Makassar Tourist Information Service and Travel Tips to Indonesia

Offshore, dozens of tropical islands come complete with white sand and the ubiquitous shady palms. Pulau Samalona is the most popular for swimming and snorkelling, while the friendly fishing islands of Lai Lai and Barrang Lompo are great to visit for a day or two and you can even stay overnight. Several of the islands are surrounded by spectacular coral reefs just made for diving and snorkeling.

Just south of Makassar, royal remains can be seen in Kale Gowa, Tallo and Sungguminassa. Islands off Makassar include Samalona with Kodingarang Keke and Kapoposan islands offering good snorkelling and scuba diving.

At Tana Beru, near Bulukumba about 3 hours by car to the southern of Makassar, the construction of traditional wooden boats still continues. You will discover how this shooners are build in the traditional way from the small pinisi to the big wooden ocean liners.

Malino is a cool resort renowned for its luscious fruits and nearby Balaniparang Waterfall. It is only one hour by car to reach this small town. The students of SMKN 8 Makassar are willing to guide you if you need it.

Beautiful waterfalls, pools, cliffs, caves and butterflies are found at Bantimurung Reserve.

Gua Mampu en route to Tana Toraja you will pass this location near Pangkep has the most spectacular limestone caves in Southern Sulawesi

South Sulawesi is welknown of her rice, in Pangkep about 3 hours by car from Makassar you will see the open rice fields; the sawah and the latest invation of the argiculture experts is the so called Beras Sulawesi which has a pandan-aroma and is bigger in it's shape

Tana Toraja famous of its beautiful seanery A short flight by Merpati Nusantara Airlines or a scenic and interesting eight-hour drive through Bugis villages, coastal fishing villages and the Toraja foothills brings visitors up to the verdant Toraja highlands or Tana Toraja where the almost flourescent green of the rice fields are dotted with distinctive saddle backed houses. Known as Tongkonan, these houses are said to echo the horns of the buffalo, that are an inseparable part of the Torajans.

Toraja people spend their lives growing excellent fragrant rice, raising magnificent buffalo, especially the highly valued pink albino strains. Their work is interspersed with dramatic ceremonies. Harvest festivals and house warming festivals, are times for feasting and a gathering of the clan, times to wear their best costumes and jewellery, bring out the tuak (a local brew) and party for days on end, times for singing and dancing and, of course, eating. These are also times for neighbours and clan members to pay their respects and to pay back obligations that may date back generations. Attractive tourist destination in Tana Toraja are:

Londa: 4 km from Rantepao the capital of Tana Toraja, where a balcony of tau tau guard the entrance to two impressive caves filled with brightly decorated coffins, while all around them skulls and bones lie on the rocks.

Lemo: At Lemo (12 km from Rantepao), the towering cliff face is filled with graves and tau tau of high-ranking aristocrats, best viewed very early in the morning before the sun gets too high.

Ke'te Kusu: The village of Ke'te Kesu (14 km from Rantepao) has become a living museum. Here a whole tongkonan, or village of traditional houses, and their distinctive rice barns, looks out over a sea of rice fields. At the back of the village are some beautiful tau tau and intricate old coffins.

Some of the country's best white water rapids are in the Toraja highlands, and the adventure company Sobek takes guests to the hills. There is a choice of easy one-day raft trips for fun, or the more adventurous three-day rafting/trekking trip through countryside scarcely touched by man. 

Mamasa: Meanwhile trekkers will find the three-day walk from Toraja to Mamasa (West Toraja) a journey back in time. While east Toraja has many tourists, Mamasa is still very much the way it always was – a more rugged version of Toraja. Higher mountains, the air is appreciably cooler and walking is a pleasure. Trails lead through isolated villages far off the tourist route where traditional houses still use attap roofs and funerary tombs are carved in the shape of buffaloes. The clacking of handlooms can be heard echoing through the hills. Those who prefer to visit in comfort can contact a tour company and visit Mamasa by car or minibus.

Palopo: From Toraja, the road heads east through the mountains to the coastal town of Palopo, following the east coast before heading inland to the Bugis heartland of Sengkang with its silk weaving and Soppeng Wattampone, and back to Makassar via Maros

Fly Silk Air to Your Next Destination

SINGAPORE

prepared by The Cyber Cafe Team SMKN 8 Makassar

 January 2001

e-mail address

tourism@telkom.net