Tanjung Aan

Tanjung Aan is on the southern coast of Lombok, east of Kuta, a double bay separated by a low headland with Merese Hill rising behind it. The southern coast of Lombok is limestone and dry, quite unlike the volcanic north of the island.

The sand is the local curiosity. One half of the bay has ordinary fine white sand; the other has grains the size and shape of peppercorns, coarse and rounded, unusual enough that people come to run it through their hands. Both halves are the same bay, and the difference is a matter of how the material is sorted by the water.

The bay is sheltered by a reef across its mouth, which leaves calm shallow water good for swimming and a break further out that surfers use. Merese Hill behind gives a view over the whole southern coast and is the standard sunset walk. The water is clear, the entry gentle, and the bay is large enough not to feel crowded even in season.

Development has arrived quickly. The Mandalika special economic zone, a government-backed tourism development on this coast, has built a MotoGP circuit and a resort programme nearby, and the process has drawn documented criticism over land acquisition and the treatment of Sasak communities. Warungs and loungers along the sand are the visible end of that; the larger changes are inland. Selong Belanak, forty minutes west, is the beginner surf bay with the gentlest wave on the island, and Mawun between them is the quiet one that development has not reached yet.

One bay with fine white sand on one side and grains the size of peppercorns on the other, which is water sorting rather than a curiosity. Merese Hill behind is the sunset walk. The Mandalika zone around it has drawn documented criticism over land acquisition and the treatment of Sasak communities, and that belongs in the same paragraph as the view.