Gili Islands stay safe · Gili Islands travel safety advice
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Gili Islands travel safety advice
Gili Islands travel safety advice
True to the hippie vibe, magic mushrooms are widely available and openly advertised, particularly on Gili Trawangan. Their legality is questionable, as are any physical and psychological effects.
Various other drugs and intoxicants are readily available and sometimes flaunted (as is the case of mushrooms and 'power drinks' at parties), and you can expect to be offered everything from marijuana to methamphetamine. Keep in mind you are still in Indonesia, where drug usage and distribution penalties are extraordinarily harsh ranging from 20 years in a dilapidated prison to the death penalty. On Gili Trawangan, there have been a number of busts of high profile local characters resulting in serious prison sentences. On Gili Air, village leaders have been known to banish tourists from the island for drug usage and several signs posted around the island will remind you of their local laws.
Small but annoying jellyfish are common in the waters around the Gilis during certain moon cycles, with July and August getting the brunt, so wearing a full-length wetsuit or surf skin in the water is advisable. The stings can be quite painful, but they're harmless and usually go away within an hour. The welt from bad multiple stings may last a day.
There are massive spiders roughly the size of a grown man's hand scattered about the islands; while not venomous, their bites can result in a painful wound. Thankfully, avoiding them is relatively easy, don't tread through brush and avoid climbing random trees.
There are no police on any of the islands. Crime is largely limited to opportunistic petty theft, and all problems are usually settled by the local islands councils; if you face larger problems or need to make a police report for insurance purposes, you will need to head over the mainland to do it.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Gili Islands
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Gili Islands - updated May 2024
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Gili Islands Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
