What comes to mind when you think about Indonesia? Most likely beaches, surfing, diving, cocktails and so on? That’s pretty much what I though before I visited Sulawesi in autumn of 2016. I was looking for some place “new” to go kayaking, and somehow became interested in taking a closer look at Indonesia. On the website of the German foreign office, I was looking over the travel advisories and read something about religious revolts in the region around Poso in Central Sulawesi a couple years ago. Sulawesi? Never heard of it before, so I decided to take a closer look at the Island. High mountains up to almost 3,500m, a lot of rain in the rainy season and the satellite images showed a bunch of
After spending two nights in Makassar and Palopo, I joined my friends Tira and Riky in Tana Toraja. The two hour journey from Palopo to Tana Toraja itself was a great and a bit adventurous one. It was great due to the mountainous terrain with its forest view and a bit of adventurous due to the landslide effect that happened last year in the area. Along most of the road, you will find the ravine on the right side and the water flowing between the big rocks stumbling from the cliff due to the landslide on the left side. You don not want to be on this road on the dark on in the middle of the rain. Hence, the driver made sure that he could go back to Palopo before the dusk falling. I arrived
Toraja - If you feel competent enough to wade through the river rapids, it looks like you need to try ferociously Sa'dan River. Running down the middle of Tana Toraja, the river is highly favored by professional rafters. Dare to try? Never cross the river at various places and get through it with ease, do not be proud of yet. Please come to the river in Tana Toraja Sa'dan. The starting point of rafting the river is a suspension bridge in the village of Fruit Wood, Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi. Compared to other rivers in Indonesia, this river has a fairly challenging rapids. Generally, river rafting on average only had grade 1, 2, or 3, but the River Sa'dan had grade 3 and 4. Thus, it can be
7 exotic tourist destinations Tana Toraja are located in Tana Toraja Regency (Torajaland, Land of the Toraja or Tator). It is a regency of South Sulawesi, home of Toraja ethnic group people. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been awarded as the second tourist destination after Bali in Indonesia. Since then, thousands of foreign visitors have visited this land. Moreover, a lot of Western anthropologists have visited Tana Toraja to investigate the native ethnic culture of Toraja people. Tana Toraja is well noted for its cultural wealth and their traditional house building usually called Tongkonan. Additionally, Tana Toraja has a special and exceptional funeral ceremony called Rambu solo. Related to
The journey from Makassar to Rantepao for Tana Toraja is among the most boring and arduous that any backpacker must do. In fact, regardless of your budget of travel, you SIMPLY HAVE TO take the road between the two cities, as Sulawesi does not have a rail network, nor is there a commercial airport in central regions of the island. This means that you are faced with a 10 hour road trip from Makassar to Rantepao, with most people doing the return journey after a few days in Torajaland (heading north from Rantepao to, say, Manado takes even longer and is considered unsafe). Many buses ply the arduous route from Makassar to Rantepao, and most of these buses are safe European-style coaches (albei
