Sadly there has been another death in a rafting accident on the island which turned a holiday full of joy into a nightmare for the family and friends of the poor tourist who died. But did it have to be this way? Could it have been prevented?
From what we hear, the answer is “yes”. How? By ensuring that everyone who operates any tourist facility is fully licensed, fully trained, fully supervised, and operates to expected international standards. This does not seem to have been the case in the recent tragedy where a lack of training and proper safety equipment seem to have contributed to the sad outcome. What a tragedy.
Bali is the perfect place to enjoy some of the higher risk sports, with relatively safe rivers, relatively safe dive spots, relatively safe surf, relatively safe hiking and climbing, and so on but none of these are ever perfectly safe so you need to ensure that you only use the top professional rafting, hiking, biking, surfing, diving, etc. operators. Check they are licenced, insured and fully equipped. And if you have doubts, do not do use that company, as ‘suspect’ companies may be compromising safety and facilities by cutting prices or giving large commissions to freelance agents.
It is unfortunate that we have to give you such a message at the beginning of your holiday but there really are unscrupulous operators in all these risky sports and activities who should not be in business and we would hate to hear of anyone else suffering as it has happened too many times in the past. And by the way, think very carefully before doing any of the watersports in Benoa, some of these which involving soaring through the air are extremely dangerous, and have caused several deaths and many injuries in the past.
Please have a very safe holiday here.
Alistair G. Speirs, OBE
