Trunyan Village

Trunyan is one of Bali's most unusual and anthropologically significant settlements — a Bali Aga (indigenous Balinese) village on the steep eastern shore of Lake Batur, accessible only by wooden boat from the caldera floor village of Kedisan. The community follows customs predating the Majapahit Hindu influence of the 14th century, and their mortuary practices remain unlike anything else in Bali. Rather than cremating their dead — the near-universal practice in Hindu Bali — the Bayan Trunyan community places their deceased beneath a 1,000-year-old taru menyan tree (Ficus glomerata), which is believed to neutralise the odour of decomposition through its fragrance. The bodies are placed in bamboo cages in an open-air cemetery (sema wayah) beside the lake, where they rest until only bones remain. Nearby, carved stone and wooden sculptures mark the resting places of older generations. The site is treated with great reverence by the community. Visiting requires hiring a local boatman from Kedisan and a community guide from Trunyan itself, with fees that go directly to the village cooperative. The attitude of visitors should be one of respectful anthropological curiosity — this is an active mortuary site used by a living community, not a macabre tourist attraction. The boat trip across Lake Batur is scenic in its own right: the caldera walls rise steeply above and the Batur volcano smokes quietly on the western shore.