Here you find remains of old ancient cultures. Already during the time of the birth of Christ people were cultivating rice on irrigated fields.
The people established traderoutes early with India and China which resulted in introduction of hinduism and buddhism. During the 11th century islam was brought to the region and today is almost 90 % of the population belonging to this religion. Indonesia has the largets muslim population in the world.
In the beginning of the 14th century the first european ships arrived to the area called Molucku. The dutch dominated the trade with spices from the 15th centrury, but it took them more than 300 years to get full control of the country. The japanese occupied Indonesia during World War II. On August 17, 1945 the Liberation- movement proclaimed independence for the people. Regretfully the indonesians after the liberation not always have achieved the liberty or the humanrigths they faught for. The current problems are well known.
Indonesias natur , on land as well as in the sea, is offering a large variety of spices. Here you find 25 % of the worlds different fishes, 17 % of the birds, 16 % of the reptiles, 12 % of the mamals and 10 % of the plants. 430 of the birds and 200 of the mamals are endemic.
The island of Java, with its more than 90 miljon inhabitants has the largets population in the country. With a populationdensity of more than 800 persons per sq km makes the island to one of the most dense populated areas in the world.
The population consists of more than 200 hundred different ethnic groups with different language. The chines population is a big ethnic group. The majority of them are businessmen.
The island of Sulawesi is located just east of Indonesias middle point. About 15 million years ago there was a collision between three big landblocks which gave Sulawesi its spectaculare shape.
The equatorline is crossing the northern part of Sulawesi. Due to that it is very hot and humid during the whole year with heavy rains. More than 50 % of the surface is covered with rainforrest with a rich flora and fauna. Alfred Wallace, a british naturalist, discovered in the 19th century that a mixture of "eastern" and "western"species lived on the island and launched his so called "Wallaceline". He assumed that there once had been connections between Asia and Australia. Many of the animals found here are endemic; as the babirusa (deerpig) , anoa (dwarf buffalo) and the maleo bird. On the island you can also find the tarsier, which is one of the smallest mamals in the world. On Sulawesi the largest pytonsnake in the world was caugth, almost 10 meters long!
During five weeks I crossed the island, from south to north.
My trip started in Ujung Pandang, formerly called Makassar, and ended in Manado. The trip contained four major "blocks".
Still they bury their dead in caves, who can be visited. In the region you will also find graves hanging down from steep cliffs, or in small houses. Once the torajas buried their babies in living trees in belief that the power of the tree was transfered into the body. The torajas are one of the few ethnic groups still building their houses, tongkonans, in a traditional way. These beautiful houses can be seen everywhere.
I trekked to several of the small and beautiful villages as Batutomonga, Kete Kesu, Sangalla, Nangalla, Tikala, Kambira, Palawa and Tampangallo.
The wana people, a small ethnic group of about 5 000, are living in the Morowali area, which can be entered from Kolonodale. They practice shifting cultivation and are collecting rattan and resin to trade. The wanas are also skilled hunters and still using blowpipes. By living their traditional lives they are now violating the laws according to the governement, who made Morowali to a nature reserve. The wanas can be moved out from the area in a near future. The organization "Sahabat Morowali" , Friends of Morowali, are figthing for their rigths.
I celebrated the turn of the millennium on Pagemba, a small island belonging to the Togian Islands. Here you find beautiful coral reefs. You can snorkle or canoe to study some of the many different fishes living here. On some of the islands you still can find the largets land living crab, the coconut crab. You can also visit bajau villages here. The bajaus are seanomads, sometimes living their whole lives on boats.
I reached Manado, once the largest smuggling town on Sulawesi, via the nigthferry between Pagimana and Gorontalo. You need good nerves to do this trip as the ferry very often is overloaded with people and cargo. The catastrophy is never far away! During my trip about 7-800 persons were on the boat which is allowed for about 250!
With Manado, on the northern part of the island, as a base I visited different interesting places.
The nature reserve Tangkoko offers a rich wild life. The reserve is only about 8 876 hectars and has fertile volcanic soil. The park has about 160 species of animals, 50 of them are endemic. You can find tarsier, the smallest primate in the world, anoa, maleo birds, black macaques (monkeys), babirusa and of course hornbills, birds with a great symbolic meaning.
The foodmarket in Tomohon is famous for selling dogmeat, grilled rats, bats and pyton snake. Delicacies appreciated by the minahasa people.
There are fine trekking possibilities in the area. I made some nice trekks up to the volcanoes Lokon and Mahawu. Two rather easy trekks which gives you nices views over the Minahasa inland and possibility to go down to a crater where you can smell the scent of the interior of our planet.
Sulawesi, was a great place to visit. The beutiful nature, the exciting culture and the friendly people were components in an interesting and successful journey.
Toraja woman
Young bugis man. Ujung Pandang
Fort Rotterdam.
Ujung Pandang
Warugas, old graveyards. Airmadiddi
The Al Markaz mosque. Ujung Pandang
Pinisis - Sailingships.
Ujung Pandangl
Torajalandscape. Batutomonga
Ricebarns.
Kete Kesu
Cleaning buffalo.
Tana Toraja
Burialceremony.
Tana Toraja
Slaugthered buffalo during a burialceremoni
Tau tau-statues.
Burialcave at
Tampangallo.
On the Morowali- river
Selling Durianfruits. Togian Islands
Wana chief. Morowali
Wanagirl.
Morowali
Coconutcrab.
Togian Islands
Baju children. Togian Islands
Last sunset of the
millennium.
Pagemba
Smoked rats.
Market in Tomohon
Pyton on sale.
Tomohon
Tarsier - "Ghostanimal".
Tangkoko
Black makaka.
Tangkoko
Bamboosnake. Tangkoko
