Toraja Nature Hiking
and Makassar Leisure Trip
(27th Nov - 05th Dec 2023)
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We landed at Makassar Airport on the 27th November 2023 and after lunch & a quick tour of Fort Rotterdam, we headed to Rammang-Rammang for a boat ride.
The road condition was quite bad; we're trapped in an hour plus jam, and by the time we reached Rammang-Rammang, heaven poured out its content.
Still, with rain jackets on, we took the boat ride along the river and toured the village - Kampung Barau.
On the way back to the jetty point, we held the boat, waiting for the bats to come out from their caves - they came out in numbers, millions of them, albeit like a faint shade of the black brush, colouring the greyisn evening sky.
Then, it was dinner time.
Once dinner was over, we spent some time sharing stories & adventures with our guide whilst waiting for the sleeper bus to pick us up, pre-arranged at Rammang-Rammang from their depart point at Makassar City - there upon, journeying for another 7 hours night travel - to Rantepao, the capital city of North Toraja.
The sleeper bus ride was a new experience for us; a totally new thing as compared to the common sleeper train travel we usually took for a long land journey in Malaysia or Thailand. It was a comfortable ride, more so for the missus who had more sleeping space due to her special physical size.
Reaching Rantepao in the early dawn, we checked-in into the hotel, and continued for another hour or two of resting.
Then, off we go exploring Toraja's rich cultural heritage, amongst the one we were fortunate to record in the tour was the death ritual of Ma'Nene; the remumified ceremony of their beloved elders. It was an unforgettable experience; a big occasion in term of its grandeur, as well as its significance.
Thereafter, we took on the Toraja tour; visiting the stone graves and old cave graveyard around Toraja. The Torajans pay a deep, sacred view of their ancestors and death rituals are of greater significance than all else there; the rituals have many stages or phases, and they are accompanied by the sacrification of domesticated animals such as pigs and the sacred buffaloes as symbols of transporting the deceased into the next world.
The next two days that follows, were the highlight of our trip to Toraja: the countryside hike we pre-arranged with our guide at the eatern part of Toraja highlands.
The hike took us traversing through the lushes of ripened padi fields, awaiting harvest in a week time or so.
We were therefore in a fortunate hiking time, coming over before the harvest - the golden yellow padi fields greeted us with such panoramic countryside views.
There were, however few padi fields that have been harvested and had dried up earlier; the long drought of about 4-6 months prior that had hit the harvest too - it has not been as in abundance as before.
The long awaited rain, though started showering the highlands sporadically while we were there, and it's just a matter of time that the actual monsoon season starts kicking in in heavy downpour later at the end of the year.
So we were as fortunate too being there just before the actual monsoon season begins and intensifies in late December to January, and throughout till the end of the first quarter of the new year.
Our hike through the countryside brought us to few resting stopovers at the villages, serving us tea & coffee whilst we took a breather and a quiet appreciation of the simple rustic life we sampled through the hike.
A night was spent sleeping in the Torajan Traditional house of Tongkonan at our designated village resting point. Dinner was served from bamboo, a rustic way of cooking dishes (in this instance, chicken for us) blended with several natural herbs & condiments cooked over an opened fire.
As the village we put up at was at the lowland, naturally the climate there was as comfortable, not too chilly as compared to the highlands.
It was a comfortable sleep, and thereafter breakfast the next morning, we continued for another 3 hours or so hike, before ending our trail at a designated meeting point. What followed next, were lunch at a restaurant enroute to our South Toraja tour of more graveyards.
What the North didn't have that are in the South is the effigy made of wood or bamboo miniature called 'Tau Tau' which in English means 'men'. They were once produced only for the wealthy, to reflect the status and wealth of the deceased. 'Tau Tau' are representatives of the deceased, ever-guarding the tombs and ever-protecting the living too.
Prior to visiting the stone graves and cave graveyard with the decorated 'Tau Tau', we visited Toraja Tree Burial (Passiliran Pia) for young Infants at Kambira village, Tana Toraja; where young children were buried in trees.
In the old days, the Torajans believed that when infants passed away, they were purer than adults. So, any infants or children that died before he or she started teething, the baby is wrapped in cloth and placed inside a hollowed out space within the trunk of a growing tree, and covered over with a palm fiber door. The hole is then sealed and as the tree begins to heal, the child is believed to be absorbed......
......and their bodies & spirits will thus be absorbed into the tree and continue to grow with it throughout time.
Our last night at Toraja was spent at the renowned Toraja Heritage Hotel, before we continued our travel throughout Makassar, next to Danau Tempe, Sengkang the next morning and thereafter, onwards south to Tanjung Bira for a beach time at Pantai Bara.
An evening flight brought us home after a 4 day 3 night stay at Pantai Bara, ending thus our countryside hiking at Toraja and the tour of Makassar, south of Sulawesi."
~ musafir,
The Wandering Moose
❤️❤️🖤🖤
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