Bali is home to thousands of bats. The tour guides have been known to stop in areas where some bats have been known to reside in order for the tourists to have the chance to get up close and personal with the winged mammal. One group of tourists made friends with a pair of resident bats at a roadside rest area, and were able to feed the bats and watch them eat. This particular group of tourists fed the bats bananas and were mesmerized at how the animals clung to their perches, upside down, hanging on to the banana, peeling and eating it in several stealthy moves.
For the tourist who is not interested in the gustatory habits of bats, there is always the pineapple grove growing along the side of the road near the rest stop, or the rice paddies a bit further up the road. A good tourist guide will never force a tourist to endure something that could cause them any undue distress during what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation.
Most tourists are wary of the bats at first, but curiosity eventually gets the best of most and the cameras come out in droves to permanently capture this unique opportune animal encounter. The bats that hang on low branches and eat fruit are thought to be primarily instrumental in the propagation of fruit by spreading the seeds, and they also serve as food for the snakes found in Bali. These fruit-eating bats are not the same species found in the infamous bat cave, Goa Lawah. Reputedly impressive, and the cave itself is considered by the Balinese to be a holy spot.
