Shark Conservation, Diving and Culture in Bali and Lombok

After arriving in Bali, our representative will be waiting as you get off the plane and will usher you through visa and immigration control, assist you with your luggage and escort you to your private driver waiting just outside the airport. You're heading to the northeast corner of Bali, so sit back and enjoy the Balinese sights for the two-and-a-half-hour drive.

With a thriving house reef buzzing with barracuda, sweetlips, turtles, blacktip sharks and more, paired with easy access to the world-famous USAT Liberty Wreck and nearby mola mola mecca, Nusa Penida, you'll be off to a stunning start on your Indonesian dive holiday. You're set for two dives a day, leaving your afternoons free to enjoy at your leisure. The options are endless, with sacred temple visits, luxurious spa treatments, neighbouring island tours and nearby Mount Agung offering breathtaking hikes. Or, if you just can't resist the pull of the reef, enjoy more dives in the afternoon as well.

After a lie-in this morning, your private driver will be waiting to transfer you two hours south to your next stop in Ubud. Once you've checked into your jungle view room, go for a dip in the pool then get ready for a delicious local dinner, before sundowners and bed.

Surrounded by jungles and rice fields, Ubud is a lush and vibrant village pulsating with local life. The resident art galleries attract collectors, designers and home decorators from around the world, as do the yoga studios and culinary scene (in their own right). Today, you're off on a private tour of the area in a vintage VW Thing 181 convertible. This off-the-beaten-track tour begins with a visit to a nearby village, Semita, which specializes in wood carvings. From there, you'll head to the stunning Suwat Waterfall for a refreshing dip before continuing on to the village of Pejeng, where you'll learn about their traditional knife and tool crafting practices.

Spend today at your leisure. You could opt to wake up at around 2am to embark on a sunrise trek up Mount Batur, or sleep in and head to a local yoga class followed by a monkey forest visit. Or, try your hand at Balinese cooking, mashing chicken into paste for a flame-grilled satay served over coconut rice.

This morning, your private driver will transfer you from Ubud to Padang Bai where you will board a fast ferry to Lombok. The drive and ferry combined will take approximately three hours. Once you arrive in Lombok, our representative will be waiting to transfer you to the final stop of your Indonesian adventure.

Today you'll embark on an excursion that has facilitated incredible conservatory changes in the waters around Lombok. After an early morning breakfast, you'll head out on the water in a fishing boat that was once used to harvest sharks, driven by a captain who used to do the harvesting. Highlighting the plight of fishermen in this region, this trip shows how repurposing their fishing boats to run snorkel tours allows the local fishing community to support themselves and their families without further harming the already dwindling numbers of sharks in the area.

For the next three days, enjoy Lombok and the surrounding islands on your own time. From inland waterfall tours to free-diving courses and kayak tours on the nearby Gili Islands, you'll have plenty of options to soak up the last bits of Indonesian life and culture.

Sadly, the day has come to head back to reality. The first step of your journey will be to head back to the Lombok pier, via private transfer, to catch the ferry back to Bali. Once you land in Bali, another private driver will be waiting to take you to the airport in time to catch your flight home, again via Singapore. You will land back in the UK the following day.