Getting away from it all on Gili Gede

Gili Gede is one of the so-called "secret Gilis" in the southwest side of Lombok. Tourism to this area has been growing over the past few years, driven by people trying to avoid the crowds of the more popular northwest Gilis, but it's still a long way from "developed."

Gili Gede itself is a fairly small island, with a few tiny villages, and a handful of guesthouses and resorts. You can walk all the way around the island in a couple of hours (there's a small paved path that covers most of the island, suitable for walking or motorbiking, although quite broken up in places so watch your footing). 

The scenery on Gili Gede

The central part of the east coast has some nice enough beaches, with white sand and shallow water suitable for swimming with the family, although don't expect the beaches to be completely pristine and swept clean of all flotsam, as these are still predominantly fishing islands, not tourist islands. The southern part of the east coast is mostly mudflats and seagrass, but good for wildlife spotting (a large heron kept wandering into the open air restaurant at my guesthouse, looking for handouts, and the sea outside was filled with starfish).

The beach on the central section of Gili Gede

Although the reefs off Gede are mostly broken up and dead, the neighbouring islands of Gili Layar and Gili Rengit are known snorkel spots and your accommodation should be able to book you a boat to take you out for a day or half day. TBH, the reefs weren't anything really special to my eyes (perhaps I've just been spoiled after Lang Tengah), however they are very quiet, so you can snorkel away from the crowds. And I did spot a giant sea turtle at the drop off on Layar.

Your throne awaits.... (Gili Layar)

It's a fairly chilled out place to relax for a few days, although TBH I was a little bit uncomfortable at just how obviously poor the village near my guesthouse was. The white liberal guilt kicked in, as it doesn't look like any of the revenue from us tourists was ending up in that particular village. Meanwhile, the island's tourism infrastructure continues to grow, with a large new resort and marina under construction on the southwest coast of the island. Hopefully all the development will spread some of that increased prosperity around.

Rush hour (the main cross-island road on Gili Gede)