Vacationers spending time in the Indonesian islands can enhance the experience by brushing up on some Bali facts before they set out on their adventure.
Focusing on the Balinese people themselves, travelers should know that 80 percent of the population considers themselves to be Hindu. As such, the tenets of the religion will impact their vacations in a number of ways. In addition to a number of cultural celebrations on Hindu holidays like Hari Raya Galungan and Hari Raya Saraswati, travelers should know that the Hindu religion believes cows to be sacred, meaning that many restaurants and eateries won’t serve beef.
For Bali’s natural world, nature lovers will be happy to know that Bali is home to upwards of 300 species of birds including white herons, egrets, sea eagles and kingfishers. Fans of the sea hoping to get some snorkeling in during their vacation will have plenty to feast their eyes on, as the Indonesian Archipelago (of which Bali is part of) is home to over one quarter of the all the marine life in the world.
One of the more interesting facts is that Bali lies on the west side of the imaginary Wallace Line, a distinction that separates those Indonesian and Malaysian Islands whose flora and fauna resemble that of the southeast Asian region (the west) and those whose environments most closely resemble the island nations surrounding Australia and Papua New Guinea.