
Just a few miles to the east of Bali and slightly bigger, Lombok island is roughly circular, with a population of nearly 3 million people.
The island's topography is dominated by the centrally-located Gunung Rinjani (Mount Rinjani), a volcano which rises to 12,224 feet, making it the third-highest volcanic mountain in Indonesia. The most recent eruption of Rinjani was in the summer of 1994. The volcano and its sacred crater lake, Lake Segara Anak, are protected by a national park established in 1997. The southern part of the island is a fertile plain where corn, rice, coffee, tobacco, and cotton are grown.
At over 12,000 feet, Gunung Rinjani cuts a striking profile as it looms over Lombok
Interestingly, the Lombok Strait--the passage between Bali and Lombok-separates the fauna of the Indonesian and Malaysian ecosystem from the very different fauna of Australasia. This division is known as the Wallace Line, named for Alfred Russel Wallace, the 19th century naturalist who first remarked on the distinction. Scientists theorize that the Lombok Strait was too broad and deep for animals coming from Java and Bali to swim across, enabling the evolution of different species of animals on Lombok and islands to the east.
Lombok's people are 85% Sasak, culturally and linguistically closely related to the Balinese, but unlike Bali's largely Hindu population, they are Muslims. A notable non-orthodox Islamic group found only on Lombok are the Wektu Telu ("Three Prayers"), who, as the name suggests, pray only three times daily, instead of the five times required in the Quran. About 10-15% of the population is Balinese, with the small remainder being Chinese, Arab, Javanese, and Sumbawanese.