Images by Steffen A. Bass : Indonesia : Sulawesi

Sulawesi Galleries

Kete Kesu : Kete Kesu is a well preserved traditional Toraja village which was converted into a museum, allowing us insights into most aspects of Torajan life.

Makassar : Our first destination in Indonesia was Makassar, the largest city and main trading port on Sulawesi. The old harbor is particularly fascinating, since one can still see traditional Malay sailing vessels moored at the jetty.

South Sulawesi Countryside : The images in this gallery were taken during our drive from Makassar to Tana Toraja and back again (via Senkang). The lowland Sulawesi countryside is very pretty - lush green - with lots of rice fields and quaint fishing villages.

South Sulawesi Countryside

Tana Toraja Countryside : Our main destination on Sulawesi was Tana Toraja, home of the Toraja ethnic group in the south Sulawesi highlands. Torajans are famous for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites that are carved in rocky cliffs, a massive peaked roof of traditional house called tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings.

Tana Toraja Countryside

Toraja Heritage Hotel : The Toraja Heritage Hotel was our home during our stay in Tana Toraja. Located somewhat outside of Rantepau, it was architectually well adapted to Toraja culture. Our suite made up an entire replica of a Tongkonan house with lovely attention to detail. The hotel was woefully underutilized due to the dearth of tourists visiting Tana Toraja these days (the number dropped from 35,000 per year before the Bali bombings to about 7,000 currently) - we never saw more than 10 parties at breakfast or dinner and the hotel could have accomodated at least a factor of 5 more guests.

Toraja Heritage Hotel

Royal Graves of Suaya : Torajans of noble origin are often buried in a stone grave, carved out of a rocky cliff. In some places, the stone cave is enough to accommodate the whole family. A wooden carved effigy, called tau tau, is usually put in the cave and faced down over the land. The tau tau effigies have a spooky presence to them, watching over the land...

Royal Graves of Suaya

Baby Grave Tree : Deceased Toraja babies are not buried in stone graves as adults are, but they are placed in the hollow of a tree, which eventually envelopes the body and integrates it into the tree.

Baby Grave Tree

Tampangallo Cave : Tampangallo Cave is probably among the spookiest sites in Tana Toraja. Nested in a picturesque valley of rice paddies one finds this small cave containing many well prserved tau tau effigies, wooden coffins and plenty of skulls and bones of Torajan nobles...

Tampangallo Cave

Lemo : Lemo is probably the most famous and impressive Torajan cliff grave site with tau tau effigies. The cliffs are truly impressive, overlooking a large valley of rice paddies and small farms.

Londa Cave : Londa Cave is the best known burial cave in Tana Toraja. It has a number of newer tau tau effigies at its entrance and is nested in a narrow wooded valley. Personally I did not like it as much as Tampangallo Cave, due to Londa's commercialization and narrow caverns.

Market Day in Rantepau : Market day in Rantepau is spectacular!! Everything one could possibly imagine is for sale and the crowd of Torajans streaming from remote villages to Rantepau for the market is humongous. The highlight of the market is undoubtedly the livestock section with its buffalos and pigs.

Market Day in Rantepau

Batutumonga & Highlands : The village (?) of Batutumonga is located in the highlands of Tana Toraja. Road conditions are pretty harsh, but the ride offers glorious vistas over the highland countryside and great insights into the lives of the people in rural Tana Toraja.

Batutumonga & Highlands

Toraja Funeral Site : Torajan funeral rites are major social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and last for several days. During a traditional funeral for a person of noble descent, multiple buffalos and pigs are slaughtered in a ritualistic fashion. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalos are slaughtered at their funeral. Sometimes the preparation of such a funeral can take years (to collect the money needed to buy the buffalos), during which time the embalmed body of the deceased remains in the home of a close family member.

Toraja Funeral Site

Palawa : Palawa is another very well preserved traditional Toraja village with lots of tongkonan houses. While Kete Kesu serves now as a museum, Palawa is still a living village and definitely worth seeing.

Senkang : We spent a night in Senkang in order to visit Lake Tempe. The city is home to Sulawesi's silk production - note that quality and patterns are more geared towards the domestic market and can't compete with what you find in the upscale shops on Bali or in Singapore. Senkang does not offer any decent accomodations 9even though we were treated to a very nice traditional dinner at our hotel) - beware if you want to visit this part of Sulawesi...

Lake Tempe : Lake Tempe used to be home to the largest bird population in Indonesia. However a recent drought caused a change in bird migration patterns, leaving Lake Tempe virtually deserted of the previously so numerous birds. So if you're interested in wildlife, don't waste your time here... However, we were able to visit a floating village of local fishermen which gave us great insights into their daily lives.

Countryside Wedding : This was a chance encounter: on our way from Senkang back to Makassar, we drove by a wedding party and our guide decided impromptu to stop so that we had a chance to congratulate the happy couple and see for ourselves how a wedding looks like on Sulawesi. The people were very friendly and invited us to stay - which we politely declined since we needed to catch our flight in Makassar (and were sort of scared of the conditions under which the food had been prepared...).

Countryside Wedding

All images are copyright by Steffen A. Bass - unauthorized use strictly prohibited

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