Nusa Penida: paradise under siege
Nusa Penida is a haven for theendangered Bali starling, but the island's days as an unspoiled paradise may be numbered, writesSamantha Brown
"Patience, patience, patience," Nengah Sudipa says as we trudge through a sandy coconut grove on Nusa Penida, a limestone island lying a 45-minute boat ride east of Bali.
"You need patience if you want to see a Bali starling," he says. Nengah, who works at the Friends of the National Park Foundation, is referring to a bird of which fewer than 10 remained worldwide in 2005; these days about 150 swoop from tree to tree on the island.
The waters of the Badung Strait - which rush between a deep trench separating Bali and the islands of Penida, Ceningan and Lembongan - lap at a long beach near where we explore. Farmers haul in baskets glistening with seaweed and Gunung Agung, Bali's revered volcano, pierces the clouds in the distance.
"There's an egg in that box," ear-ringed, barefoot Nengah says, gesturing to a wooden birdhouse installed by the foundation, which runs a rehabilitation programme for the endangered bird on the island.
I sample a small green fruit from a "Singapore" tree - it's like a cross between a grape and a fig. "The starlings love them," he says. Not today, it seems; we don't spot any and retreat to the foundation's office and information area.
The birds released on Nusa Penida do well; over on Bali, where they used to try to free them in the hope they would repopulate their indigenous grounds, poachers snapped them up in no time. The current going rate for a single Bali starling? About 20 million rupiah (HK$16,000) on the black market.