There are just two villages on Nusa Lembongan, the large, spread out administrative center of Lembongan Village, and Jungut Batu village. Surfers and backpackers hang out in the latter, about 150 per month, for an average stay of three to five days.
The only other visitors are European, Japanese, and Australian day-trippers on excursion boats. Jungut Batu offers the island’s best accommodations and water sport opportunities. There’s motorcycle traffic between the two villages and it’s easy to get a lift. Both villages are heavily involved in the cultivation of seaweed.
Nusa Lembongan has a population of approximately 5,000 people living in two villages, Desa Lembongan (Desa = Village) and Desa Jungut Batu.
Before government-supported commercial seafood production in 1980, the people of the island lived on maize, cassava, tuber, beans, and peanuts. Today most everyone is involved in one way or another with cultivation of “sea vegetables,” and the air is permeated with its smell.
Lembongan village is 615 ha in area, consisting of 85% unproductive rocky land. The main income for the population is derived from seaweed farming. In 1997 the farms were recorded to cover up to 70 ha. They farm Euchema Cottomi a specie of ocean algae, by tying the sprouting algae shoots to farming plots with rope and wood stakes embedded in the seabed. It takes one month to grow to a size able to be harvested and then three days to sundry. Normally during the harvest the new sprouts are returned to the bed to begin the new crop, additionally new sprouts may be collected from the seabed. The dried seaweed is kept in storehouses until it is taken to the mainland and sold for export to America, Denmark, Japan and Holland. Seaweed is used for medicines, food stabilizer, cosmetic and gelatin for ice cream.
Every family owns approximately 3-5 acres of seaweed farming ‘bed’. One acre may produce 150 – 200 kg of dried seaweed with each harvest. The price that the islanders are paid for the dried seaweed fluctuates depending on market demand.
Mostly the villagers are Hindu, their ancestors were from Klungkung Kingdom. Klungkung, on the eastern coast of Bali, which was the historic capital of Bali before colonization. Lembongan Village has six dusun or suburbs and within these Dusun are the Banjars or neighborhoods. Generally every banjar has a meeting hall called Bale Banjar, ‘Bale’ means ‘place’ and ‘Banjar’ means ‘many’. This is the place used by villagers to gather together to discuss matters. Every Banjar has a chief named ‘Kelian Dinas’. A ‘Kelian Dinas’ is responsible for village administration and to organize particular activities. Every Bale Banjar is equipped with a Kul-Kul, a wooded ‘bell’. Normally rung to call people to gather for village business it is also used as an emergency signal. The purpose of the meeting can be determined by the number of times the ‘bell’ is struck.
- For Example: Marital 3 times
- Passed away 1 time
- Fire Continuously
- Gathering 9 times (normally to discuss urgent issues)
Almost no crime occurs in this village, all people live in peace and adheres to custom and religious values. On the unusual occurrence that somebody does break the law the punishment is often offered through the village as opposed to relying on police intervention.