Welcome back to the second installment of living things I encountered on Gili Trawangan. Gili Trawangan is a beautiful island just off the coast of the Indonesian island of Lombok and about an hour and a half fast boat ride from the island of Bali. An interesting thing about this island is that they do not allow any cars or motorbikes on the island. This helps to keep the air fresh and makes it a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of its larger island neighbors. I personally chose to travel around the island by bicycle, but other forms of transport include small electric bikes and horse-drawn carriages.
Frolicking Pony
The subject of transportation leads directly to one of my favorite animals that I encountered on the island, horses. I have always loved horses, and have had the pleasure to ride them on a number of occasions throughout my life. I did not ride any horses while visiting the island, but I was lucky enough to encounter some while I was relaxing on a quiet part of the beach located on the southwest coast of the island. There was a horse sanctuary nearby, and the locals offered short horse rides for tourists to take pictures and ride around on the beach. While at the beach there was a French couple that had paid to ride two of the adult horses, and with them was a little pony that was allowed to play freely nearby.
I was delighted to see how happy it seemed runny by itself, jumping in the air, and eating the local vegetation. This was a pleasant alternative to the typical sight of the hardworking carriage horses, who were continuously carting tourists from one end of the island to the other. He seemed so purely happy, and I wondered to myself how long this innocence would last, as I am sure he would be put to work once he was big enough to either carry tourists for photo opportunities or to pull a cart around the island. I like to think that because the other horses were likely from the nearby sanctuary perhaps his life would not be as difficult as many of the workhorses I had become accustomed to seeing dart across the island from one job to the next.
Curious Lizard
I encountered this little lizard while having lunch at a small beachside warung (Indonesian for restaurant). He was curiously inspecting a bundle of large coconuts. The coconuts here are different than I am used to in Vietnam, with more meat on the inside, but far less sweet. The lizards seem to be the same as I typically see around Southeast Asia. I have always liked having lizards around, as they are great at hunting insects like mosquitoes and even cockroaches.
Snail Love
The last of the creatures I encountered on the island were the snails. There were many snails all over the island, although I mostly noticed them in the early mornings. They were much larger than the snails I usually encounter, with some as big as my fist. I have always been fascinated by snails, and how they grow protective shells on their backs. The two snails pictured above truly caught my attention, as I had no idea what they were doing. Upon researching, I learned that the two snails were actually mating. I also learned that snails are hermaphrodites and that they contain both male and female reproductive organs. The white structure connecting the two is called a “love dart” and it is injected into the other snail to increase reproductive success. I was truly fascinated by this!
All photos were taken by myself. I hope you enjoyed reading my post! :)