Coconut, banyan and the wall of mangrove
From the water you mostly see three things on a Lombok shoreline: palms leaning out over the sand, a dark tangle of mangrove in the muddy corners, and somewhere behind it a fig big enough to have its own weather.
Three zones, in order
Paddle the length of any bay here and the trees change in a predictable sequence, driven entirely by how much salt water reaches their roots.
In the water — mangroves, on stilt roots, in the sheltered muddy inlets. On the sand — coconut, casuarina, sea almond and sea hibiscus, all salt-tolerant and wind-shaped. Behind the beach — the productive stuff: mango, jackfruit, banana, cashew, and the big sacred figs in the village centre.
Trees of the beach
Coconut palm
Cocos nuciferaThe one on the postcard. Every part gets used — water, flesh, oil, husk fibre for rope, fronds for thatch and baskets, trunk for building. Also the reason you should not park a kayak, or yourself, directly underneath one.
Sea almond
Terminalia catappaWide, flat, tiered branches making the best natural shade on any beach in the tropics. Leaves turn red before they drop. The fallen leaves are collected here and elsewhere to tint and condition aquarium water.
Casuarina
Casuarina equisetifoliaThe needle-leaved “beach she-oak”, which sounds like rain when the wind moves through it. Not actually a pine. Planted heavily as a windbreak and one of the main trees on Gili Nanggu.
Sea hibiscus
Hibiscus tiliaceusHeart-shaped leaves and a yellow flower that opens pale in the morning and turns deep orange-red by evening before dropping. Sprawls sideways along the back of beaches; the bark makes strong cordage.
Sea poison tree
Barringtonia asiaticaLarge glossy leaves and a spectacular white-and-pink powderpuff flower that opens at night for moths and bats. The four-sided floating fruit is the classic “box fruit” you find washed up. Seeds are toxic — traditionally crushed to stun fish.
Coastal palms
Nypa fruticans, Borassus flabelliferNipa palm grows in brackish creek mouths with no visible trunk. The fan-leaved lontar palm marks the drier east and south, tapped for sugar syrup and palm wine.
Mangroves
Paddling into a mangrove creek on a rising tide is one of the quieter pleasures of Sekotong Bay. It is also the single most productive habitat we have.
Red mangrove
Rhizophora spp.
The classic one, standing on arched stilt roots with long cigar-shaped seedlings hanging off the branches. Those seedlings germinate on the tree and plant themselves point-down in the mud when they drop.
Grey mangrove
Avicennia marina — api-api
Recognisable by the carpet of pencil-thin roots sticking straight up out of the mud around it, breathing for the tree at low tide. Leaves excrete salt crystals you can taste on the underside.
What they do
Nursery for most of the reef fish you will later snorkel over, sea wall against storm surge, and a carbon store several times denser than rainforest. Indonesia holds around a fifth of the world's mangroves and has lost a great deal of them.
Village and forest trees
Banyan
Ficus benjamina and relativesThe huge, curtain-rooted fig at the centre of villages and beside temples. Regarded as sacred across the region — you will often find cloth wrapped around the trunk and offerings at the base. Some start life as stranglers on another tree.
Tamarind
Tamarindus indicaFeathery leaves, brittle brown pods, huge spreading crown. Lines older roads across the dry south and east. The sour pulp goes into sauces, sambals and drinks.
Kapok
Ceiba pentandraUnmistakable: a straight buttressed grey trunk with branches in horizontal tiers, often bare. The pods burst into silky fibre still used to stuff mattresses and pillows here.
Teak
Tectona grandisBig-leaved plantation timber across drier hillsides, dropping its leaves in the dry season. The furniture, doors and boat fittings you see everywhere generally started here or on Java.
Cashew
Anacardium occidentaleA major crop on the dry southern slopes. The nut hangs below a fleshy false fruit, and the raw shell is genuinely caustic — which is why cashews are never sold in the shell.
Bamboo
Various generaNot a tree at all but a grass, and structurally more useful than most timber here. Scaffolding, fish traps, water pipes, house frames, fences and the frames of the Sasak rice barns.
Fruit, spice and shade
Fruit trees
Mango (mangga), jackfruit (nangka), papaya, banana, guava, soursop, rambutan and durian all grow in the mixed garden plots behind villages. Season peaks around the turn of the wet, roughly November to February.
Clove and coffee
Between about 400 and 1,000 metres on Rinjani's slopes, clove (cengkeh) and coffee are the cash crops. The clove drying mats beside the road, and the smell of them, are hard to miss in harvest season.
Betel and areca
Slim pinang palms in village yards, grown for the areca nut chewed with betel leaf and lime — a habit that is fading but still visible among older Sasak.
Montane forest
Higher again, Rinjani National Park holds real forest — figs, laurels, tree ferns and eventually montane casuarina near the tree line. Protected, and the water source for most of the island.
Questions we get asked
Can I take a coconut off a tree?
Every coconut palm on this island belongs to someone, including the ones on apparently empty beaches. Ask, or buy one — it costs very little and saves an awkward conversation.
Why do some trees have cloth tied around them?
Black-and-white check cloth (poleng) or yellow cloth around a large tree, usually a banyan, marks it as spiritually significant. Do not climb it, cut it, or move offerings at the base.
Are the mangroves safe to paddle into?
Yes, with a guide and on the right tide. The risk is getting stranded when the water drops, not anything living in there. We go in on a rising tide and come out before the turn.
What is the tree that smells like almonds on the beach?
Almost certainly ketapang, the sea almond. The kernel inside the flat fruit really does taste like almond, though it is fiddly to get at.
More field guides
Local Flora →
Frangipani, orchids, seagrass and the beach plants that hold the sand together.
Local Animals →
Macaques, fruit bats, sea eagles and the endemic Rinjani scops owl.
Local Reptiles →
Monitor lizards, sea turtles, geckos and the snakes worth knowing about.
Fish →
What is under the kayak, from clownfish to the hammerheads of Blongas.
Places to See →
The Secret Gilis, the south coast, the waterfalls and the Sasak villages.
Our Trips →
Half-day tasters through to six-day expeditions along the south coast.
Paddle the mangrove creeks
The quiet water behind the islands is the best of the bay, and a kayak is the only sensible way in.