The Two Sides Of Paradise On Gili Trawangan

Our next stop after Bali was Gili Trawangan the largest island of the three Gilis, a stunning archipelago of the North West coast of Lombok in Indonesia acclaimed by many as island paradise. We’d also heard that it's a popular swimming and breeding ground for turtles and as we love turtles we were very excited for our visit and boarded the early morning two hour fast boat.

Unfortunately our first sight once we'd disembarked on to the east coast beach of Gili T was rows of small horses attached to bright yellow carts waiting to take tourists to their accommodation. Gili T is pretty small, most guesthouses and hotels are less than 1km from the port. Now we knew there was no transport allowed on the Gilis but we were not expecting this, surely the bicycles and pedicarts you see in India and elsewhere would be a more obvious eco-friendly choice?  

Obviously we declined a ride but many other tourists did not and Vicky witnessed a small blond horse buckling under the weight of its literally bulging cart containing two obese tourists, their enormous luggage and a giant cardboard box containing a TV or something for a hotel whose name we could not make out. The poor thing could hardly stand up never mind trot and was slipping in the wet sandy puddles. It really did not sit right with us and it immediately made us wary of Gili T’s claims of paradise.

The horse carts are everywhere along the main east coast strip waiting for their next ‘over priced’ fare. Many of the horses were constantly chewing their mouth piece and shaking their heads, clearly very uncomfortable and on others we could see bright red wounds on their body especially around their ill-fitting harnesses. We were not the only visitors on Gili T shocked to see that these horses were not being properly cared for, there were quite a few disgusted faces.

In contrast, a quick search for #GiliT on twitter and Instagram revealed that most visitors thoughts are 'no transport just horse drawn carts this is paradise!’. Oh dear. We continued our online search for more facts about the ‘situation' and soon discovered Gili Carriage Horse Support Network on Facebook which led us to Delphine an amazing lady who lives on Gili T and also works at the Gili Eco Trust.  

"This little guy's cart is overloaded with drinks from the Big Bubble Dive bar."

We were dismayed to learn that there is a kind of Horse Mafia Network in operation on the Gilis which came into play around 2008/9 when the islands started to get busier. Many of the horses are owned by a handful of very rich people who employ the drivers and get them to work as much as possible with no compassion for the horses. Its all about the cash. When Delphine and her team realised the mafia system, how it was working and how the drivers and owners did not understand horse welfare they began to host free clinics and educational events on each Gili island. 

A few years ago the living conditions of the horses were so bad that the horses were given well water (brackish salty and dirty water) so they were dying very quickly of dehydration and kidney failure, their shelters also had leaking roofs and/or many horses were standing in mud and shit. Through tactical education at their free clinics Delphine's team insist that each horse should get fresh water. Today they estimate that almost 80% of the horses are getting the fresh water they need as an easy system of desalinised cheap water is in place now. Delphine is currently setting up a new system with the island security to offer FREE fresh water to all drivers and owners as long as they register when they come to fill up a bucket or jerigen. Lets hope the figure is soon 100%!

As a Westerner its hard to comprehend that the horse owners don’t understand that a horse needs to drink fresh water when its working. Delphine owns horses on the island herself and has trained her staff to Western standards, today with her team she continues to organise cat and horse clinics about twice a year and responds to any animal emergency on a daily basis.

When they witness an overloaded horse cart, untreated wounds or dehydration they do not have the power to stop or arrest the driver/owner and the Indonesian government has put no rules or regulations in place regarding loads, equipment, wounds, hours of work etc for Gilis Carriage Horses. Together with JAAN Jakarta Animal Aid Network, Delphine writes letters and petitions to the government to ask for their help but unfortunately the Indonesian government usually do a day of vitamins injection to all horses after a letter like this and thats it. Can you imagine how frustrating that is? They will never give up and continue to invest their time, money and energy in these clinics, medicines, and vets to come and help - if only the government would back them so that they can move forward.

"The cutest charity spokescat ever!"

Donations come from a few divers and businesses on the Gilis and other welfare associations. Cheri from the Gili Carriage Support Network also helps with donations, raising funds, recruiting volunteers for the clinics and getting other associations such as BARC and BAWA to help. So, how can we help? Lookout for fundraising initiatives on their Facebook page, opportunities to volunteer and sign any petitions such as this one. If you ever visit the Gilis please do not use a horse cart - take a deep breath, carry your own luggage and reward yourself with a hot shower and cold beer afterwards.

Aside from the horse carriages situation Gili T is a natural beauty, especially if you cycle away from the incredibly cramped east strip of seafood restaurants and bars to find your own patch of secluded sandy beach. Our favourite and only activity (other than sunbathing by the pool) during our short stay was to cycle around the island with a snorkel and flippers each to see if we could spot a turtle offshore, alas we did not as the sea was a bit too choppy. It took a lot of effort to get around Gili T on a bicycle, at some points the path was just sand which is impossible to cycle through so be prepared to hop off and push!

Interestingly there are no police on the Gilis instead they have a village head who has the final say in all matters and they only allow late night parties on certain nights of the week, sadly this means the Gili Carriage Horses work even later than usual too. There are also no dogs allowed but there are plenty of cute cats. We stayed at Gili T Resort and it was a great coincidence that this basic guesthouse had provided accommodation for the Horse Clinic volunteers. The room was simple but they served a decent breakfast and the private swimming pool was a haven.

On our last evening we stumbled across a used bookshop on the main strip close to the jetty and politely enquired about prices. The owner quoted the equivalent of £7.50 for his well used books, very expensive as Steve quite rightly pointed out but the man erupted into a fit of protests 'this is my business' 'get out of my shop' 'f@*k you' obviously we left but he continued to shout at us and flip the bird much to the amusement of his neighbouring business men. Maybe he’d had a bad day or was high! We visited Gili T during the low (wet) season and business seemed pretty quiet.

After two days and nights on Gili T we decided to cut our stay short, we could appreciate its beauty but the grotesque hunger for the tourist dollar was too much for us. We really hope that the Indonesian government puts a stop to even more resort and/or restaurant developments and passes some laws to protect the Gili Carriage Horses very soon. Gili T is in desperate need of some ‘Responsible Tourism’.

Our next stop was neighbouring Gili Meno which many describe as a Robinson Crusoe style island experience, here’s hoping...

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