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IndonesiaDescription and is it worth a visit
This is the only historical landmark on the Gili Islands, although it is difficult to call it an attractive and interesting place worth a visit. However, if you like unpopular tourist routes and you have enough time for Gili, you can include it in your program.
The tunnels, the bunker and the remains of the battery have been preserved since the Second World War, when Japanese troops were stationed here. They occupied the island from 1942 to 1945. There are few historical details about this period, but it is believed that it was because of the tunnels that the island of Trawangan got its modern name. The Japanese built defensive trenches and tunnels for artillery equipment here. And the word "tunnel" in the Sasak language (the people inhabiting Lombok) sounds like "Trawangan". At the same time, "Gili" means "small island". That's how the name Gili Trawangan appeared – "an island with a tunnel".
Unfortunately, little has been preserved here today. The tunnels have partially collapsed and can be dangerous, only ruins remain of the bunker and the battery. Of course, there are no artillery pieces either – only fragments of carriages. In general, if you have absolutely nothing to do on Gili, you can climb Trawangan Hill to the remains of the battery and to the observation deck overlooking Lombok and the west coast.
🕐 Working hours
Around the clock.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
Free of charge.
🚶 How to get there
Tunnels and an artillery battery are located on the top of Mount Trawangan in the center of Gili Trawangan (battery on the map, tunnel entrance on the map, the location of the bunker on the map). There is a path down the slope through the forest from the center of the island, and an equipped, but slightly dilapidated, staircase from the shore. It's easy to get there, the path is easy, gentle. Climb for 30 minutes with a climb of about 120 meters, this is a height of about 40 floors. On maps Maps.me and Organic maps has all the trails, guided by them you can get here without any problems. The ruins themselves and the entrances to the tunnels are not so easy to find, they are not visible from the path, you will have to climb the hillsides. We have determined their exact coordinates and placed them on our map, but there may be an error, so be prepared to search a little.
You can also see in a little more detail how we visited these ruins and how to find them in our video about the Gili Islands.
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