Pergasingan Hill Closed After British Woman's Tearful Video Highlights Rubbish Problem
Pergasingan Hill in Sembalun, East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), has been temporarily closed from today, Thursday (30/7/2026), until an unspecified date. The closure is an evaluation measure following the viral spread of a video by a British national highlighting the rubbish problem at the tourist site.
The video was uploaded via the Instagram account @lucy_lari_lari. In the 3-minute-13-second clip, Lucy is seen unable to hold back her tears as she recounts her experience of seeing litter scattered across the natural tourist area.
“I’ve lived in Indonesia for 35 years and I’ve never been this heartbroken. This truly isn’t my country, it’s yours. But because I’ve been here so long, I feel I’m part of this problem. Yesterday I went to the summit of Pergasingan in Lombok — the view was extraordinary, the hills were beautiful, and there were so many tourists and local people there. But the rubbish was beyond belief,” Lucy said in the video uploaded on Wednesday (29/7/2026).
In response to the viral video, the site’s managers decided to temporarily close hiking activities on Pergasingan Hill. The closure is in place whilst an evaluation is carried out and new hiking rules are prepared.
“There is certainly a connection, because I think this is a turning point for us to carry out an evaluation and create new rules, so we don’t deny there is rubbish there (on Pergasingan Hill),” said the Head of the Pergasingan Hill Management, Royal Sembahulun, on Thursday (30/7/2026) afternoon.
Royal explained that the foreign visitor’s disappointment was not solely about the rubbish on Pergasingan Hill, but rather the waste problem across the Sembalun area as a whole.
“It just so happened that she climbed Pergasingan at the time. Her video also recorded various spots across Sembalun — rivers, rice fields and football pitches. I have also confirmed this with the person concerned,” Royal explained.
According to Royal, the rubbish problem is not confined to Pergasingan Hill. Other hills face the same issue, as do other tourist destinations in Sembalun.
“That’s why we feel embarrassed, because this visitor happened to climb Pergasingan, so Pergasingan was mentioned. But when it comes to rubbish, our problems remain the same to this day on the hills and at other destinations,” he concluded.
The closure of hiking on Pergasingan Hill begins today and will last until an unspecified time. Everything depends on when the deliberations over the new hiking rules for Pergasingan Hill are concluded.
One of the new rules being drafted is a rubbish deposit system. Each visitor will deposit a sum of money corresponding to the amount of rubbish they bring.
“When all the rubbish is brought back down, the deposit will be returned. But if they don’t carry their rubbish down, the deposit will be forfeited, or adjusted according to how much rubbish they bring,” Royal explained.
The second option is to require hikers to repackage the food packaging they bring, in the same way as the rules already applied on Mount Rinjani.
“Because not all hikers have a lot of money, we anticipate this with repackaging, like the rules for Mount Rinjani,” Royal added.
Royal went on to say that the Pergasingan Hill management has been inspecting visitors’ belongings at the entrance gate. However, this has not been enough, as enforcement has not been effective.
“We routinely carry out clean-ups and check visitors’ belongings at the gate. But that alone is not effective — a punishment mechanism is needed so the rules are truly obeyed,” Royal said.