Bypass the world at Bali Barat National Park

DAVID MAY is happy to be ignored by some visitors to the only resort allowed in the beautiful Bali Barat National Park.

Out of the indigo waters of Terima Bay, a sleek fish explodes like a javelin, piercing the reflected menace of three Javan volcanoes on the western horizon.

From the deck of a wooden ferry, the scene is a timeless tableau. Fishermen wrestle their nets in small boats they call jukung, seabirds dive-bomb between the cobalt-blue sails while the awesome threesome, Baluran, Raung and Merapi, growl in the distance.

On the right is Menjangan Island, named after a small, deer-like native animal. It's a spectacular dive site and, like the rest of this pretty bay, also part of a national park.

Where the coastal savannah touches the gentle slopes of monsoon forest, sits a half-hidden bunch of bungalows.

The Waka Shorea environmental sanctuary on Prapatagung Peninsula is the only tourist accommodation Indonesian authorities permit in the Bali Barat National Park, which sprawls across north-west Bali.

Opened a year ago, Waka Shorea, with its 12 comfortable bungalows, swimming pool, restaurant, private villa, diving and spa/massage centres, is a pocket of semi-luxury. It's barely visible from the sea, yet surrounded by white sandy beaches, corals, crystal-clear waters and uninhabited forest.

Through this enchanting seascape, guests arrive either at a wooden pier or straight on to the resort's white coral-sand beach, usually to a screeching welcome of bird calls.

In fine weather, poolside tables will already be arranged for a light lunch that will probably include the catch of the day, fresh seafood soup, toasted olive bread, grilled fresh tuna and salad, tropical fruit and coconut juice served chilled in the nut.

Every day, fresh food, most of the 70 staff and an average 30,000 litres of fresh water have to be ferried to the resort, as no roads run through this part of the national park.

Set in the sandy hillside, the bungalows have a treehouse feel. There are ensuites, huge beds and mosquito nets roughly the size of circus tents. The sanctuary is a gallery of local talent, using slate, tiles, smooth unpainted wood, homespun fabrics, intricately worked copper, rough-cut stone and bamboo.

In the tall, pyramid-shaped roofs, thatched with fragrant local alang-alang grass, geckos augment the mystical sounds of the forest outside.

The forest is a treasure trove of flora and fauna, occasionally visible from walking tracks winding through the park, which guests can tackle by themselves or, more informatively, with a guide.

If you're lucky you might see a green tree snake, giant python, wild boar, leopard, small barking deer that sound like dogs and leaf monkeys.

There are squirrels and iguana among the neem and tamarind trees. Giant figs attract hosts of hornbills.

Another 200 species of birds, including drongos, Javan kingfishers and white-bellied swiftlets, thrive in this forest.

Dutch colonials created the 77,000ha Bali Barat National Park in 1941 to protect the last of the island's wild banteng, living ancestors of the deer-like Balinese cattle, and the few Bali starlings left in their natural habitat. Poachers decimated the starling population when private collectors turned the bird into a status symbol after German scientists discovered it here in the 1920s. Collectors in the US still pay about $US1000 ($2359) on the black market, so poaching has continued, leaving only 13 birds in the wild.

If you're fortunate enough to spot one, you'll see an exquisite, graceful creature with shining white feathers and blue spots on its tail and wingtips. Clear streams gurgle through a forest traversed by footpaths, steep in places but generally easy to walk, and there are wooded hills, acacia scrub and dense mangroves to explore around the wide sweep of Terima Bay.

By late afternoon, when the forest birds strike up an overture to sunset over the Javan volcanoes and the last rays glisten on the cocktail glasses emptying around the pool, exotic aromas from the restaurant above seduce not only the guests - families of wild boar waddle in from the forest, snuffle around the pathways and gardens and regard the human intruders in their midst with monumental indifference. I hope it lasts.