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Central Sulawesi
The province of Central Sulawesi is a jumble or towering, forest clad mountains where rains fall almost every afternoon of the year. Yet its most fertile area, the Palu Valley, is also the driest region in all of Indonesia, averaging only 40-80 cm of rainfall a year.
Minutes away from coconut groves and irrigated rice fields are barren, cuctus studded plains riven by empty watercourses, where emaciated oxen and cows wander in search of shrubs.
Religious contrasts abound as well. Scattered in the highlands west of Palu, east of Ampana, and along the ridge of the northern neck, are dozens of relatively isolated ethnic groups practicing shamanic religions. While the Dutch reformed Church and the Salvation Army have made minor inroads in the area, over 75 percent of the population is Muslim. The proportion is even higher in the densely populated coastal and valley regions, where traders, farmers and fisherman of Bugis, Mandarese, and Gorontalo origin have settled, bringing Islam with them.
Geologically, too, the province is a stunning mosaic. The volcanic and tectonic activity, which created the island left in its wake a network of streams and ravines, along with massive rifts and craters that later, became rivers, lakes, and upland plains. Covering 68,033 sq.km, roughly the size of Ireland, Central Sulawesi is the largest of Sulawesi’s four provinces.
Though classified as a single province for administrative purposes, Central Sulawesi is still best a tenous geographic entity. Communication remains difficult in a terrain dominated by mountains. Forests cover 64 percent of the land (over 95 percent of the province’s income derives from timber exports, mainly ebony). Between many points along the coasts, travel is still faster by motorized boat than by road, despite the presence of the Trans Sulawei Highway.
Even with a population of over 1.5 million and a growth rate approaching 3.5 percent (in part due to the influx of transmigrates), the province still averages only 22 persons per sq. km. Furthermore, the vast majority are distributed along the coasts, meaning that the hinterlands are very sparsely inhabited. Many inland settlements are linked only by horse trails or walking tract. As result, the social and cultural life of the province is amazingly varied – group living quite close to one another may speak different languages and follow different customs.
While much of Central Sulawesi remains isolated, a degree of unity has been brought to the area by the Indonesian Government and Islam and Christianity. Even villagers in the most remote settlements have heard and seen something of government development programs. Gradually, the diversity of this hitherto inaccessible area is being eroded by the influx of traders and officials. Crafts such as bark cloth manufacture are on the wane, and baskets and mats are being supplanted by plastic buckets and vinyl floor coverings.
Still, Central Sulawesi remains one of the most culturally diverse province on an island known for its diversity. Government publications list 12 different ethnic groups and 24 distinct languages for the province, and a trip through Central Sulawesi will give the visitor a chance to witness a sort of microcosm of the multi-cultural Indonesia experience within a small geographical area. This is a rugged province that has natural attractions are best appreciated by the trekkers with a sense of adventure and a knowledge of at lest a few words of Indonesian. For those with the time and the patience, a trip through Central Sulawesi may be a vastly rewarding experience.
In the 18th century, the Spanish Monk Navarette records his shock at the local practice of male transvestite priest or Bajasa being takes as wives by respected community members. Navarette as also impressed, however, by the natural riches of the area – where people subsisted on bananas and produced vast quantities of coconut oil, much of it sent as tribute to Makassar. He also noted the absence of wet rice cultivation, which is of recent introduction to the area.
Although Palu was not a major town during the colonial period, it is now a rapidly growing provincial capital (population more than 150,000), and the starting point for an investigation of the Kaili area.
Situated at the foot of Palu bay, the city is bisected by the Palu River, with downtown and major shopping areas on the West Bank and the Government Offices and airport to the east.
A general outline of the attractions of the whole province can be obtained by visiting the provincial museum on Jalan Sapiri. Designed on the general plan of a lobo or ritual meeting house, the museum includes replicas of the Lore region’s megaliths and great stone vats, exhibit of traditional arts and crafts, as well as household utensils and weapons. Its collection of heirloom cloths (mbesa) is particularly fine.
There are ikat cloth from Kalumpang and Rongkong in South Sulawesi, and Patola cloths from India, still used in marriage exchanges among families of noble descent (and modem wealth). Also to be seen are the locally produced kain Donggala darkly colored silks with supplementary embroidery of ikat, sometimes including on tic-tac toe double ikat design, thus making the Kaili region the only one in the archipelago aside from the village of Tenganan in Bali to make use of this difficult technique. Different type of bark cloth long the primary material for secular and ritual clothing in the highlands of the province are also on display.
Live performances of local dances are given in the Gedong Olah Seni on Jalan Professor Moh. Yamin SH in the eastern half of the city near the immigration office.
Essentially a city created by the Japanese during the second world war, Palu has the feel of a bustling town assiduously asserting its modernity, rather than the elegiac torpor exuded by many former Dutch colonial town. There is little to remind the traveler that the Dutch once brought their gun ships to the bank of the Palu River to issue demands for taxes and obedience.
What can be witnessed is the role of Palu in disseminating Islam throughout the region. In Kampung Lore, to the west of the city, can be found the tomb of Datuk Karama, the missionary who is said to have come from West Sumatra to propagate Islam in the Palu Valley and northern coasts. The mosque he built in the 17th century, reputed to be the oldest in the province, can be visited on Jalan Kyai Haji Agus Salim.
In the pasar (market) on the West Bank of Palu, hundreds of hawkers (most of them Bugis) squat in their stalls selling fish, cloth, utensils and a host of other items. This was once of the center of the city, just north of the intersection of Jalan Gajah Mada and Jalan Teuku Umar. Although major banks and shops are still located here, the central market has relocated to Jalan Sapiri just past the provincial museum. Another market has recently been erected for the eastern half of the city on Jalan Walter Monginsidi, the main road leading south of town.
Donggala has been a port of importance for most of its long history, particulary among the traders of South Sulawesi and the est coast of Borneo.
The seaport lost much of its importance during and after the second world war, when the capital was shifted to Palu.
A trip to Donggala provides a pleasant change from the bustle of palu. It is sleepy provincial town whose red-tiled roofed proclaims its colonial heritage.
The town of Donggala lies on the protected inner shore of Palu Bay, near the very tip of the mountainous peninsula, which defines the bay’s western shore. The best view onto Donggala’s picturesque harbor is from a narrow paved road leading north to Tanjung Karang and Boneage, especially during the late afternoon.
From the edge of the town, it is a pleasant two kilometers stroll on this group to where it forks. The paved left hand brands head to the water’s edge of Tanjung Karang. At Tanjung Karang, the best beach is fenced off and a small entrance fee is charged to swimm. The beach is deserted during weekdays.
Off the beach, the bay’s transparent waters gradually shift to richer shades of turquoise, abruptly changing to sleep blue some distance from the shore and across to verdant hills on the other side. There is usually a variety of sailing craft here, including graceful sailing catamarans, posed for countless photo opportunities. Further down the coast of Boneage, 7 km from Palu, an incredibly fine sand beach lines a two kilometers long, two house wide village.
Another paved 12 km road from Donggala cuts across the top of the peninsula, passing by a golf course to Towale village on the western coast. Nearby, a sunken saltwater pool called Pusenasi provides the setting for an unforgettable swim. Access to the pool is via a notched tree, which reaches some 7 meters down to the surface.
From Towale, an unpaved road of sorts runs southward to Suranama village, at the border with South Sulawesi, 24 km away. From there, bits and pieces of unconnected road head south to Mamuju. However, it is a lot easier to get there by boat.
While the snorkeling off Tanjung Karang is nothing spectacular, there is good diving closer to Donggala as well as off Towale village. During the 1959 Permesta rebellion, five ships commandeered as troop transports by the Indonesian military were sunk by an American piloted rebel airplane just off Donggala. One of these ships, the Mutiara, lies on its side, just off the old pier nest to the Dutch built Quonset hut warehouses used to store copra and rattan.
About 8 km to the south of Donggala on the road to palu is the Loli Indah Recreation Park, with swimming pool and children playground. There is also the smaller port of Wani, whence small boats depart for local destinations along the northern arm up to Tolitoli and down the west coast on the strait of Makasar and to destinations in South Sulawesi.
The Kaili speaking regions around Palu and Donggala and along the coasts of the Northern neck the long and narrow strip of land connecting Central and North Sulawesi offer a number of attractions, accessible either by rented car or by any number of minibuses.
The coast of the northern neck have long been settled by migrant of Gorontalo, Mandarese, and Bugis origin, who dominated the fishing villages and established the extensive groves of coconuts to produce both oil and copra.
This traditional pattern of highland lowland relations has changed significantly in recent times. Members of mountain tribes now work along side Filipino loggers cutting down ebony and other precious woods in the montane forest. The government has resettled whole villages on the coast, providing these locals transmigrates with basic housing implements and seeds to open up wet rice fields or establish hybrid coconut plantations. As a result, distinctions between the various ethnic groups are no longer easily made according to geography.
The west coast of the neck still has no surface road connecting palu directly to the town of Tolitoli. Despite, its inaccessibility, however, the Tolitoli regency is well worth a trip by local boat from the harbors of Pantoloan or Wani, or by Plane from Palu.
Approaching by air, the traveler can not help but be amazed by the endless strands of clove trees below. This region is an ideal one for clove cultivation, as the hills around Tolitoli continuously receive the sea breezes, which enable these trees to thrive. Indeed, in the last two decades Tolitoli has been transformed into averitable boomtown by the income from lucrative cloves.
But there are quiet spots to be found nearby Batu Bangga Beach, 12 km north of Tolitoli, provides opportunities for swimming or just taking in the scenery, as the beaches of Lutungan island, a quick kilometer to the west of Tolitoli and easily reachable by chartered boat.
On the island, the tomb of a former raja of Tolitoli till is a site for pilgrimages. To determine whether their wishes will be fulfilled, the supplicants to the tomb thrust a palm leaf rib into the ground, checking to see whether upon extracting it the stick is longer (a good sign) or shorter.
At Salumpaga, a village about 70 km north Tolitoli, you will come across the remnants of another monument to earlier rulers. The towering walls of the crumbling Dutch fort there still evoke the tenuous hold the colonial regime maintained over distant outposts such as Sulawesi.
On the east coast of the northern neck, the Trans Sulawesi Highway provides a continuous, if sometimes rugged, link to the provincial border with North Sulawesi, and then on to Gorontalo and Manado. From Palu go to north to Tawaeli, then go across the base of the neck to Taboli, just north of Parigi. This seemingly meandering road, at times a mere track and in stretches often totally washed out, traverses Kebon Kopi, a rolling highland landscape that was a huge coffee plantation in the Dutch era. Now it has mostly been transformed into vast plantations of clove trees, which thrive in the cool, wet montane climate.
Parigi, Kaili town where the Portuguese first built a fort in 1555 and the Dutch established a gold trading outpost in 1730, is the starting point for the trip up the northern neck. Proceed north on a partially asphalt road, skirting mangrove swamps and fording streams over which recently washed away bridges seem always in the first stages of reconstruction.
It is a long, hard journey, of ten enlivened by the unexpected sight or scampering iguanas or slithering sunbeams snakes that seems to regard the road as a nuisance and an intrusion into their terrain. The road passes mainly through the villages of farmers and fishermen, but losmen are available in the towns of Tinombo and Tomini for those who would like to remain here for a while to explore the seashore and the interior foot hills at a more leisurely pace. Shortly before the border with North Sulawesi, one pass a transmigrate colony of Javanese, Madurese and Balinese settlers.
For a brief moment the traveler seems not just to be leaving the province of Central Sulawesi, but to have left this eastern island altogether for the wet rice fields of inner Indonesia.
Fifty kilometers south of Palu lies the huge lore Lindu National Park covering more than 231,000 hectares, the park straddles the border between Donggala and Poso Districts. This vast and rugged area includes Mt. Nokilalaki and Mt. Tokosa, the entire Lindu Plain with its large lake, the Besoa Valley, and the western sections of the Bada and Napu Valleys. In these three valleys are found the mysterious stone statues and cisterns of a long vanished culture whose traces continue to intrigue archeologists.
The village of Wuasa lies on the eastern edge of Lore Lindu park, about 100 km south east of palu. Walking trails lead from here west into the Lindu Plain or across to Toro, east of Kuwali. These are infrequently used, however, and hiring a guide willing to spend two or three nights traversing the park may be difficult.
Another approach to lore Lindu begins even before Kuwali at Sadaunta, some 70 km south of Palu.
Accommodation in villagers homes can be arranged with the headman of Tornado, Langko or Anca. Sometimes there is space available in the Le Petit Soleil research laboratory at the edge of Tornado (note : the laboratory was set up to study the schis to sorne blood flukes which proliferate in bodies of standing water in the area-do not walk barefoot in this region, as schistosomiasis is very common. Rubber boots are strongly recommended for tramping around the highland plains of Lindu and Napu.)
An imposing phallic figure minimalistically carved to represent a human form, projects out of the earth at an angle. The face – a few curved lines defining large, round eyes and slightly parted lips – stares westward with a timeless expression as impassive and impenetrable as that of the Sphinx.
This magnificent work of megalithic art – massive, simple and eloquent – retains its awesome, mute power in spite of increasing efforts to develop the area, and even despite the soap scrubs which guardians have recently applied in an attempt to wash away the effects of natural weathering.
Palindo as the statue is knowm locally – along with 13 other statues and many large stone vats – inhabits the Bada Valley, which extends 15 km south of the Lore Lindu National Park.
The first Europeans to arrive in the valley, Paul and Fritz Sarasi, trekked through in 1902 but did not notice the megaliths. Dr. Kruyt does mention that propitiatory offerings for abundant harvests were taken to one of the statues. And when rain was lacking, offerings of betel nut were laid in front of the statue known as Trai Roi. Other early visitors also mention offerings being made to some of megaliths.
The Besoa Valley, a hard, leech-filled day’s walk north from Bada, also has a number of human statues, along with the Kalambu – a large stone jars which are covered with carvings lacking on the ones found in Bada. No definitive research has yet been done, and estimates of the dates of the statues vary from 3000 BC (most unlikely) to AD 1300. it is likely that the Bada Statues, along with those of the Besoa Valley to the north, are remnants of a megalithic tradition which once spread throughout Indonesia (and continues today in places such as Sumba). In Central Sulawesi, aside from the stone statues and large jars, there are a variety of stone objects, which are probably products of the same culture. Walter Kaudern, who lived in the area from 1917 to 1920, gives the best account to date of the megaliths in his megalithic finds in Central Celebes.
It has been suggested that westward gazing Palindo, the largest of the statues may be associated with death. For Toraja, who live some four to five days ‘ walk to the south, west is the direction of death. Linguistic and other cultural similarities between the Toraja and the Bada people lend at least partial credence to the theory. The Bada, even after conversion to Christianity, insist on burying their dead facing west, and the Toraja until recently erected megaliths ( the stones were roughly shaped but never sculpted) as part of their funerary rituals. The Toraja, like the Bada, sacrifice water buffalo for the soulds of the deceased.
Locals, quoting a foreign expert, proudly claim that Lake Poso is the second clearest in the world, be that as it may, the waters are transparent indeed – ranging from a slight turquoise color near the shore to a dark blue out in the lake’s depths.
Of Lake Peso’s five indigenous fish species, two have almost become extinct due to the introduction of carp and catfish (lele) from Java. Most impressive of the native species are the huge eels, which reach over two meters in length and can weigh up to 20 kg. the eels are caught in wide, V-shaped traps just downstream from the covered bridge at Tentena in the waters of the swift-flowing Poso River.
While the town lines a wide bay for a kilometer or so, all the action focuses on a small market by a clock and bus terminal. Just in front of the market are local horse drawn carriages or bendi, some quite colorful. Drivers tend to zoom out of the lot with Ben-Hurracing spirit.
The name Tanjung Api literally means Fire Cape and natural gas seeps out at several points offshore, gurgling to the surface through sand and coral formations.
In the immediate vicinity, a small crocodile or two may scurry away but that is all the game you will see. A well-trodden path through the sparse underbrush of the forest gives the opportunity for pleasant walking across the cape. It may be possible here to catch a glimpse of the large endemic species that inhabit the reserve – including Sulawesi macaques, cuscus, tarsiers, babirusa, phytons, wild boars and deers.
Several mixed cargo / passenger boats crisscross Tomini Gulf on relatively fixed schedules. The island’s forests are one of the main habitats of the babirusa, while the beaches along the coast function as hatcheries for sea turtles and frigate birds. The Togian Islands are also unusual in being surrounded by all major coral reef environments, having 115 species drawn from 59 genera.
Nearby Kilo Lima, a white sandy beach 5 km away, offers good diving and swimming. A road southwest along the coast brings the travelers to 75 meter high Hanga Hanga Waterfall, 3 km from the city. Farther down the road is Batui; a maleo bird hatchery supervised by the PPA officials. In the other direction, 96 km east of Luwuk, is the Bangkiring Reserve hatchery. Three hours away by boat lie the Banggai Islands.
Up to half a century ago, the authority of the Islamic Raja of Banggai on Peleng Island even extended to supervising the gathering of maleo bird eggs from the hatchery at bakirinag, about 100 km away. Besides receving a tax on all eggs collected, the raja personally received the first 100 eggs and approved the harvest, after which others were allowed to consume the remainder.
Today Kolonodale is best known as the gateway for the Morowali Nature Reserve, a 160,000 hectare wilderness area of unspoiled rain forest, containing three substantial mountains (Tokala, Tambusisi, and Morowali), five major rivers (the name Morowali means ‘rambling’ or ‘growling’ in the Wana Language, referring to the sound of the rivers streaming across their stony beds), and the eerily quiet Ranu Lakes where the exhalation of marsh gases keeps birds and boasts away.
In 1990, the British expedition Operation Drake conducted a four month survey of endangered species to celebrate the quadricentennial of Sir Francis Drake’s running aground on a reef off Morowali. As a result, the area was declared a reserve rather than being developed as a transmigration site. The reserve hosts hundreds of unique butterflies and beetles in addition to anoa, babirusa, amd maleo birds.
Morowali can be approached from Kolonodale across Tomori Bay or or directly from Baturubi on the bay’s eastern edge, where the MAP maintains a landing strip. Although Kolonodale does have a hotel, the reserve itself has no formal accommodation for travelers. Arrangements may be made to stay with coastal Baju People around Baturubi, or among the Wana people who practice shifting agriculture and hunt and gather forest products in the mountainous interior.
The Wana are also said to make excellent guides for treks into the reserve. Care should be taken during the rainy season (from March to September, especially May), as heavy rainfall (3500 mm to 4500 mm) can transform the low-lying areas into seasonal swamps and suddenly change the course of the major rivers.
Minutes away from coconut groves and irrigated rice fields are barren, cuctus studded plains riven by empty watercourses, where emaciated oxen and cows wander in search of shrubs.
Religious contrasts abound as well. Scattered in the highlands west of Palu, east of Ampana, and along the ridge of the northern neck, are dozens of relatively isolated ethnic groups practicing shamanic religions. While the Dutch reformed Church and the Salvation Army have made minor inroads in the area, over 75 percent of the population is Muslim. The proportion is even higher in the densely populated coastal and valley regions, where traders, farmers and fisherman of Bugis, Mandarese, and Gorontalo origin have settled, bringing Islam with them.
Geologically, too, the province is a stunning mosaic. The volcanic and tectonic activity, which created the island left in its wake a network of streams and ravines, along with massive rifts and craters that later, became rivers, lakes, and upland plains. Covering 68,033 sq.km, roughly the size of Ireland, Central Sulawesi is the largest of Sulawesi’s four provinces.
Though classified as a single province for administrative purposes, Central Sulawesi is still best a tenous geographic entity. Communication remains difficult in a terrain dominated by mountains. Forests cover 64 percent of the land (over 95 percent of the province’s income derives from timber exports, mainly ebony). Between many points along the coasts, travel is still faster by motorized boat than by road, despite the presence of the Trans Sulawei Highway.
Even with a population of over 1.5 million and a growth rate approaching 3.5 percent (in part due to the influx of transmigrates), the province still averages only 22 persons per sq. km. Furthermore, the vast majority are distributed along the coasts, meaning that the hinterlands are very sparsely inhabited. Many inland settlements are linked only by horse trails or walking tract. As result, the social and cultural life of the province is amazingly varied – group living quite close to one another may speak different languages and follow different customs.
While much of Central Sulawesi remains isolated, a degree of unity has been brought to the area by the Indonesian Government and Islam and Christianity. Even villagers in the most remote settlements have heard and seen something of government development programs. Gradually, the diversity of this hitherto inaccessible area is being eroded by the influx of traders and officials. Crafts such as bark cloth manufacture are on the wane, and baskets and mats are being supplanted by plastic buckets and vinyl floor coverings.
Still, Central Sulawesi remains one of the most culturally diverse province on an island known for its diversity. Government publications list 12 different ethnic groups and 24 distinct languages for the province, and a trip through Central Sulawesi will give the visitor a chance to witness a sort of microcosm of the multi-cultural Indonesia experience within a small geographical area. This is a rugged province that has natural attractions are best appreciated by the trekkers with a sense of adventure and a knowledge of at lest a few words of Indonesian. For those with the time and the patience, a trip through Central Sulawesi may be a vastly rewarding experience.
- Palu
In the 18th century, the Spanish Monk Navarette records his shock at the local practice of male transvestite priest or Bajasa being takes as wives by respected community members. Navarette as also impressed, however, by the natural riches of the area – where people subsisted on bananas and produced vast quantities of coconut oil, much of it sent as tribute to Makassar. He also noted the absence of wet rice cultivation, which is of recent introduction to the area.
Although Palu was not a major town during the colonial period, it is now a rapidly growing provincial capital (population more than 150,000), and the starting point for an investigation of the Kaili area.
Situated at the foot of Palu bay, the city is bisected by the Palu River, with downtown and major shopping areas on the West Bank and the Government Offices and airport to the east.
A general outline of the attractions of the whole province can be obtained by visiting the provincial museum on Jalan Sapiri. Designed on the general plan of a lobo or ritual meeting house, the museum includes replicas of the Lore region’s megaliths and great stone vats, exhibit of traditional arts and crafts, as well as household utensils and weapons. Its collection of heirloom cloths (mbesa) is particularly fine.
There are ikat cloth from Kalumpang and Rongkong in South Sulawesi, and Patola cloths from India, still used in marriage exchanges among families of noble descent (and modem wealth). Also to be seen are the locally produced kain Donggala darkly colored silks with supplementary embroidery of ikat, sometimes including on tic-tac toe double ikat design, thus making the Kaili region the only one in the archipelago aside from the village of Tenganan in Bali to make use of this difficult technique. Different type of bark cloth long the primary material for secular and ritual clothing in the highlands of the province are also on display.
Live performances of local dances are given in the Gedong Olah Seni on Jalan Professor Moh. Yamin SH in the eastern half of the city near the immigration office.
Essentially a city created by the Japanese during the second world war, Palu has the feel of a bustling town assiduously asserting its modernity, rather than the elegiac torpor exuded by many former Dutch colonial town. There is little to remind the traveler that the Dutch once brought their gun ships to the bank of the Palu River to issue demands for taxes and obedience.
What can be witnessed is the role of Palu in disseminating Islam throughout the region. In Kampung Lore, to the west of the city, can be found the tomb of Datuk Karama, the missionary who is said to have come from West Sumatra to propagate Islam in the Palu Valley and northern coasts. The mosque he built in the 17th century, reputed to be the oldest in the province, can be visited on Jalan Kyai Haji Agus Salim.
In the pasar (market) on the West Bank of Palu, hundreds of hawkers (most of them Bugis) squat in their stalls selling fish, cloth, utensils and a host of other items. This was once of the center of the city, just north of the intersection of Jalan Gajah Mada and Jalan Teuku Umar. Although major banks and shops are still located here, the central market has relocated to Jalan Sapiri just past the provincial museum. Another market has recently been erected for the eastern half of the city on Jalan Walter Monginsidi, the main road leading south of town.
- Donggala
Donggala has been a port of importance for most of its long history, particulary among the traders of South Sulawesi and the est coast of Borneo.
The seaport lost much of its importance during and after the second world war, when the capital was shifted to Palu.
A trip to Donggala provides a pleasant change from the bustle of palu. It is sleepy provincial town whose red-tiled roofed proclaims its colonial heritage.
The town of Donggala lies on the protected inner shore of Palu Bay, near the very tip of the mountainous peninsula, which defines the bay’s western shore. The best view onto Donggala’s picturesque harbor is from a narrow paved road leading north to Tanjung Karang and Boneage, especially during the late afternoon.
From the edge of the town, it is a pleasant two kilometers stroll on this group to where it forks. The paved left hand brands head to the water’s edge of Tanjung Karang. At Tanjung Karang, the best beach is fenced off and a small entrance fee is charged to swimm. The beach is deserted during weekdays.
Off the beach, the bay’s transparent waters gradually shift to richer shades of turquoise, abruptly changing to sleep blue some distance from the shore and across to verdant hills on the other side. There is usually a variety of sailing craft here, including graceful sailing catamarans, posed for countless photo opportunities. Further down the coast of Boneage, 7 km from Palu, an incredibly fine sand beach lines a two kilometers long, two house wide village.
Another paved 12 km road from Donggala cuts across the top of the peninsula, passing by a golf course to Towale village on the western coast. Nearby, a sunken saltwater pool called Pusenasi provides the setting for an unforgettable swim. Access to the pool is via a notched tree, which reaches some 7 meters down to the surface.
From Towale, an unpaved road of sorts runs southward to Suranama village, at the border with South Sulawesi, 24 km away. From there, bits and pieces of unconnected road head south to Mamuju. However, it is a lot easier to get there by boat.
While the snorkeling off Tanjung Karang is nothing spectacular, there is good diving closer to Donggala as well as off Towale village. During the 1959 Permesta rebellion, five ships commandeered as troop transports by the Indonesian military were sunk by an American piloted rebel airplane just off Donggala. One of these ships, the Mutiara, lies on its side, just off the old pier nest to the Dutch built Quonset hut warehouses used to store copra and rattan.
About 8 km to the south of Donggala on the road to palu is the Loli Indah Recreation Park, with swimming pool and children playground. There is also the smaller port of Wani, whence small boats depart for local destinations along the northern arm up to Tolitoli and down the west coast on the strait of Makasar and to destinations in South Sulawesi.
The Kaili speaking regions around Palu and Donggala and along the coasts of the Northern neck the long and narrow strip of land connecting Central and North Sulawesi offer a number of attractions, accessible either by rented car or by any number of minibuses.
The coast of the northern neck have long been settled by migrant of Gorontalo, Mandarese, and Bugis origin, who dominated the fishing villages and established the extensive groves of coconuts to produce both oil and copra.
This traditional pattern of highland lowland relations has changed significantly in recent times. Members of mountain tribes now work along side Filipino loggers cutting down ebony and other precious woods in the montane forest. The government has resettled whole villages on the coast, providing these locals transmigrates with basic housing implements and seeds to open up wet rice fields or establish hybrid coconut plantations. As a result, distinctions between the various ethnic groups are no longer easily made according to geography.
The west coast of the neck still has no surface road connecting palu directly to the town of Tolitoli. Despite, its inaccessibility, however, the Tolitoli regency is well worth a trip by local boat from the harbors of Pantoloan or Wani, or by Plane from Palu.
Approaching by air, the traveler can not help but be amazed by the endless strands of clove trees below. This region is an ideal one for clove cultivation, as the hills around Tolitoli continuously receive the sea breezes, which enable these trees to thrive. Indeed, in the last two decades Tolitoli has been transformed into averitable boomtown by the income from lucrative cloves.
But there are quiet spots to be found nearby Batu Bangga Beach, 12 km north of Tolitoli, provides opportunities for swimming or just taking in the scenery, as the beaches of Lutungan island, a quick kilometer to the west of Tolitoli and easily reachable by chartered boat.
On the island, the tomb of a former raja of Tolitoli till is a site for pilgrimages. To determine whether their wishes will be fulfilled, the supplicants to the tomb thrust a palm leaf rib into the ground, checking to see whether upon extracting it the stick is longer (a good sign) or shorter.
At Salumpaga, a village about 70 km north Tolitoli, you will come across the remnants of another monument to earlier rulers. The towering walls of the crumbling Dutch fort there still evoke the tenuous hold the colonial regime maintained over distant outposts such as Sulawesi.
On the east coast of the northern neck, the Trans Sulawesi Highway provides a continuous, if sometimes rugged, link to the provincial border with North Sulawesi, and then on to Gorontalo and Manado. From Palu go to north to Tawaeli, then go across the base of the neck to Taboli, just north of Parigi. This seemingly meandering road, at times a mere track and in stretches often totally washed out, traverses Kebon Kopi, a rolling highland landscape that was a huge coffee plantation in the Dutch era. Now it has mostly been transformed into vast plantations of clove trees, which thrive in the cool, wet montane climate.
Parigi, Kaili town where the Portuguese first built a fort in 1555 and the Dutch established a gold trading outpost in 1730, is the starting point for the trip up the northern neck. Proceed north on a partially asphalt road, skirting mangrove swamps and fording streams over which recently washed away bridges seem always in the first stages of reconstruction.
It is a long, hard journey, of ten enlivened by the unexpected sight or scampering iguanas or slithering sunbeams snakes that seems to regard the road as a nuisance and an intrusion into their terrain. The road passes mainly through the villages of farmers and fishermen, but losmen are available in the towns of Tinombo and Tomini for those who would like to remain here for a while to explore the seashore and the interior foot hills at a more leisurely pace. Shortly before the border with North Sulawesi, one pass a transmigrate colony of Javanese, Madurese and Balinese settlers.
For a brief moment the traveler seems not just to be leaving the province of Central Sulawesi, but to have left this eastern island altogether for the wet rice fields of inner Indonesia.
Fifty kilometers south of Palu lies the huge lore Lindu National Park covering more than 231,000 hectares, the park straddles the border between Donggala and Poso Districts. This vast and rugged area includes Mt. Nokilalaki and Mt. Tokosa, the entire Lindu Plain with its large lake, the Besoa Valley, and the western sections of the Bada and Napu Valleys. In these three valleys are found the mysterious stone statues and cisterns of a long vanished culture whose traces continue to intrigue archeologists.
The village of Wuasa lies on the eastern edge of Lore Lindu park, about 100 km south east of palu. Walking trails lead from here west into the Lindu Plain or across to Toro, east of Kuwali. These are infrequently used, however, and hiring a guide willing to spend two or three nights traversing the park may be difficult.
Another approach to lore Lindu begins even before Kuwali at Sadaunta, some 70 km south of Palu.
Accommodation in villagers homes can be arranged with the headman of Tornado, Langko or Anca. Sometimes there is space available in the Le Petit Soleil research laboratory at the edge of Tornado (note : the laboratory was set up to study the schis to sorne blood flukes which proliferate in bodies of standing water in the area-do not walk barefoot in this region, as schistosomiasis is very common. Rubber boots are strongly recommended for tramping around the highland plains of Lindu and Napu.)
- Bada Valley
An imposing phallic figure minimalistically carved to represent a human form, projects out of the earth at an angle. The face – a few curved lines defining large, round eyes and slightly parted lips – stares westward with a timeless expression as impassive and impenetrable as that of the Sphinx.This magnificent work of megalithic art – massive, simple and eloquent – retains its awesome, mute power in spite of increasing efforts to develop the area, and even despite the soap scrubs which guardians have recently applied in an attempt to wash away the effects of natural weathering.
Palindo as the statue is knowm locally – along with 13 other statues and many large stone vats – inhabits the Bada Valley, which extends 15 km south of the Lore Lindu National Park.
The first Europeans to arrive in the valley, Paul and Fritz Sarasi, trekked through in 1902 but did not notice the megaliths. Dr. Kruyt does mention that propitiatory offerings for abundant harvests were taken to one of the statues. And when rain was lacking, offerings of betel nut were laid in front of the statue known as Trai Roi. Other early visitors also mention offerings being made to some of megaliths.
The Besoa Valley, a hard, leech-filled day’s walk north from Bada, also has a number of human statues, along with the Kalambu – a large stone jars which are covered with carvings lacking on the ones found in Bada. No definitive research has yet been done, and estimates of the dates of the statues vary from 3000 BC (most unlikely) to AD 1300. it is likely that the Bada Statues, along with those of the Besoa Valley to the north, are remnants of a megalithic tradition which once spread throughout Indonesia (and continues today in places such as Sumba). In Central Sulawesi, aside from the stone statues and large jars, there are a variety of stone objects, which are probably products of the same culture. Walter Kaudern, who lived in the area from 1917 to 1920, gives the best account to date of the megaliths in his megalithic finds in Central Celebes.
It has been suggested that westward gazing Palindo, the largest of the statues may be associated with death. For Toraja, who live some four to five days ‘ walk to the south, west is the direction of death. Linguistic and other cultural similarities between the Toraja and the Bada people lend at least partial credence to the theory. The Bada, even after conversion to Christianity, insist on burying their dead facing west, and the Toraja until recently erected megaliths ( the stones were roughly shaped but never sculpted) as part of their funerary rituals. The Toraja, like the Bada, sacrifice water buffalo for the soulds of the deceased.
- Poso
The modern traditional capital of Poso is a clean, shady town breathing an air of efficiency, with its Dutch inspired churches and administrative buildings. Most of the town’s main hotels and eating establishments are within a two block radius of the Poso River, which empties into the Gulf of Tomini. You will find them all on the east side of town, in the vicinity of the harbor. On the west side is the Central Market, which can be reached by small outriggers that periodically ply the river.
Sadly, the beaches of Poso have pretty well succumbed to urban pollution. Swimming and snorkeling are still possible, however, at the fishing village of Kayamanya to the northwest of the market, and at Polande, a two hour drive to the west.
About 7 km south of Poso along the lifting road to Tontena is the village of Tagolu. This is the place to pick ebony woodcarvings, as works from around the province are on display in stores and shops. Although shops throughout the province sell the sets of sprouting coconuts, miniature hornbills, and other mass produced items worked here, the workshops themselves offer these at far lower prices and feature a greater and more imaginative variety of carvings – from lamp tables to humorous miniatures.
Sadly, the beaches of Poso have pretty well succumbed to urban pollution. Swimming and snorkeling are still possible, however, at the fishing village of Kayamanya to the northwest of the market, and at Polande, a two hour drive to the west.
About 7 km south of Poso along the lifting road to Tontena is the village of Tagolu. This is the place to pick ebony woodcarvings, as works from around the province are on display in stores and shops. Although shops throughout the province sell the sets of sprouting coconuts, miniature hornbills, and other mass produced items worked here, the workshops themselves offer these at far lower prices and feature a greater and more imaginative variety of carvings – from lamp tables to humorous miniatures.
- Tentena
The small church town of Tentena lies 57 km to the south of Poso on the northeastern corner of beautiful Lake Poso, with enchanting views across the huge inland lake, whence cooling breezes waft across the town.
In Tentena itself are seral caves full of human remains and roughly carved mini coffins called peti mayat. The most accessible of these lies but five minutes walk from behind the Protestant Church’s regional headquarters. This is an overhang rather than a true cave – bones and coffins lie scattered about, while the skulls have been neatly stacked in parallel rows on top of each other.
There are also the well-known Pamona Caves, located at the far side of the Poso River near the Theological School. Nine chambers but nu human remains. Nearby there are pleasant places to sit and watch small canoes paddled or poled around the entrance of the Poso River.
In Tentena itself are seral caves full of human remains and roughly carved mini coffins called peti mayat. The most accessible of these lies but five minutes walk from behind the Protestant Church’s regional headquarters. This is an overhang rather than a true cave – bones and coffins lie scattered about, while the skulls have been neatly stacked in parallel rows on top of each other.
There are also the well-known Pamona Caves, located at the far side of the Poso River near the Theological School. Nine chambers but nu human remains. Nearby there are pleasant places to sit and watch small canoes paddled or poled around the entrance of the Poso River.
- Lake Poso
Locals, quoting a foreign expert, proudly claim that Lake Poso is the second clearest in the world, be that as it may, the waters are transparent indeed – ranging from a slight turquoise color near the shore to a dark blue out in the lake’s depths.
Of Lake Peso’s five indigenous fish species, two have almost become extinct due to the introduction of carp and catfish (lele) from Java. Most impressive of the native species are the huge eels, which reach over two meters in length and can weigh up to 20 kg. the eels are caught in wide, V-shaped traps just downstream from the covered bridge at Tentena in the waters of the swift-flowing Poso River.
- Eastern Peninsula
While the town lines a wide bay for a kilometer or so, all the action focuses on a small market by a clock and bus terminal. Just in front of the market are local horse drawn carriages or bendi, some quite colorful. Drivers tend to zoom out of the lot with Ben-Hurracing spirit.
- The Fire Cape
The name Tanjung Api literally means Fire Cape and natural gas seeps out at several points offshore, gurgling to the surface through sand and coral formations.
In the immediate vicinity, a small crocodile or two may scurry away but that is all the game you will see. A well-trodden path through the sparse underbrush of the forest gives the opportunity for pleasant walking across the cape. It may be possible here to catch a glimpse of the large endemic species that inhabit the reserve – including Sulawesi macaques, cuscus, tarsiers, babirusa, phytons, wild boars and deers.
- The Togian Islands
Several mixed cargo / passenger boats crisscross Tomini Gulf on relatively fixed schedules. The island’s forests are one of the main habitats of the babirusa, while the beaches along the coast function as hatcheries for sea turtles and frigate birds. The Togian Islands are also unusual in being surrounded by all major coral reef environments, having 115 species drawn from 59 genera.
- Luwuk and The Banggai Islands
Nearby Kilo Lima, a white sandy beach 5 km away, offers good diving and swimming. A road southwest along the coast brings the travelers to 75 meter high Hanga Hanga Waterfall, 3 km from the city. Farther down the road is Batui; a maleo bird hatchery supervised by the PPA officials. In the other direction, 96 km east of Luwuk, is the Bangkiring Reserve hatchery. Three hours away by boat lie the Banggai Islands.
Up to half a century ago, the authority of the Islamic Raja of Banggai on Peleng Island even extended to supervising the gathering of maleo bird eggs from the hatchery at bakirinag, about 100 km away. Besides receving a tax on all eggs collected, the raja personally received the first 100 eggs and approved the harvest, after which others were allowed to consume the remainder.
- Kolonadale
Today Kolonodale is best known as the gateway for the Morowali Nature Reserve, a 160,000 hectare wilderness area of unspoiled rain forest, containing three substantial mountains (Tokala, Tambusisi, and Morowali), five major rivers (the name Morowali means ‘rambling’ or ‘growling’ in the Wana Language, referring to the sound of the rivers streaming across their stony beds), and the eerily quiet Ranu Lakes where the exhalation of marsh gases keeps birds and boasts away.
In 1990, the British expedition Operation Drake conducted a four month survey of endangered species to celebrate the quadricentennial of Sir Francis Drake’s running aground on a reef off Morowali. As a result, the area was declared a reserve rather than being developed as a transmigration site. The reserve hosts hundreds of unique butterflies and beetles in addition to anoa, babirusa, amd maleo birds.
Morowali can be approached from Kolonodale across Tomori Bay or or directly from Baturubi on the bay’s eastern edge, where the MAP maintains a landing strip. Although Kolonodale does have a hotel, the reserve itself has no formal accommodation for travelers. Arrangements may be made to stay with coastal Baju People around Baturubi, or among the Wana people who practice shifting agriculture and hunt and gather forest products in the mountainous interior.
The Wana are also said to make excellent guides for treks into the reserve. Care should be taken during the rainy season (from March to September, especially May), as heavy rainfall (3500 mm to 4500 mm) can transform the low-lying areas into seasonal swamps and suddenly change the course of the major rivers.