Sumbawa Besar & Moyo Island

Sumbawa Besar is one of the most populated towns beside Bima and Dompu in the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. It is the capital city of the island and of the Sumbawa Regency of the province of West Nusa Tenggara

The slogan of the town is BESAR which can mean big in Indonesian . However, this slogan has been used an acronym for:

• B Bersih (Clean),
• E Elok (Beautiful),
• S Sehat (Healthy),
• A Aman (Safe),
• R Rapi (Proper).

Languages

Indonesian is widely spoken in Sumbawa BESAR with some local languages such as Samawa and Balinese (spoken by Balinese people that moved to Sumbawa BESAR).

Transportation 

Bemo

Public transportation in Sumbawa BESAR may include bemo [on the left,], dokar [on the right below, taken from , and becak.

There are two lines of bemo there, Blue bemo and Yellow bemo. Each serves different routes around the city but both pass the most crowded street in the city, Jalan Kartini. Jalan Kartini may be considered as the centre of the city since local merchants are concentrated in this area and youngsters usually hang out around the water fountain in the middle of the street.

Dokar

There is one small airport named Bandar Udara Brangbiji that serves some small flights to and from Mataram. However, due to the limited number of passengers using these flight services, the flight schedules have been limited to once or twice a week. Mainly, the flights are served by Trigana Airways. The distance between Lombok and Sumbawa can be reached by airplane for 30 minutes

Tourism

Tourism in Sumbawa BESAR or Sumbawa has not been promoted by the government. However, thanks to that, Sumbawa has really nice untouched beaches that many tourists, local, national or international, have enjoyed.

There are several small hotels / motels in Sumbawa BESAR. They may include Hotel Tambora, Hotel Suci, etc. The rate per night varies but usually is cheap ranging from Rp. 50,000 to Rp. 100,000 (US$6 - 13).

There is one private island with beautiful resort which is Aman Wana Resorts

The wilderness hideaway of Amanwana (peaceful forest) is the only resort on the Indonesian island of Moyo, a nature and marine reserve 15 kilometres off the coast of Sumbawa, east of Bali. Surrounded by the turquoise waters and untouched reefs of the Flores Sea, the island is 350 square kilometres with vegetation ranging from savannah to tropical jungle. It is blessed with a variety of animal and bird life, from deer to wild boar, macaque monkeys, sea eagles and osprey.

An Indonesian wildlife reserve since 1976, Moyo Island lies east of Bali in the West Sumbawa regency. Moyo is situated about 8° south of the equator. Amanwana looks out over Amanwana Bay, a marine reserve, and beyond to the Flores Sea. Medang Island in the north-west, the rugged mountains of Sumbawa in the south and Lombok’s volcanic Mount Rinjani – at 3,726 metres, the third-highest mountain in Indonesia – are visible from Moyo. The island all but plugs the narrow entrance to Saleh Bay, creating an inland sea ideal for cruising and island hopping.

wana falls

wana bike trail

*National Tourism Awards 2010 Best Eco Resorts - No. 2 Indonesia
*Anywhere's 2nd Anniversary Special Issue The Ulimate Travel List 2004
   Best Luxury Resort in Asia - No. 14 2004

*Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report Readers' Choice 2009 Top 20 Family Resorts
   USA 2009

*Spear's WMS HNW Awards 2007 Best Resort UK 2007

Education

Sumbawa BESAR has some public schools and so far only one private Catholic school.

A university was built in 1998 named Universitas Samawa. The tuition fee is Rp. 400,000 / year. There are 694 students. Study programs include Management Finance and Banking (D3), Mechanical Engineering (D3), Civil Engineering (D3 & S1), Physics, Agronomy, Administration, Economy, Food Science, and Education (S1).

source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumbawa_Besar
http://www.amanresorts.com/amanwana
http://kasunyatanpribadi.blogspot.com