Bali Geography

Bali Island is one of the provinces in Indonesia and this province is located between Java Island and Lombok Island. The frame area of this island is from the north that is surrounded by Bali Sea (Laut Bali), in the east limited by Lombok Strait, in the south limited by Indian Ocean and in the west is limited by Bali Strait. Bali Province is consisted of Bali Island, Nusa Penida Island, Nusa Lembongan Island, Nusa Ceningan Island and Menjangan Island and it is thorough out about 5.632,86 kilometers square. Base on the administration, Bali is consisted of 8 districts, 53 sub districts, and 674 villages.

Geographically Of Bali Island

Bali Geography – The island of Bali lies 3.2 km (2 mi) east of Java, and is approximately 8 degrees south of the equator. Bali and Java are separated by the Bali Strait. East to west, the island is approximately 153 km (95 mi) wide and spans approximately 112 km (69 mi) north to south; its land area is 5,632 km².Bali’s central mountains include several peaks over 3,000 metres in elevation. The is Mount Agung (3,031 m), known as the “mother mountain” which is an active volcano.

Mountains range from centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Bali’s volcanic nature has contributed to its exceptional fertility and its tall mountain ranges provide the high rainfall that supports the highly productive agriculture sector. South of the mountains is a broad, steadily descending area where most of Bali’s large rice crop is grown. The northern side of the mountains slopes more steeply to the sea and is the main coffee producing area of the island, along with rice, vegetables and cattle. The longest river, Ayung River, flows approximately 75 km.

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand. Bali has no major waterways, although the Ho River is navigable by small sampan boats. Black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the seaside temples of Tanah Lot, they are not yet used for significant tourism.

The largest city is the provincial capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. Its population is around 491,500 (2002). Bali’s second-largest city is the old colonial capital, Singaraja, which is located on the north coast and is home to around 100,000 people. Other important cities include the beach resort, Kuta, which is practically part of Denpasar’s urban area, and Ubud, situated at the north of Denpasar, is the island’s cultural centre.

Three small islands lie to the immediate south east and all are administratively part of the Klungkung regency of Bali: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. These islands are separated from Bali by the Badung Strait.

To the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from Lombok and marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The transition is known as the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who first proposed a transition zone between these two major biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was connected to Java and Sumatra and to the mainland of Asia and shared the Asian fauna, but the deep water of the Lombok Strait continued to keep Lombok and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated

Bali Geography

Bali Island is a strategic area because this area it is connecting the transportation between Java and other islands in east of Bali Island (Nusa Tenggara). Bali is also located between Asia and Australia . Geographically in the center of Bali , some mount spread out on this island like Agung Mount (3.142 meters) Gunung Batur (1.717 meters), Abang Mount (2.152 meters) and Batukaru Mount (2.276 meters).

Beside of mountain, Bali also has some lakes like Batur Lake (1.605 Ha), Beratan Lake (375,6 Ha), Buyan Lake (336 Ha) and Tamblingan Lake (110 Ha). Bali Island is a tropic area that is influenced by two seasons a year that is Dry Season and Wet Season. The temperature is about 24,0° C – 30,8° C and the humidity is about 79%.

Bali Administrative Divisions

The province is divided into 8 regencies (kabupaten) and 1 city (kota), These are:

NameCapitalArea in km²
Jembrana RegencyNegara841.80
Tabanan RegencyTabanan839.30
Badung RegencyMangupura418.52
Gianyar RegencyGianyar368.00
Klungkung RegencySemarapura315.00
Bangli RegencyBangli520.81
Karangasem RegencyAmlapura839.54
Buleleng RegencySingaraja1,365.88
Denpasar CityDenpasar123.98
Totals5,780.06