Goa Lawah Temple
Cave-mouth shrine where thousands of bats cling to the rock, said to hide a guardian serpent.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Goa Lawah Temple in Bali opens with a chase: a prince fleeing enemies runs into the bat-filled cave behind you and, by local lore, doesn't come out here, said to resurface days later at Besakih, Bali's mother temple. It follows the legend of Basuki, the guardian serpent Balinese belief holds lives hidden in the cave's darkness behind a curtain of bats, and one detail from 1963 that keeps the legend alive to this day. Watch for the thousands of bats that still cling to the rock overhead as priests perform ceremonies at the shrines below.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Goa Gajah
Ninth-century rock-cut hermitage entered through a demon's carved, gaping stone mouth.
Tanah Lot
Rocky offshore Hindu sea temple reachable at low tide, watched over by sacred guardian snakes.
Besakih Great Temple
Sprawling six-terraced Hindu temple complex of twenty-three shrines rising up a sacred volcano's slope.
Pulaki Temple
Coastal Hindu temple built where a legendary entourage vanished into invisibility, now home to guardian macaques.
Batu Bolong Temple
Hollow sea rock shrine on a stone bridge, guarding spring water used in Balinese purification rites.
Gunung Kawi Tampaksiring
Eleventh-century rock-cut shrines carved into a river gorge cliff, honoring a Balinese king and his queens.