Sightseeing on Sulawesi

The island of Sulawesi was once known as Celebes. The capital is Ujung Padang. The original people of the northern part of the island were the Bugis, who were seafaring people who travelled widely, even to northern Australia. In the mountains of south Sulawesi are the original ethnic group, the Torajas.

A traditional Toraja village, Tantatoraja, is located in the north, and is open to tourists. To reach the village, travellers pass through spectacular mountain scenery and plantations of clove and nutmeg, the spices that brought Europeans to the island over 400 years ago. The traditional village houses of the Toraja people are long and stilted, with massive roofs that are raised at each end. They are called Tongkonan. In front and above the doorway, under the point of the roof, the houses are decorated with water buffalo horns and skulls as symbols of power and strength. The roof points always face north and south.

In the mountains not far from the village, ancient Toraja cliff graves can be seen. Coffins are hung from high cliffs or placed in caves. Life-sized wooden statues are placed on rock ledges that like verandahs, standing guard over the dead.

Fort Rotterdam is a Dutch fort that was built in 1667. The walls are still there, and some of the buildings have been restored to what they once looked like. The buildings are now museums of artifacts and culture of the indigenous people of the island.

North Sulawesi is a place for divers and snorkellers. The Bunaken Marine Park is about 900 square kilometres of marine habitat containing many species of coral, fish and marine mammals. There are seahorses, turtles, dugongs, rays and occasionally whale sharks. The island of Manado Tua provides a diving experience in a crater lake inside an extinct volcano.

If you use any of this information in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
A Trip to Indonesia (2001). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au

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Updated August 2001