A Bali travel must-see, the fantastical fishing boats of Perancak are a sight to behold – but first you must pass Skull Track
- Decorated in every colour under the sun, the psychedelic ships have been described as ‘possibly the most spectacular fishing fleet anywhere in the world today’
- To get to Perancak, on Bali’s little-visited west coast, by road, you have to travel the island’s most dangerous highway, where 25,000 accidents occur a year
Close your eyes, take a deep breath and forget about Covid-19.
You’re sitting on a kayak in an estuary, looking towards a village on the coast in which the only structure of note is a whitewashed temple that soars like an angel over terracotta rooftops.
Anchored in front of a sand flat is a fleet of multicoloured fishing boats with elongated headpieces, complex carvings, embroideries, flags and banners. More of these psychedelic vessels pass, heading out to sea as the sun sets over the mouth of the estuary.
You’re in Perancak, a fishing village on Bali’s little-visited west coast.
“It’s spectacular. When friends come to visit they say it doesn’t feel like you’re in Bali,” says Craig Harrington, a New Zealander who moved here a decade ago, after marrying a local woman.
“But very few tourists know about it. Why? I think it’s the highway. Locals call it Death Road.”
