Makassar
Makassar is the largest city, communication and business centre
in eastern Indonesia. The capital city of South Sulawesi played
a significant role as the entry to the former kingdom of Gowa and
now to the whole province because of its harbour. The city expanded
outwards from its most important landmark, that of Benteng Ujung
Pandang which faces the sea front. One of the eleven fortresses
of the kingdom, it was built in 1545 during the reign of Tuni Pallanga,
the 10th sultan of Gowa. When Gowa capitulated to the colonial forces
under the treaty of Bungaya in 1667, the fort was renamed Rotterdam
by Admiral Speelman who constructed bastions and buildings of typical
Dutch architecture making it the centre of the civilian government,
including a church on its premises. One of the best preserved forts
of that area, only the thick walls of earth and stones remain of
the original complex, now occupied by educational and cultural offices
of the provincial government. The two buildings house the Ujung
Pandang State Museum, exhibiting archaeological and historical objects,
manuscripts, numismatics, ceramics and ethnic costumes and ornaments.
The royal tombs, ruins, and sacred sites of Gowa and Tallo are today
the only remainders of the gone prominence of 17th-century Makassar.
Parepare
Parepare was in the past part of the kingdom of Suppa and a significant
coastal port for the inland kingdoms of Sidenreng and Rappang, near
the central lakes. Today is a busy port and a stopover on the way
from Makassar to Toraja.
Tana
Toraja
Tucked among the rocky and lush plateaus of inland South Sulawesi
live many isolated tribes known as a group of Torajan. Tana Toraja,
known as "Toraja Land" is one of most beautiful regions
of Indonesia. It is admired because of distinctive cultural exceptionality,
extremely gorgeous scenery, funeral ceremonies, old traditions,
traditional carvings and craftsmanship. The Toraja have unique culture
based on strong animistic beliefs, they practice an ancestor cult
where death and afterlife ceremonies are great feasts. A strict
hierarchy is followed in the villages and for an important figure,
wedding and burial ceremonies, can take days to perform, when buffalos
are sacrificed, the deceased's remains are placed in a coffin and
interred in caves hollowed out in high cliffs. The mouth of the
cave is guarded by lifelike statues, who diligently look out from
a balcony at the families and friends they have left.
Torajan ( there are about 360,000 inhabitants ) usually live in
small settlements perched on hilltops bordered by stone walls. Several
extended families live in a series of tongkonan houses in each village,
which are arranged in a circle around an open field. Tongkonan,
family houses, are built on stilts with the roof rearing up at either
end, representing the prows of the first ship to arrive in the area
with the Torajan's ancestors. The houses all face north and some
say that this because it was from the north that the ancestors of
the Toraja came. Kete Kesu is one of the region's oldest and most-visited
traditional villages, idyllically surrounded by rice fields. Scattered
among rice fields are several cave tombs where rows of wooden effigies
gaze from hanging balconies like guards of their stony graves. The
best know grave sites are in Londa, Lemo and Kete Kesu.
Malino
Malino is a very enjoyable retreat from the hustle and buzz in Makassar.
Situated on the lower slopes of Mount Bawa Karaeng, it offers pleasant
walks with gorgeous views and really good market selling all sorts
of fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers. It is especially worth
visiting for orchid lovers, as lots of species can be found here
in the cooler climate.
Bantimurung
Bantimurung Reserve attracts with spectacular waterfall, cliffs
and chasms, and its butterflies and birds. Rare brightly coloured
butterflies are considered the most gorgeous in the world. In the
dry season the waterfall is a mass of clear, surging water which
drop about 12 metres from smoothed rocks into a deep pool below.
Taman Purbakala Leang-Leang
Declared an archaeological site, these prehistoric caves have strange
rock carvings of hands and a wild pig, believed to be 5,000 year
old. There are 55 such caves in South Sulawesi, all are a important
supply of information about the prehistory not only of South Sulawesi
but of Southeast Asia as a whole.
Sengkang
and Lake Tempe
The capital town of Wajo Regency is well-known for its silk weaving
and is the centre of Buginese silk. This area is populated by the
Buginese ethnic group, famous for their crossing to other islands
as traders of silk, sarongs and other material. Here you can find
Tempe Lake, one of the tourist resorts. Sailing and boating can
be enjoyed on this lake. Take a motorized canoe through the water
hyacinth beds - it's a beautiful trip at any time of the year, especially
in the dry season fro anybody who enjoys watching birdlife. The
river is buzzing with people fishing, washing and swimming. Worth
of visit is a floating village. At times, rivers and lake flood.
The houses along the river are all on stilts so people simply rig
up long bamboo walkways to connect their houses to the shore or
their get around by boat.
Bone ( Watampone )
This is a quiet, spacious town with several old made of wood buildings
from the Dutch period set in green, overgrown gardens. The main
attractions are the museum, which contains ceremonial umbrellas,
traditional clothing and ritual gear used by priests, and the great
wooden palace built in 1930s to house the reinstated Raja of Bone.
Alongside is the rumah adat, where the hadat ( council of seven
) used to meet.
Palopo
This small town is dominated by the cloud-covered mountain ranges
which tower imperiously behind it. The spectacular pass to Palopo
from Tana Toraja was for centuries the major east coast trade exit.
Down the pass came gold, resins, rare woods, fine coffees and slaves.
Up went iron swords and weapons from Luwu's coastal armories, salt
and dried fish.
Palu
Palu is set on the inmost point of a deep bay surrounded by high,
grassy hills, and interweaved by small trails. The city has a enjoyable,
calm atmosphere. Although Palu was a minor town during the colonial
era, it is now a fast growing provincial capital, and the starting
point for an study of the Kaili area. Situated at the foot of Palu
Bay, the city is divided by the Palu River, with downtown and main
trading areas on the west bank and the main government offices and
airport to the east.
Poso
Poso is a small port town on the shores of Tomini Bay, and the gateway
to the rarely visited eastern regions of Central Sulawesi.
Tenena
Tentena is a little Christian town set on the north-eastern edge
of Lake Poso, with white sand beaches and high, wooded mountains.
The two halves of the town are linked by a covered bridge. The town
is the headquarters of the Central Sulawesi Christian Church. The
weather here is cool - the lake is at 515 m - and coffee, cloves
and vegetable grows on the nearby hills. The Pamona people who live
around Lake Poso are vaguely related to the Bare'e or eastern Toraja,
but the old Central Sulawesi culture is now extinct.
Lore Lindu National Park
Covering more that 231,000 hectares, the park straddles the boundaries
between Donggala and Poso districts. This huge and rough area includes
Mount Nokilalaki and Mount Tokasa, the whole Lindu Plain with its
large lake, the Besoa Valley, and the western part of the Bada and
Napu Valleys. In this three valleys are found stone strange statues
and cisterns of a long-vanished culture whose traces continue to
intrigue archaeologists. Lore Lindu National Park is one of Sulawesi's
important natural reserves which contain wide variety of Sulawesi's
flora and fauna. Park consists of lowland and highland mountain
forests, thick wood forests, flat fertile valleys, rivers, lakes
and hot springs. There are anoas ( a dwarf forest buffalo ), babirusa
( a hairless wild boar with tusks ), the spectral tarsiers ( a tiny
nocturnal primate ), varieties of tailed macaques, and others.
Lake Poso
Lake Poso is 37 kilometres long and 13 kilometres at its widest
point, covers about 32,000 hectares ( this is third largest lake
in Indonesia ), it lies 657 metres above sea level, it is bounded
by sharply sloping mountains to the west and moderate hills to the
east. The Poso area has many special and unique places to be discovered.
Megaliths in valleys of Bada, Besoa and Napu
You can see the principal megaliths of the Bada Valley in one tough
day of hiking or two leisurely ones. The origin and age of the works
of stone that dot valleys of Bada, Besoa and Napu remain a mystery,
recent excavations of some of stone cisterns or vats indicate that
they probably date back to the first millennium AD ( they could
be of a later date, but are not likely to be much older, as some
have speculated ). In many areas where they are found, large upright
stones ( menhirs ) are often associated with human sacrifice and
with worship of the ancestors. A Swiss explorer named Kaudern, who
visited the region in 1918 - 1919, inquired into 2-metre menhir
outside the house temple at Kantewu, southeast of Gimpu. The major
megaliths are: Palindo near Sepe, Mesinga and Metumpapa southwest
of Sepe, Maturu northeast of Lengkeka, Oba northeast of Lengkeka,
Mpeime northeast of Lengkeka, Tarai Roe near Gintu, Maturu between
Gintu and Runde, Dual Boe at Badangkai, Torumpana nouth of Bakekau,
Tinoe near Kakekau, Oboka in Bulili, Ari Impohi in Bewa, Loga in
Bada, Langke Bulawa in Bomba. Vast stone cisterns, called kalamba,
which may have been used as baths or as burial chambers for aristocrats,
are found scattered throughout the region. Fascinatingly and strangely
all of the objects in the area are made from a type of grey stone
of which there are no deposits in the surrounding area.
Kendari
Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi, is an elongated town
stretched out along the bay.
Buton Island
Baubau, on Buton Island, is the most attractive town in Southeast
Sulawesi. Baubau is set on the water's edge at the southern entrance
of the Buton Strait. 2 kilometres from the city, on the hill sits
the former fortress and palace of the ruler of Buton. Here you can
see Wolio battle fort, Wolio museum, war equipment, 17th century
mosque, the Sultan Murhum grave.
Manado
Manado is a booming city of some 400,000 inhabitants, on a bay of
the same name near the tip of Sulawesi's northern peninsula. Differently
than most major cities in Indonesia, Manado is an overwhelmingly
Christian town, a gift of colonial times. Manado's main interests
for the traveller are its convenient location as a base for exploring
the Tondano region, and the splendid underwater scenery of Bunaken.
Bunaken Marine National Park
The marvellous coral reefs of Bunaken are known worldwide as one
of the leading dive sites in Indonesia, itself renowned as being
among the world's most significant regions for marine biodiversity.
The national park's 790 km2 are estimated to support over 2,500
species of fish, and form an important protection zone for fisheries
recourses. Most of the park consists of six continental islands
off the north coast of Sulawesi near the provincial capital, Manado.
All the islands of the park are surrounded by a fringing reef with
a narrow reef-flat and steep external slope. There are lagoons around
Nain Island, along the northern coast of Montehage Island, and the
southern coast of Bunaken Island.
Bitung
Bitung is set fabulously beneath the mountains of the northern peninsula's
tip, on the western shore of the Lembeh Strait. Lemeh Island to
the east shelters the town's natural harbour from the full force
of the weather, making it a perfect hub for the region's commercial
fishing industry. The town itself is tidily laid out with wide roads,
and boasts a strange replica of the Eiffel Tower with an anchor
on the top.
Minahasa
The Minahasa region south of Manado, including the cool and salubrious
highlands around Tomohon and Lake Tondano, the area around Kotamobagu,
and the coastal area around Inobonto and Lolak, provides relaxing
retreats from Manado. Mount Klabat, dormant volcano is the highest
peak, stands at 1,995 metres above sea level. It offers fine views
from the summit across the entire northern end of the peninsula.
Gorontalo
Gorontalo, a port city on the south coast of Sulawesi's northern
peninsula, is the access point for Lake Limboto, and the Togian
region. Gorontalo escaped bombing during World War II, and that
is why its architecture has retained a certain air of pre-war Indonesia,
there are still some 50 colonial style houses.
Tangoko Dua Saudara Nature Reserve
The nature reserve of Tangoko Dua Saudara has become the most popular
wild terrestrial area of Sulawesi because of the ease of seeing
some rare, significant and interesting animals. It lies at the eastern
tip of the northernmost of Sulawesi's attenuated limbs, its 8,867
hectares encompassing a variety of habitats, from coral reefs, mangroves
and coastal forest to savannah grassland and lowland, submontane
and cloud forest. This is the best place to see the Sulawesi black
macaques and the spectral tarsier and some endemic birds. The reserve
is named after its two highest peaks: Gunung Tangkoko, at 1,109
metres and Dua Saudara, at 1,350 metres.
Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park
Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park was established to protect the
water-catchments area of an important rice-growing region and to
decrease flood damage to the nearby major town of Gorontalo and
the inhabited area which surround it. Comprising 2,870 km2 of northern
Sulawesi, the park contains a good variety of vegetation types:
lowland primary forest, lowland vegetation on alluvial soils, lower
montane forest and moss forest. The park is also exceptional for
bird watching, with most of Sulawesi's 96 endemic bird species being
present here.
Togian Islands
The Togians are a group of islands clustered in the Gulf of Tomini,
a huge bay which is formed by Central and North Sulawesi on three
sides and the open to the Maluku Sea to the east. Dotted about in
an area of 1,000 km2, the islands are quite craggy, with steep-sided
limestone hills reaching 548 metres at the highest point. Island
are important because of their status as one the last refuges of
the endangered coconut crab, their endemic wildlife, and the variety
of coral reefs.
