Travel

"A top American surfer and long-time visitor to Bali has said that the pollution in the island's seas is the worst he has ever seen.Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater, often regarded as the most successful professional surfer of all time, was in Bali earlier this month, and made his feelings know via social-media network Twitter.

"I've never been so alarmed by pollution situation as this trip to Bali/Indo. We need solutions and multi-industry backing," he wrote. "If Bali doesn't #DoSomething serious about this pollution it'll be impossible to surf here in a few years. Worst I've ever seen."

Slater has some 18,000 Twitter followers.He reported that pollution was not only confined to Bali.

"Friends just returned from surf trek to outer Indo and said pollution was unbelievable even there," he wrote, adding that while surfing in south Bali he had seen vast quantities of waste in the water: "Everything. Plastic, random rubbish, medical waste/needles on beach. Disgusting. Smelly water. Really sad."

There has as yet been no response to the surfer's criticism from the Bali authorities, but high profile international criticism has prompted action in the past. Last year a highly critical article in Time magazine about Bali's environmental and infrastructure problems prompted the provincial government to attempt a clean-up.Surfing is a key attraction in Bali's tourist industry, with some of the earliest pioneering tourists of the 1970s coming to the island to surf."

It's unbelievable to witness such dire circumstance and people who just do not give a toss. Or maybe they do but they have an excuse why they don't.

Wherever we went in Bali, the degradation was seeping through the faade; even five star hotels on the most desired side of Bali are starting to smell foul. We revisited one of our favourite hotels, The Grand Hyatt, in Nusa Dua, only to find it completely flooded with tourists.

The pool looked like Durban beachfront on 25 December and the smell of urine was so overwhelming it seeped through the taste of our beer, for which we were charged R200.00 and it was served in a tired looking plastic cup which looked like something that had washed up on the beach.According to a recent report, Bali's 3.2 million residents and almost 3 million visitors produce 20,000 cubic metres of garbage every day. Of this, three-quarters is not collected by any service. Tons of it is then caught in the net-like roots of the mangrove trees that filter the moving waters..

Tourism to Bali keeps growing at about 10 to 12 per cent per year, and not just from Australia. Internal visits from Indonesians are growing fast, as are arrivals from China and other Asian countries. The island attracted 3.1 million tourists last year.The news is spreading rapidly that tourists are returning with typhoid, ear infections, dengue feverit won't be too long before they stop coming altogether, which, ironically, could initiate the island's much needed purification and healing process.

In the three weeks, which we spent on the island, we all suffered with ear infections, sore throats and headaches. Massive debilitating headaches. Especially after a day on our scooter breathing in the hot poisonous fumes of the bulging traffic.Bali has sold its soul to the devil by allowing so many hotels and resorts to be constructed on such ecologically sensitive soil. Many people we spoke to share this sentiment, saying that the days of real Balinese prosperity are over for most locals as their natural resources are depleted and their water sources dry up.

Oh yes, there are still absolute gems to be found on the islands in Indonesia but you have to seek hard to find them and then when you do find them you will have to enjoy the high walls of the resort to keep you away from the sad truth of destruction.We believe you are better off spending your holiday closer to home, next time you are planning a trip, try Sodwana Bay or Kosi Mouth or venture further to Chai Chai in Mozambique. At least there you can find pristine condition at fraction of the price.

Next week we promise to be positive and take you shopping for real treasures. Shopping is one good reason to visit Bali but bring your dollars because very few retailers want to see any other currency (ok maybe Pound Sterling).