Residents living in the shadow of the simmering Mount Agung volcano on the idyllic Indonesian holiday island of Bali are reportedly refusing to evacuate despite fears that it could erupt at any time.

More than 122,000 people have already fled their homes in fear, many of them from within a 12km exclusion zone, since the Indonesian authorities issued the highest possible alert warning last week.

But multiple local sources have reported that others, particularly in secluded mountain communities, do not want to leave their ancestral homes or their cattle behind, with an unknown number refusing to evacuate.

“Some people don’t want to go, they don’t want to leave their house… I think there are some people that either don’t understand, or don’t believe, or are just stubborn and don’t want to go,” said Kenny Peavy, an American expat who fled with his family last Friday.

Drone footage shot by Australia’s ABC news network over the settlements dotting the lush, green paddy fields in the dangerzone backed up the reports, showing figures moving in and out of the buildings.