• Bali
• Flores
• Java
• Kalimantan
• Komodo national park
• Lombok and the Gili Islands
• Sulawesi
• Sumatra
• Sumba
• Sumbawa
• West Papua (Irian Jaya)
BALI
With its fine beaches, pounding surf, emerald-green rice terraces and
exceptionally artistic culture, the small volcanic island of Bali - the
only Hindu society in Southeast Asia - has long been Indonesia's premier
tourist destination. As a result, it has become very much a mainstream
destination and suffers the predictable problems of congestion and
commercialization. However, Bali's original charm is still much in
evidence, its stunning Hindu temples and spectacular festivals set off
by the gorgeously lush landscape of the interior.
Bali's most famous and crowded resort is Kuta beach, a six-kilometre
sweep of golden sand, with plenty of accommodation, shops and nightlife.
Nearby Sanur is much quieter, but most backpackers prefer the beaches of
peaceful east-coast Candi Dasa and traveller-oriented Lovina on the
north coast. The island's other major destination is the cultural centre
of Ubud , a still charming but undeniably commercialized overgrown
village, where traditional dances are staged every night of the week and
the streets are full of arts-and-crafts galleries. In addition, there
are numerous elegant Hindu temples to visit, particularly at Tanah Lot
and Besakih , and a good number of volcano hikes, the most popular being
the route up Gunung Batur , with Gunung Agung only for the very fit.
Transport to and from Bali is extremely efficient: the island is served
by scores of international and domestic flights, which all land at
Ngurah Rai Airport just south of Kuta beach, as well as round-the-clock
ferries to Java, thirty minutes' west across the sea from Gilimanuk ,
and frequent ferries to Lombok, two- to four hours' east of Padang Bai
and Benoa. The Pelni ferry KM Dibonsolo also calls fortnightly at Benoa
Harbour . Prices throughout Bali rocket during the peak tourist seasons
from mid-June to mid-September and over Christmas, when rooms can be
fully booked for days, if not weeks, in advance.
Bali was a more or less independent society of Buddhists and Hindus
until the fourteenth century when it was colonized by the strictly Hindu
Majapahits from neighbouring Java. Despite the subsequent Islamicization
of nearly all her neighbours, Bali has remained firmly Hindu ever since.
In 1849, the Dutch started to take an interest in Bali, and by January
1909 had wrested control of the whole island. Following a short-lived
Japanese occupation in World War ll, and Indonesia's subsequent
declaration of Independence in 1945, Bali became an autonomous state
within the Republic in 1948. But tensions with Java have continued:
following the 1965 Gestapu affair in Java, some 100,000 actual or
suspected members of the Communist Party on Bali were killed in
reprisals. More recently, there has been growing concern about the
number of wealthy entrepreneurs from Jakarta who have exploited Bali's
considerable attractions for their own ends, with the Balinese starting
to lose control of their own homeland.
FLORES
A fertile, mountainous barrier between the Savu and Flores seas,
Flores comprises one of the most alluring landscapes in the archipelago.
The volcanic spine of the island soars to 2500m and torrential wet
seasons result in a lushness that marks Flores apart from its scorched
neighbours. It also differs in its religious orientation - 95 percent of
islanders are Catholic. The most spectacular natural sight in Flores is
magnificent Keli Mutu , a unique volcano near Moni, northeast of Ende .
The three craters of this extinct peak each contain a lake, of vibrantly
different and gradually changing colours. In the east of Flores, high-quality
ikat weaving is still thriving. At the extreme west end of the island,
Labuhanbajo has some fine coral gardens nearby and is also the port for
ferries to and from Sumbawa (daily except Fri; 9-12hr) .
JAVA
One of the most populous places in all of Asia, Java is still
characterized by great natural beauty. Its central spine is dominated by
hundreds of volcanoes, many of which are still very evidently active,
and their fertile slopes support a landscape of glimmering ricelands
spotted with countless small villages. To the south of this mountainous
backbone is the homeland of the ethnic Javanese and the epicentre of
their arts, culture and language, epitomized by the royal courts of
Yogyakarta and Solo . Still steeped in traditional dance, music and art,
these two cities are the mainstay of Java's tourist industry and offer
first-rate facilities for travellers. They also provide excellent bases
from which to explore the giant ninth-century Buddhist temple Borobudur
, and the equally fascinating Prambanan complex , a contemporary Hindu
site. To the east, the huge volcanic massif of Gunung Bromo is the other
major stop on most travellers' itineraries, not least for the sunrise
walk to its summit. But there are plenty more volcanic landscapes to
explore, including the coloured lakes of the windswept Dieng plateau,
the stunning crater lake and sulphur mines of the Ijen Plateau , and the
world's most famous - and destructive - volcano, Krakatau off the coast
of west Java. And when it's time to chill out, most travellers opt for a
spell in Pangandaran , which boasts crashing surf, endless expanses of
sand, superb seafood and a national park on its doorstep. Aside from
Yogya, Java's cities are not that enticing, but Jakarta , the chaotic
sprawl that is Indonesia's capital, does boast several worthwhile
museums. And once you've exhausted the pleasures of Java you can move
easily on to neighbouring islands - Sumatra is just ninety minutes'
ferry ride from Merak in the west; Bali a mere half hour from Banyuwangi
in the east.
KALIMANTAN
Cupped in the palm of an island arc between the Malay peninsula and
Sulawesi, Kalimantan comprises the southern, Indonesian two-thirds of
the vast island of Borneo, whose northern reaches are split between the
independent sultanate of Brunei and the Malaysian states of Sabah and
Sarawak. Borneo has conjured up sensational images in the outside world
ever since Europeans first visited in the sixteenth century and found
coastal city-states governed by wealthy sultans and a jungle-cloaked
land inhabited by the infamous head-hunting Dayak.
Dayak is an umbrella name for all of Borneo's indigenous peoples, who
arrived here from mainland Southeast Asia around 2500 years ago and have
since divided into scores of interrelated groups. In Dayak religions,
evil is kept at bay by attracting the presence of helpful spirits, or
scared away by protective tattoos, carved spirit posts ( patong), and
lavish funerals. Shamans also intercede with spirits on behalf of the
living, but, formerly, the most powerful way to ensure good luck was by
head-hunting, which forced the victim's soul into the service of its
captor. Although these days you'll often find ostensibly Christian
communities whose inhabitants dress in shorts and T-shirts, the Dayak
are still feared for their jungle skills, abilities with magic, and the
way they violently take the law into their own hands if provoked - in
1997, West Kalimantan's Dayak exacted fearsome revenge against Maduran
transmigrants, reviving the practice of head-hunting, and killing an
estimated 300 to 2000. There's a resurgence in the more acceptable side
of tradition, too: communal houses, once banned by the government, are
being restored, and public festivals like the annual Erau Festival , a
massive assembly of Kalimantan's eastern Dayak groups on Sungai Mahakam,
provide an assurance that Dayak culture is still very much alive, if
being redefined.
Modern Kalimantan has a tough time living up to its romantic tradition,
however. In all Kalimantan's 500,000-square-kilometre spread, there are
few obvious destinations, and even the provincial capitals of Pontianak,
Palangkaraya and Samarinda offer little aside from their services. The
exception is Banjarmasin , which has unusual floating markets,
extraordinary street performers and interesting gem mines nearby.
However, despite increasingly rapacious logging and catastrophic forest
fires, sizeable tracts of the forested interior remain, sporting ancient
longhouses . With few roads, Kalimantan's waterways are the interior's
highways, and cruising up the mighty Sungai Mahakam is one of the
world's great river journeys. Kalimantan's other big draw is Tanjung
Puting national park , whose orang-utans and proboscis monkeys alone
justify the journey here.
Kalimantan is well connected to the outside world, with flights from
Brunei to Balikpapan, and boats from Tewah in Sabah to northeastern
Pulau Nunukan. From elsewhere in Indonesia, there are direct flights
from Java, with a half-dozen Pelni vessels stopping off in Kalimantan on
their Java-Sulawesi-Maluku runs.
Crossed by the equator, Kalimantan has no real seasons . April through
to September is the optimum time for a visit: at the height of the rains
(Jan-March) you'll find towns isolated by flooding, and planes grounded
for weeks on end, while the driest months (Aug-Oct) see boats stranded
by low river levels. With only fragmentary infrastructure, Kalimantan's
costs are higher than in most of the rest of the country, especially for
transport in remote areas. Accommodation is pricey, too: even simple
country losmen charge US$3 a night, and it's rare in cities to find
anything under US$7. West and Central Kalimantan operate on Western
time, but the south and eastern provinces run on Eastern time.
KOMODO NATIONAL PARK
Off the east coast of Sumbawa lies Komodo national park , a group of
parched but majestic islands that have achieved fame as the home of the
Komodo dragon, or ora as it is known locally, which lives nowhere else
but here and on a few neighbouring islands. The south coast is lined
with impressive, mostly dormant volcanoes, the north with mainly dusty
plains, irrigated to create rice paddies around the major settlements.
Varanus komodoensis, the Komodo dragon , is the largest extant lizard in
the world, and there is no evidence that such creatures have existed
anywhere other than the Komodo area for well over a million years.
Unlike many rare species, the dragon is actually steadily increasing in
numbers. The largest recorded specimen was well in excess of 3m long and
weighed a mammoth 150kg, but most fully grown males are a more
manageable 2m and around 60kg. The dragon usually strikes down prey with
its immensely powerful tail or slices the leg tendons with scalpel-sharp
fangs. Once the animal is incapacitated, the dragon eviscerates it,
feeding on its intestines while it slowly dies. Contrary to popular
belief, the dragon has neither poisonous breath or bite, but prey
usually die of infected wounds.
At the time of writing, the public ferry between Sape in Sumbawa and
Labuhanbajo in Flores was not calling at Komodo. As a result, visitors
have to charter a boat; this is most easily done from Labuhanbajo. A
boat to Komodo takes four hours and costs Rp150,000 per day.
Around the island
Komodo now receives in excess of 40,000 visitors a year, the majority of
them offloading at the tiny PHPA camp at LOH LIANG in the east of the
island, where at least one fully grown dragon is a regular visitor. In
the high season, when cruise ships dump tourists here by the hundred, it
can seem a bit like an adventure theme park. During the rainy season,
however, you can easily find yourself alone: just you and an island full
of three-metre flesh-eating predators. The ora are in plentiful supply,
and the vast majority of tourists who visit see at least one dragon and
probably a few juveniles as well. However, there are no guarantees.
The PHPA charges Rp20,000 for both entry into the park and a guide, and
Rp25,000 a night for accommodation in stilted wooden cabins, surrounded
by deer, wild pigs, snakes and dragons. If the cabins are full you'll
have to sleep on the floor of the restaurant. The camp also rents out
well-used snorkelling equipment and is close to setting up a dive
facility.
LOMBOK AND THE GILI ISLANDS
Thirty-five kilometres east of Bali at its closest point, Islamic
Lombok (80km by 70km) is populated by Sasak people and differs
considerably from its Hindu neighbour. The landscape is much more barren
and its tourist facilities are still developing. The island's northern
area is dominated by the awesome bulk of Gunung Rinjani , until late
1994 believed to be dormant. Trekking at least part of the way up
Rinjani is the reason many tourists come to Lombok and most base
themselves in the nearby villages of Senaru and Batu Koq or in the
foothills at tiny Tetebatu . The other big draw are the beaches: at the
developed resort of Senggigi on the northwest coast, at the trio of
backpacker-friendly Gili Islands , just offshore, and at less frantic
south-coast Kuta , a popular surfing spot. Lombok's capital Mataram has
little of interest, except for decent transport connections.
SULAWESI
Sulawesi sprawls in the centre of the Indonesian archipelago, its
bizarre outline resembling a 1000-kilometre letter "K", a foretaste of
the many peculiarities that make this one of the country's most
compelling regions. Nowhere in Sulawesi is much more than 100km from the
sea, though an almost complete covering of mountains not only isolated
its four separate peninsulas from one another, but also made them
difficult to penetrate individually. Invaders were hard pushed to
colonize beyond the coast and, despite echoes of external forces, a
unique blend of cultures and habitats developed. By the time the
Portuguese first marked Sulawesi as the "Celebes" on their maps during
the sixteenth century, the island was ethnically divided much as it is
today, with the south split between the highland Torajans and the
lowland Bugis , various isolated tribes in the central highlands, and
the Filipino-descended Minahasans in the far north. And it wasn't until
the late nineteenth century that the Dutch decided to bring the whole
island under their thumb.
During the past couple of years, violent unrest between Christians and
Muslims around the town and lake of Poso has claimed over a thousand
lives. Though tourists have not been specifically targeted by either
side, there is always the risk of being caught in the crossfire, and as
such the town of Poso and Lake Poso, including the lakeside resorts of
Pendolo and Tentena, are effectively out-of-bounds. Transport to and
around the region has also been badly affected. While at the time of
writing it's still possible to travel through Sulawesi, you should
contact your foreign office for up-to-date advice before arrival.
The most settled part of the island, the south, is home to most of
Sulawesi's fifteen million inhabitants, and the energetic capital, the
port of Makassar . Rich in history, the southern plains rise to the
mountain vastness of Tanah Toraja , whose beautiful scenery and unusual
architecture and festivals are the island's chief tourist attraction.
Those after a more languid experience can soak up sun and scenery at
Danau Poso and the Togian Islands , and there's fabulous diving at Pulau
Bunaken , out from the northern city of Manado . In many areas,
Sulawesi's roads are well covered by public transport , though freelance
kijang and minibuses are often faster and cheaper than scheduled buses.
Where these fail you'll find ferries, even if services are unreliable.
Crossed by the equator, Sulawesi shares its weather patterns with
western Indonesia, with August through to November the driest time of
year, and December to April the wettest. Tourism peaks with the European
summer holidays (June-Sept) and Christmas, so April is the best time to
see things at their greenest and least crowded.
SUMATRA
North Sumatra now receives more tourists than any other Indonesian
province except Bali and Yogyakarta, and the main interest lies in the
rugged central highlands, the homelands of the Batak who arrived over
four thousand years ago and evolved almost completely in isolation from
the rest of the island, developing languages and cultures that owe
little to any outside influences. The Batak are divided into six
distinctive ethnolinguistic groups, each with its own rituals,
architectural style, mode of dress and religious beliefs. Many Batak
have been exposed to Western education since Dutch missionaries arrived
in the early 1800s, and as a result the Toba Batak people in particular
are amongst the most educated, powerful and richest minorities in the
country today.
The hill station of Berastagi , part of the Karo Batak territory, and
the many waterside resorts around beautiful Danau Toba - Southeast
Asia's largest lake and the spiritual home of the Toba Batak - throng
with tourists every summer. The province also features the hugely
popular Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre at Bukit Lawang , just a couple
of hours' drive from the provincial capital of Medan , an entry point
from Malaysia, as well as the surfer's mecca of Pulau Nias . Bukit
Lawang, Berastagi, Danau Toba and Nias form such a perfect diagonal
route across the centre of Sumatra that most tourists bypass Aceh
province to the north, but here you'll find Gunung Leuser national park
, the largest in Indonesia, and the picture-perfect beaches of Pulau Weh
.
Major gateways into Indonesia are also provided by the west-coast port
of Padang and the islands of Batam and Bintan in the Riau Archipelago,
between the Sumatran mainland and Singapore. Travellers entering Sumatra
through the Riau Islands can transit in the prosperous city of Pekanbaru
before heading north to Medan and Danau Toba, south to Bandar Lampung,
or west to picturesquely located Bukittinggi , the heartland of Minang
culture and a major tourist destination with a thriving travellers'
scene. Nearby, Danau Maninjau is developing plenty of low-key lakeside
guesthouses. Most travellers rush between Bukittinggi and Java, with
perhaps an overnight stop in the city of Bandar Lampung or, better, in
smaller, quieter Kalianda nearby, but in between sprawls the Kerinci-Seblat
national park , with plenty of scope for trekking and the isolated
Mentawai Islands , 100km off the west coast of Sumatra, and home to some
very traditional groups of people.
Getting around Sumatra on public transport can be gruelling - distances
are huge, the roads tortuous and the driving hair-raising. There are
plenty of road connections on to Java from even the smallest towns, but
if you intend to use sea or air to make your trip less stressful, you'll
need to plan carefully as only the large cities have airports, and ferry
connections are generally irregular .
SUMBA
Sumba has a genuine reputation in Indonesia for the excesses of its
funerals, the wealth of its ikat fabrics and the thrill of the pasola ,
an annual ritual war fought on horseback. One of the main reasons to
visit Sumba is to experience first-hand the extraordinary agrarian
animist cultures in the villages. These villages comprise huge clan
houses set on fortified hills, centred around megalithic graves and
topped by a totem made from a petrified tree. The most important part of
life for the Sumbanese is death, when the mortal soul makes the journey
into the spirit world. Sumbanese funerals can be extremely impressive
spectacles, particularly if the deceased is a person with prestige,
inspiring several days' worth of slaughter and feasting, the corpse
wrapped in hundreds of exquisite ikat cloths.
The difficulty for Western visitors to Sumba is that traditions and
taboos in Sumbanese village life are still very powerful and sit ill at
ease with the demands of modern tourism. A visitor to a Sumbanese
village must first take the time to share cirih pinang ( betel nut )
with both the kepala desa (village headman) and his hosts. Betelnut is a
sign of peace and of unity; Sumbanese ritual culture sets great store by
returning blood to the earth, and the bright-red gobs of saliva produced
by chewing cirih represent this. Many villages that are on the regular
trail for group tours have supplanted the tradition of sharing betel
with a simple request for money, but if you come with gifts you will be
far more welcome.
The east of the island is rocky, parched and fairly mountainous; the
west is contrastingly fertile and green, with rolling hills and a long
rainy season. Waingapu is well-known for producing the finest ikat in
the whole of Indonesia. A little further out at Rende and Melolo are
stone tombs with bizarre carvings, and other villages right out on the
east coast offer the chance to see quality weaving and traditional
structures near some deserted beaches. On the south coast, Tarimbang is
an up-and-coming surfers' Mecca with a few waterfalls inland. The main
town in the west is Waikabubak , where characteristic houses with
thatched roofs soar to an apex over 15m above the ground.
Acess to Sumba is either by ferry from Ende in Flores to Waingapu or by
air to either Waingapu or Tambolaka. If you're planning on flying out of
Sumba, do it from Waingapu rather than Tambolaka, which has an appalling
record for cancellations.
SUMBAWA
East of Lombok, the scorched, mountainous island of Sumbawa is often
perceived as an inconvenient but necessary bridge between Lombok and
Komodo, but it does hold some fine west-coast beaches , as well as
spectacular coral just offshore at Pulau Moyo . In the east, the
exceptional reef breaks at Hu'u have become legendary amongst surfers.
Sumbawa is a strictly Muslim enclave and both male and female travellers
should dress conservatively.
Historically, the Sumbawan people in the western half of the island have
always been influenced by the Balinese and the Sasaks of Lombok, while
the Bimans in the east share linguistic and cultural similarities with
the Makarese of Sulawesi and the peoples of Flores and Sumba. Up until
the end of the sixteenth century, Bima Region was still mostly animist,
ostensibly ruled by a succession of Hindu rajahs with Javanese origins
but, when the Makarese of Sulawesi took control in the early seventeenth
century, they converted the people to Islam . The Dutch only really
controlled the area at the beginning of the twentieth century, and were
ousted by the Japanese in World War II. Soon after, Sumbawa became a
part of the modern republic of Indonesia. Transmigration and the
wholesale reaping of the sappanwood and sandalwood forests have put huge
pressure on the little land that is useable and Bima's once illustrious
bay is now filling with silt as a result.
Ferries to and from Lombok (90min) dock at POTO TANO , at the extreme
western end of Sumbawa; buses meet all incoming ferries and run south
from the harbour to Taliwang (1hr; Rp2000), and north to Alas (45min;
Rp2000), Sumbawa Besar (2hr; Rp3000) and sometimes all the way to Bima
(9hr; Rp10,000). Ferries to and from Flores (9-12hr) use the port at
Sape . Pelni ferries dock at Bima .
WEST PAPUA (IRIAN JAYA)
The island of New Guinea , the second largest in the world, is neatly
bisected down its north-south axis, the eastern portion comprising
independent Papua New Guinea and the western half, Irian Jaya ,
belonging to Indonesia. From the towering glacial highlands of its spine
to the sweaty mangrove swamps of the coast, Irian Jaya is one of the
world's last great wildernesses: maps of the area still show stretches
as wide as 300km without any relief data at all. Despite numerous
attempts by Western explorers to tame Papua, the colossal island all but
repelled them right up until the latter part of the twentieth century.
On Indonesian Independence , it seemed logical that West Papua should
itself become independent. After all, the capitals of Jakarta and
Jayapura are as far apart as London and Baghdad. However, while the
Dutch prepared the island for union with Papua New Guinea, the
Indonesians, with the collusion of the US, planned to ensure that every
part of the old Dutch East Indies would become Indonesian. On November
19, 1969, the UN passed a resolution to endorse an Indonesian occupation
of West Papua, on the understanding that a Vote of Free Choice would be
held within six years. The vote was stage-managed by the Indonesians and
West Papua was ceded entirely to the Indonesians, to be renamed Irian
Jaya, or "Victorious Irian". Since then, tribal villages have been
bombed and napalmed, and local leaders tortured, executed or dropped out
of helicopters. The cleansing, or pacification, of native people in
Irian paved the way for the largest transmigration scheme the world has
ever seen, with four million new inhabitants in little over a decade. An
estimated 300,000 Papuans have lost their lives to the Indonesian
tyranny, and 15,000 are refugees in New Guinea. The OPM (Organisas Papua
Merdeka), or Free Papua Movement, is still particularly active in the
jungles of the Lorentz reserve and parts of the Bird's Head; kidnapping
foreigners is their means of drawing attention to their cause and common
sense is your best precaution. In 2001, in an unsubtle but generous
attempt to buy peace, Megawati offered the Papuans autonomy within
Indonesia, and sanctioned a change of name for the province, from the
unpopular Irian Jaya to the locally preferred Papua. Whether it will be
enough to appease the OPM and their allies, however, remains to be seen.
However short, a trip to Irian Jaya requires more planning than any
other destination in Indonesia. The first complication is the surat
jalan (travel permit) that must be acquired from the police by every
visitor on arrival in Irian, with signed permission for each and every
one of the small districts you wish to visit. Apply for every feasible
destination, as you can't add places to your surat jalan outside of the
large towns. Photography in Irian is also a different proposition to
other parts of Indonesia. No matter what they say, most X-ray machines
at airports are not film-safe; take films out and have them searched by
hand. Take great care when photographing people; in areas where
photography is rare it can cause great distress, and in areas where it
is common, permission and cash are expected first. Bring all camera film
to Irian with you. Prices in Irian are a shock after the rest of
Indonesia. There is almost no industry on Irian Jaya and everything but
a few foodstuffs is imported at great expense by boat or plane from
other areas of Indonesia. A lousy fleapit hotel costs twice as much in
Irian as a reasonable guesthouse anywhere else; food and fuel are also
expensive as they have to be imported. Chartering transport and hiring
guides is likely to be the greatest expenditure: up to US$50 for a day
in a canoe, or US$500 in a motorized outboard.
The majority of visitors will arrive, after an eight-hour flight from
Java or Bali, via Makassar, in the capital city Jayapura , the best
place to arrange an onward flight to the Baliem Valley , the highland
plain that is home to the Dani tribes, and which features the most
highly dramatic scenery imaginable.
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