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Indonesia >
Sulawesi |
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Sulawesi is located between Kalimantan (Borneo), Maluku and the Philippines. This magnificent island belongs to East Indonesia. Sulawesi was called “Celebes” in the old days. This name is coming from a Bugis word “Si Lebih, this meaning “more islands”. The name Sulawesi is coming from Sula (Island) and besi (Iron). This is coming from the iron around Lake Matano (Danau Matano). Sulawesi is has five provinces; North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi Gorontalo and South Sulawesi.
Makassar (Ujung Pandang)
Makassar is the gateway to East Indonesia. The population is more then 1,3 million in Makassar and it’s a huge, but not a chaotic city. Journeys to Sulawesi will start most of the time at this modern cultural city. It’s great to spend the afternoon at Jl. Somba Opu during the magnificent sunset; you will see many local people sitting on the boulevard waiting to see the sun going down in the Makassar Strait. There is a lot to do in during the evening, many traditional and classic restaurants with local and international dish. Makassar has nice bars and clubs with an international atmosphere. The city’s energy is making Makassar a nice place to spend a few days for all kind of tourist young and old. |
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Makassar attractions and surroundings
Fort Rotterdam
This impressive building is rebuilt by the Dutch during their occupation in Indonesia in 1667. This is one of the typical Dutch buildings in Makassar and there are many other Dutch colonial buildings in this city.
Monumen Mandala, this big tower is a smaller version of the National Monument “Monas” in Jakarta. You will find a lot of history in the museum in this building, about the Dutch occupation and liberation of Irian Jaya (Papua). You can go up by the elevator and the view is magnificent from the top of this building, you can explore the all city during the visit at Monumen Mandala.
Pelabuhan Paotre, you will see a lot of traditional “Bugis” sailing ships going to other Indonesian Islands, like Java, Kalimantan and Bali. The locals put a lot of traditional things onboard, like bales of rice, Toraja Coffee and other condiments. It’s a nice place to see how life is standing still here in this harbour.
Somba Opu is the place to be, this street has a nice boulevard and many shops. You can see many gold shops most of the time own by the Chinese, the gold from Makassar is famous and popular by tourists. And in the afternoon you can hire a paddleboat in all kind of shapes and enjoy the sunset during paddle on the bay near the night market.
Bantimurung has beautiful natural vegetated limestone cliffs, with great waterfalls. You can slide from the limestone waterfall and refresh in a small natural pool after a walk in Bantimurung. This area is a great place for butterfly and bird lovers. Bantimurung is located about 42 km from Makassar.
Gua Leang Leang
The caves of Gua Leang Leang has unique paintings and nobody knows acutely how old these paintings are, but they are from 8000 to 30.000 years ago.
Malino has a huge spectacular waterfall (Air Terjun Takapala) between lovely rice fields. Malino was former colonial resort town; it’s a nice place for leisure.
Pantai Bira, if you want to see how the locals building traditional boats, then you have to go to Pantai Bira (Bira Beach). You also can see how they weaving and fishing in Bira.
Bira beach is a great place for snorkelling and diving lovers, the gorgeous pearl white sand beaches are great for a romantic walk. Daily ferries depart to Selayar Island; it is a quiet place with beautiful beaches. Sometimes you will see dolphins swimming when you are lucky. The seawater is crystal-clear and the shore is quiet. Bira is a lovely exotic place when you don’t like busy tropical beaches.
Danau Tempe near Sengkang is the largest lake on Sulawesi. Lake Tempe is a shallow lake fringed by wetlands with traditional floating houses and a large population of wonderful birdlife. Lake Tempe is the place to be for ornithologists. You can go by long tail boat on the huge lake and you will visit a traditional floating house and you can drink tea or coffee and eating fried banana (Pisang Goreng) with the locals. We respect the flora & fauna, so we will not come to close to the birds, so we don’t disturb them and so we safe this wonderful place near Sengkang. Sengkang was a former Bugis kingdom capital. The city has still old traditions character like; silk weavings and markets.
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Tana Toraja attractions
Rantepao is the place to be in Tana Toraja, this is the largest town of the Toraja district. Rantepao has one main road with many local shops and some supermarkets, located near the Sa’dan River. The local traditional market is held every six days and the local people sale their products and livestock like pigs and buffalos. Pasar Bolu is a market near the Jl. Jurusan Palopo, about two km north side of Rantepao. Rantepao has almost everything you need during your trip to Sulawesi.
Batutumonga is a huge green mountain in Torajaland, with a magnificent panorama view of Rantepao and Sa’dan valley. The sunrises are lovely from the top of this mountain.
Ke’te Kesu is a traditional village, famous from the woodcarving and original houses with boat shape roofs. You will discover hanging craves behind the village on the cliff face. Many rotten wooden coffins hanging on the cliff and other coffins are filled with bones, scales and skeletons from the locals. Uphill you will find a cave filled with coffins and many scales and bones. Everywhere you will find offers, like; cigarettes, bottles with soda and more kind of privet gifts to the dead. The dead people are copied to a wooden doll and the wooden doll called “Tau Tau”. You will find some very old (Tau Tau) behind fence on the cliff face.
Londa, you can enter the dark cave of Londa after you get a lamp. The lamp helps you to discover this cave of burial. Inside the cave you will find a lot of coffins and bones from several families. This is an old Toraja custom that the people who lived together in one house should buried together in one family cave. Near the entrance of the cave you will see Tau Tau’s on the balcony.
Lemo, you will find here many balconies with Tau Tau’s, with many coffins in the sheer rock. The locals put the coffins in the holes of the rock. Lemo is a mysterious burial area and the atmosphere is here calm and quiet.
Sa’dan, is the traditional texture material village from Torajaland. This village is famous by traditional texture art. You can see how the local women making traditional carpets, tablecloths and dress material in all kind of colours.
Mamasa Valley
Mamasa is located at the Westside of Tana Toraja. Mamasa is the only large village in the valley. You can find many blankets at the traditional market which is every Monday. Blankets you may need it during the fresh nights. It’s a beautiful area and more rough then Tana Toraja, the Mamasa Valley difficult to passable, so an active hiking tour for one or three days is great for this area. |
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North Sulawesi attractions and surroundings
Togean or Togian Islands, are magnificent, this archipelago has pristine coral and volcanic isles and are located in bay of Tomini. You can reach the islands from Ampana village of from Gorontalo city. The Togian main islands are; Unauna, Natudaka, Togian, Waleabahi, Talatakoh and Puah. The marine life is still undisturbed and our tours keep it the coral reefs intact. The jungle on the islands is the home of variety of wildlife. This group of islands is the place to be for nature and diving lovers.
Manado and Palau Bunaken
Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi. This place was visited by Alfred Wallace and is opinion about Manado was that it was the best places in East Indonesia. Palau Bunaken is a great place for divers, its international well knows and the 800hecatre is part of Bunaken Manado Tua Marine National Park. You can see colourful fishes and Sea turtles and dolphins too when you are lucky. One of the spotlights are Pantai Liang and Pantai Pangalisang, this is heaven for the snorkel and dive lovers. But it is also possible to make a boat trip with a glass bottom or with a submarine, so you will enjoy the coral view without diving. Manado is also a good place to start a trip to the Philippines; you can fly but also go by boat to Davao city in southern Philippines. |
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Central Sulawesi attractions and surroundings
Palu is the capital city of Central Sulawesi. Palu is one of the driest places is Indonesia. This made this area great for diving and swimming.
It’s great to visit Lindu National Park; this is the home of a rich population of Sulawesian flora and fauna. Bora mineral spring and Taman Mantikole with natural springs it’s worth seeing this places in the nature reserve. You will have a great time during a tracking in this area.
Lake Poso, Tentena and Pendolo
Danau Poso or Lake Poso is 33.000 hectares and reaches an average depth of 475m, the lake 32km long and 15km wide. Lake Poso is Indonesia’s 3rd largest lake and it’s nice for a boat trip. These places have nice beaches and it’s a great area for water lovers. But it’s also nice for those travellers who like to walk in the tropical rainforests, coffee plantations or green rice fields.
Lore Lindu National Park and Bada Valley
The Lore Lindu national Park takes about 250,000 hectares of Central Sulawesi; the park is located just across the border of Central Sulawesi.
The park has been barely touched by tourism and we offer ecotourism tours to this magnificent park with all her beautiful flora and fauna. The park is the home for amazing animals like the Pig-dear, Anoa and several species of Sulawesian Macaques and saucer eyes Tarsiers, Hornbills, green imperial Pigeons and huge Reticulates python. We offer tours to Banda, Besoa and Napu Valleys and especially for bird watching we will visit Kamarora (2500m) and 3100 hectares large Danau Lindu (Lake Lindu) with the small cosy island “Pulau Bola”.
North Sulawesi, is one of the nicest areas in whole Indonesia, it has magnificent volcanos and unbelievable beautiful coral reefs. These are breathtaking. North Sulawesi has a natural gateway to the Philippines. North Sulawesi is great for dive lovers.
Central Sulawesi has rough landscapes; dry mountain valleys and the rainforest are great for the real adventurers. The most of the population is living in the coastal towns. The highlands are most of the time uninhabited.
South Sulawesi
This province is popular by tourists. it has a lot to discover from huge lakes, caves, waterfalls, rough mountains, tropical coffee plantations, cotton fields and magnificent green rice fields. The dominate groups of Sulawesi are the; Buginese and Makassarese from the South west and the Minahasans of the North side of Sulawesi. The group from Tana Toraja, the Toraja are famous by their funeral ceremonies and burial areas. The cultural rituals are unique and amazing to explore. Torajaland is also a great location for active white water rafting.
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Travel information |
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Geography
Indonesia is the larges archipelago on earth, dipping and rising across the equator for nearly 5000km are the islands of Indonesia one of the most evocative countries in the world.
The archipelago contains about 18.000 tropical islands. The five main islands are: Java, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua. Other popular islands are: Nusa Tenggara (where the endangered Komodo dragons Varanus komodoensis are living), Bali, Lombok and the Moluccas.
Every Indonesian island is different and almost unique from each other. Almost every island has breathtaking mountains, magnificent rice fields, giant (active) volcanoes, tropical rainforest and bounty islands with pearl white beaches.
Flora & Fauna
Indonesia has a fantastic Flora & Fauna with a unique ecosystem. We can find the beautiful wild Orang-utans, Asian Elephant on Sumatra and Kalimantan, Panthers, Rhino’s and Tigers on Java and Sumatra. But also the extreme large Komodo dragon on the islands of Nusa Tenggara and worlds largest Reticulated pythons in Central Sulawesi. Animals like Kangaroo’s and Sea crocodiles from Papua. The Flora and Fauna from East Indonesia (starts from Sulawesi) are similar to the Flora and Fauna of Australia.
*We would like to protect our Flora and Fauna, so our Emerald Indonesia tours & travel doesn’t like cooperate with them who affect the Indonesian nature. We would like to ask our guests never to buy products or souvenirs which made from animals or endangers species of trees or flowers. Don’t forget that it is most of the time illegal to bring it abroad. And please do not take photo’s pose with animals like monkeys (or other primates) or reptiles. So you don’t support them who take those animals away from their natural habitat and use them for an unfair business. So we do not support tourism against the nature.
Cultures and Population
The island of Kalimantan (former Borneo) is shared with Malaysia. Indonesia is located between South East Asia’s mainland, the Indian Ocean, The Pacific Ocean and Australia.
With more then 231 million people, it’s world’s 4th most populous nation.
There are around 300 ethnic groups with more then 365 different kinds of languages and dialects. Bahasa Indonesia is the national spoken language and it is grounded on Bahasa Malays. Every group has its own tradition and culture and they all working hard for a good future and strong nation.
Climate
Like many countries have four seasons, dos Indonesia has only two seasons. Indonesia has the wet season most of the time from October till April and the dry season from May till September. Even during the wet season is it warm, but cold for the locals, you can see them often with winter coats and long sleeves against the cold. The Indonesian highlands can be cool during the rain season, but that’s make a tour comfortable and pleasant. Places near the costal are hotter then places in the midland and highlands. The average temperature in Indonesia is between 27˚ and 34˚ and in the highlands around 25˚. The highlands can be cold during the nights and the hot places have a fresh cool breeze during the night, that’s typical for the tropics. Sometimes it’s raining only a couple of minutes during the raining season, but sometimes it will take hours.
Clothing
In tropic countries like Indonesia is it good to wear light and loose clothes made from linen or cotton, these materials is easy to wash and it dry fast.
A trouser and a shirt with long sleeves are good to ware during the evening against mosquitoes and you can use it when you visit a mosque, church or a funeral. Don’t forget to respect the local culture when you visit a ceremony or religious place, please accept the local dress code. A couple of strong and easy going walking shoes or sandals for a tour or a walk on a rough underground like rocks and wet mud. Flip flaps or slippers are nice during your stay at the accommodation or when you visit the beach with water. A cap or hat can protect you for sunstroke and use a good sun blocker even when the sun is not that strong! Bring a raincoat or poncho with you during the wet season.
Health
The most recommended vaccines for travelers are: Diphtheria & Tetanus, Polio, Hepatitis A or (A+B), Typhoid. Please check if you need some vaccines when you just arrived from infected areas, maybe you need a valid International certificate of vaccinations before you can enter Indonesia. We advice you to contact you local Municipal Health Service for a good medical advice about vaccines, Malaria Medication (South Sulawesi is Malaria free) and other medical requirements before your travel to Indonesia. Please beware with swimming in Central Sulawesi, because you can get Bilharzias (or Schistosomiasis), this disease is transmitted by minute freshwater worms. This worms living in lakes and rivers in Africa and sometimes Central Sulawesi, but infection in Central Sulawesi is very rare.
Do not drink water or milk from small street shops on the sidewalk and do not use ice from the street as well. It’s safe to drink boiled water (air putih) in the mid and high class restaurants and hotels. It’s safe also to eat an ice cream in this restaurants or hotels. They all use western standard. Drink a Coca Cola light or eat some bananas when you have diarrhoea and when you have to travel, this can stop it for awhile. But keep drinking (water or tea) with some sugar and salt. Contact a doctor when the diarrhoea keeps on. Please bring a medicine passport when you travel with special medicine on doctor’s receipt in which you need during your stay in Indonesia.
Electricity and voltage
The mains voltage is most of the time 220volt / 50Hz (sometimes 220volt); it is always good to bring an adaptor with you to Indonesia. The sockets are the same as in Europe with two round prongs.
Visa & Documents
Every visitor to Indonesia needs a valid passport which is valid at least for six months following your date of arrival. You will get a disembarkation card when you pas the immigration when you arrival in Indonesia, keep it because you have to give it back to the immigration when you leave the country. There are different kinds of visa for visit Indonesia, most of the time the visitor need a tourist visa, just to visit Indonesia for a holiday. It depends on your nationality, but most of the visas are valid for 30 or 60 days. You need a special visa when you want to visit Papua (Irian Jaya). But please contact the nearest Indonesian Embassy or Indonesian consulate before you travel to Indonesia.
Currency
The local currency in Indonesia is the Rupiah (Rp). Traveller checks from major US companies are more accepted, checks like American Express, Citicorp or Bank of America. The Euro, US, Australian, Canada dollar, Japan Yen and the British pond are very good accepted in Indonesia and you can change them at moneychangers, banks or mid and high class hotels. Credit cards as MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Dinners and Bankcard are the best accepted credit card and you can pay with it at the most hotels, shopping malls in major tourist areas. Almost every Indonesian bank has ATM facilities to take cash bankcard with Maestro, Cirrus and Plus.
Airport and ferry tax
International and domestic departures are charged by airport tax and also for domestic and international ferries. |
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