted of shredded coconuts with palm sugar wrapped with pancakes
It rained while we were having lunch, cooling the place down. (As Jeeva Beloam wasn’t set up for children, children who visit the place need to be sensible to avoid accident.)
We spent the hot afternoon napping in the room, with sea breeze cooling us. And after the girls woke up, they wanted to play at the beach. The girls claimed it’s one of the most beautiful places they have been to. The sand powdery soft, and the sea crystal blue, and the beach is just few meters away from our room. The waves were very strong and not suitable for swimming but there are other places which April would bring us in the next few days for swimming.
In the evening, April brought us to one of the nearby beaches to view sunset. (In Tanjung Ringgit, both sun rise and sun set can be viewed from different beaches).
It got dark around 6:30pm in Lombok. We had a nice long dinner, and then have an early night.
Girls waiting for dinner.
The building that houses the Reception, Library and Game Room
The Restaurant
Our Beruga
Continues here.
Triple wow! I must squeeze this into my 2013 calendar before the rest of the world finds out 😀
Yup.. go when it’s still uncommercialised… It was 2012 destination of the year in Tripadviser, and with Air Asia flying there now, there’ll be more people going there.
Was contemplating Lombok during my last Bali trip since they were quite close but the boat ride was a decider. Did the girls have fun?
Wishing you a Happy New Year.
The girls claimed it’s one of their nicest holidays.. so I guess it’s considered fun for them.
Looks like a great holiday!!!! Nice…
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