February 2019
Mount Agung had erupted back in November 2017 and even in February 2019. People were asking us (Expedition Bali Tours) if this volcano was still erupting and how dangerous was was the old girl.
The answer for this was "Yes, Mount Agung was erupting and yes the media were still referring back to it every now and then". To put this eruption in perspective though, there was a six kilometre exclusion zone put in place around Mount Agung back in November 2017. Then, to put that in perspective, Kuta, the heart of Bali is 68 kilometres from Mount Agung. Mount Batur to Mount Agung, that's 18 kilometres away as the crow flies, (nearly 50km's driving). Although when standing on Mount Batur and watching the sunrise over Mount Agung, yeah, it looks about five to seven kilometres away, however, like we said it's actually 18 kilometres away. There were no recorded deaths in the November 2017 eruption and just as importantly, lava wasn't flowing through the streets of Kuta, or anywhere for that matter.
Bali tours of Mount Batur were still ongoing. Nothing changed except the six kilometre exclusion zone around Mount Agung.
That said, at the time, back in November 2017, you could ride a scooter through the streets of Kuta during the middle of the day and be the only scooter on the street.
Where, in Hawaii if an eruption occurs hotels book out as people flock to see the volcano erupting. In Bali with the Australian media telling everyone to stay away, Bali and by default any Bali tours, were dead. There were very few tourists if any. We always thought that an eruption in Bali would bring the tourists like an eruption does in Hawaii. The media are a powerful machine and if they want tourists to stay in Australia to spend money in local hotels, bars and restaurants, because of the owners of those media outlets own these hotels bars and restaurants, this is a strong case for ragging on Bali and having people stay home. It was the first time we'd seen the Australian media in action. Now that we know what to look for, we can see it all the time. any excuse to rag on Bali.