Nusa Dua Peninsula is an island-like place where the land are bordered by sea water almost on all of it’s sides but still narrowly connected to mainland. This kind of condition or topography is very similar to Peninsula closest twin, The Nusa Dharma Island. This Peninsula is located around the vicinity of Nusa Dua Beach and with distance less than 500 meters away from Nusa Dharma Island, until now both islands are still directly managed by ITDC. The land size of Peninsula is measured around 7.4 hectares which mostly contain greenish grass field, colorful gardens and some trees, the view in here is remarkably good overall. Having such spacious area is very useful, it allow Nusa Dua Peninsula to host or accommodate many large scale open air events for many years.
The other name of Nusa Dua Peninsula is Nusa Gede Island which mean “The Big Island” in English, also due to considerable amount of vegetations around here, this place is named The Garden Of Hope as well. During regular day or non-event day, everyone can come to this place for free, there absolutely no need to spend even a single penny. Long time ago Nusa Dua Peninsula once hosted an important world event in 1993 for WTO (World Trade Organization) and this WTO Summit was attended by 107 countries from all over the world. That event then left a historical mark in a form of object which placed inside Nusa Dua Peninsula and just 50 meters apart from the entrance gate, this object is a huge rock with several words engraved permanently on it.
This big rock was carved with the name of all 107 countries that attended 1993 WTO Summit and also there exist another form of history mark. Some trees Inside Peninsula Island were planted long time ago by WTO delegation members of those 107 countries. The program at that time was for each delegation to plant only one tree, so total of 107 trees were planted during the event. You can see which tree planted by which country just by looking into square concrete block at ground or the bottom of each tree.
For me the most eye-catching thing you could see in Nusa Dua Peninsula is the huge statues of Krishna & Arjuna from Mahabharata, a famous ancient epic from India. And also below that statues there exist a small room which contain very large book inside, that book is Bhagavad Gita which mean “The Song of God” in English language. From this room and then moving slightly to northern direction you will see a small circular monument perhaps built around the time when WTO Summit event occurred.
This small monument was engraved with some Chinese and Balinese letters, then followed with English sentence “All People in the World, We are Brother” seemingly declaring that we are truly one big family of Planet Earth. At northwest of Nusa Dua Peninsula, there exist a wide helipad for helicopter operations purpose, this helipad is more than enough to land and park multiple helicopters simultaneously. So now is the time to uncover the best thing Nusa Dua Peninsula able to offer, just go to the most eastern area and you will arrive at place called Water Blow, a short cliff with mostly rocky surface bordering near the Peninsula edge.
From Water Blow entrance just follow the walking path and then you will see a small round shaped resting area later, that place is where you can closely witness the full blast of water blow. You might wondering why this cliff named as Water Blow, the reason is when sea waves amplified with strong wind suddenly clashing against the cliff wall, there’s a good chance that sea waters will blowing upward many maters high. That natural occurrence is how Water Blow got it’s name, the blast of Water Blow can happen quite frequently and such sight is very exhilarating to watch.
But you need to watch out because water mist or droplets from the blast residue will easily wet your outfit. In order to take perfect picture of Water Blow without blurring, visitors are required to stand still and remain patient, then time the camera shot as accurate as possible when waves blast finally occurred. But please be careful because this place can be quite dangerous, in fact before entering the Water Blow all visitors are recommended to read warning board near the entrance to prevent any fatal accidents and remember to always prioritize safety above anything else on there.
If you’re kind of into fitness and want to stay in top condition regularly, then perhaps you can consider this place for exercising. Nusa Dua Peninsula is a well known place for outdoor exercises around Bali southeast region, similar to neighboring ITDC Nusa Dua area. It’s very common to see many people coming in early morning or afternoon when the air is still not too hot, during that time most people are doing some light exercises like jogging, running, aerobic and yoga. In here people are also allowed to perform different kinds of exercises that you can’t normally do in other place, for example skateboarding, rollerblading and cycling.
Some of you might already know that Nusa Dua Peninsula is a regular venue for large outdoor events such as Light Festival, Musical Show, Chinese New Year Party and many more. But the best free event in Bali that I recommend everyone to attend at least once is called Nusa Dua Fiesta. The entrance fee for this event is totally free but you need to pay when buying stuffs like food, shirt or accessories, there are many kinds of shop stalls that you can visit inside here. Nusa Dua Fiesta was organized and first debuted at 1996 by BTDC, the previous name of ITDC. This event is the grandest, glamorous and Nusa Dua most awaited annual event which always being held yearly for more than 10 years without a break in Nusa Dua Peninsula.
Nusa Dua Fiesta is usually scheduled around October – November time frame and will be held successively for 3 or 5 days from morning until midnight. You can expect diverse amount of entertainments in this event, for example live concert show, art exhibitions, cultural performances, contest, competition, culinary festival and so on. Nusa Dua Fiesta frequently bring different kinds of entertainments each year and it largely depend on the theme chosen for that year. The purpose is to keep Nusa Dua Fiesta fresh, exciting and more importantly always able to show something unique to the people. Now let’s move to gallery section and below is the walkthrough video of Nusa Dua Peninsula or Nusa Gede Island.
Gallery
Nusa Dua Peninsula is located around the proximity of Nusa Dua Beach and to get inside there, you need to walk for several minutes from the beach. This place is quite easy to spot, if you found a big rock engraved with words “Nusa Gede Island” then it’s mean that you just arrived exactly in front of gate entrance. Picture above was taken at 2017 when that rock still carved with “Nusa Dua Peninsula Island” name and then changed into “Nusa Gede Island” few years later. As a remainder Nusa Gede Island is the other name of Nusa Dua Peninsula, well it can be a little bit confusing sometimes and take time to remember.
A wooden board was placed in front of Nusa Gede Island entrance which should be read by the incoming visitors and require your attention but there’s a catch, it use Indonesian language. So here full English translations of the board in picture above : “Attention, 1. Let’s protect the sacredness of this island together, 2. Please follow rules & orders, 3. Littering is prohibited or else you will be fined 50.000 IDR (3$), 4. Throwing and picking flowers are prohibited, 5. Meat roasting or barbecuing is not allowed”.
There exist a large helipad located at northwest of Nusa Gede Island and the size is wide enough to land and park multiple helicopters together. But seeing even one helicopter over there is such a rare sight and since the helipad is frequently empty, young guys often use that place for skateboarding or rollerblading practices. Nusa Dharma Island is visible on here if you look to the north direction from this helipad.
Picture above is Nusa Gede Island big rock engraved with the name of all 107 countries that attended 1993 WTO Summit. Here the English translation of yellow colored top titles on that rock : “Trees planted by WTO Delegations in Nusa Dua Island, Sunday 03 October 1993”. Then followed with names list of numerous countries below the top title.
That standing statue is Lord Krishna while the crouching bow wielder is Arjuna, they fought for Pandava side in the story of Mahabharata Epic. Those statues are the highest point of Nusa Gede Island, it was built with height taller than the surrounding which made them appear like guardians who stood above and faithfully watch over the island. To know more about Mahabharata storyline, I highly recommend you to read the book or maybe watch Mahabharata TV show.
Below Krishna and Arjuna statues, there exist a special room which contain huge translated scripture of Bhagavad Gita. This scripture depict complete dialogues between Lord Krishna and Pandava Warrior Arjuna before massive war take place. According to Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna was faced with great moral dilemma in the beginning of Kurukshetra War when he realized that he had to fight his own kin and respected teacher at battlefield. Sorrowful Arjuna then seek advice to Lord Krishna and thus from their recorded dialogues, the entire Bhagavad Gita Scripture was formed later. Lord Krishna personally guide and teaches Arjuna not only about the current war but also cover broad range of topics far beyond the scope that Arjuna currently face.
Picture above was taken in the morning at Nusa Gede Island southern area. Those trees have long history and not just some ordinary trees, they are planted many years ago by delegation members during WTO Summit Event in 1993. The name of each country that participated in tree planting program was carved on concrete block at tree bottom or around the root side. Fast forward into today, all those trees has grown so big and healthy, none of them died so far.
Visiting Nusa Gede Island is not complete without seeing the Water Blow. It stay true to it’s name, sea water will blowing upward many meters high when hitting the rocky cliff. During high tide or windy season, the water blast will grow much bigger and happen more frequently. As far as I know, this is the only place in Bali where you can directly witness such occurrence. Viewing Water Blow is quite breathtaking indeed but visitors must prioritize their own safety and follow all the instructions put on entrance warning board. For your information, few casualties has happened in here, so better be safe than sorry.
Bias Tugel Temple is a small temple located at the most southern part of Nusa Gede Island. This temple was built on the tip of island edge and surrounded by sea water which slightly resemble Uluwatu Temple but with much smaller size. Bias Tugel mean “Split Sand” in English, probably because it look almost got split from Nusa Gede Island. Just like temple inside Nusa Dharma Island, Bias Tugel Temple was built to honor Holy Sage Dang Hyang Nirartha, legend says he visited this Peninsula during his long pilgrimage around Bali Island 500 years ago.