Sambolo Beach Bunglows

Sambolo was a place we had heard about for the last year as being a great place to go BUT it has always been advertised as available on a yearly lease or time share exclusively.

Well we found out that you can book nightly or weekly, yippee!

We got a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom bungalow for a week for $400US. We easily fitted 4 adults and 10 kids (11 one night). The other families in our group got a three bedroom house right next to ours and easily fitted 3 adults and 5 kids in. The 2 lounges converted to single beds so the units could taken even more people.
Further down the beach one bungalow had about 25 in it!

It is quoted that it is only about a a 2.5 hour drive from Jakarta, .........we all averaged about a 3.5 hour drive.

The location is lovely, a quiet shady cove with gently rolling surf and a magnificent view of Anak Krakatoa, yes, that most famous volcano.

Isn't it magnificent!

The bungalows are right on the edge of the beach, each with a grassy patch, BBQ, table, chairs and outdoor shower. Inside are are a lounge area, a large table as well as functional kitchen (the 3bdr unit had a way bigger kitchen that the 4bdr). The units are basic and start off reasonably clean, with one hour though, EVERY thing was covered in sand and termite dust from rafters. 5 days after returning I am still finding sand in Chelsea's hair, even though I have scrubbed her!
You need to bring just about everything. There is basic linen on beds (bring your own!!!!!) and adequate crockery and cutlery. Things like soap, toilet paper, tea towels, aqua etc are not provided. Seafood is readily available but there is no supermarkets anywhere close.



The vendors..........there is two sides to every story.
These people rely on the tourists for a living, I can't imagine there being a heap of jobs locally. If you buy from them you are providing an income.
...BUT....
oh my it was so intrusive. We were stalked, watched and pounced on. Vendors would even come to the door!
Things that were available

• massages oh my, 40 000rp($5) for an hour of luxury. Do not make our initial mistake; massages on the beach are great but big black biting ants like the massage oil. The girls all got their hair braided for about $3.
  
• Shells big, little, all sorts. i got little necklaces for kids for 10 000rp, about $1.20.
• Sarongs and batiks. these stated at about $3.
• Board shorts and T shirts these started at $2.50. GJ got some great surf shorts for $3 each.
• Lizards this was disgusting. Stuffed lizards over 1 meter in length. We chased this vendor away and told him off, unfortunately we told him off in English , I hope he got the message. If you bought one of these it would mean that someone would just go and catch another poor animal and kill it!
• Boggie boards and fishing nets boards were for rent and nets were for sale. Bring your own, boards were well used and nets were far too big for rock pools.
• bananas, rice rolls in banana leaves, ice cream, fireworks were also available.
  

The surf...
The kids were in heaven.
GJ was disappointed that he did not bring his proper surf boards.
The waves were perfect every day, not to big not to small. The kids were up and in the ocean at 6 am every day! We kept them out of the sun for a few hours over lunch and then they were straight back in the water until sunset. I even caught waves on a boogie board!

The below collage is going to be enlarged, I think 60 x 60cm (24"sq)

Our group consisted of 7 adults and 15 kids (and then we met up with more friends there)and 5 different nationalities and we all had a blast.

T and I are rather organized high achiever types LOL......we are already refining the excel spread sheet of food and other stuff that was used for the first trip, for our next trip......If you are interested in knowing what to take and what to leave behind please email.