Panorama Khatulistiwa

To get to Toraja, you’ll find yourself driving through spectacular mountains, steep terraced slopes and tall bamboo forests before arriving in a true paradise of unspoiled natural beauty. Witnessing all that, you’ll have no trouble understanding why Torajans believe their forefather descended from heaven. The center of tourism in Tana Toraja is Rantepao, 328 km north-east of Makassar, sitting 700 m above sea level. Rantepao has cool, pleasant evenings. The entry to Tana Toraja is marked by gate built in traditional boat shaped style. The road passes the spectacular mountains of Kandora and Gandang on which, according to Toraja mythology, the first ancestors of celestial beings descendents from heaven. This form belief created a unique Christian-animism culture in Toraja Society. Their ancestors worship include elaborate death and afterlife ceremonies, which are essentially great feast for everyone, A strict social hierarchy is followed in the villages and for an important figure weddi...

Lake Limboto is a large lake located in the Regency of Gorontalo. Lake with an area of approximately 3000 hectares of this is the estuary of the five major rivers, the River Bolango Bone, alo River, River Daenaa, Bionga River, and River Molalahu. In the era of 1950s, Lake Limboto have the depth to 27 m. However, at this time the depth of Lake Limboto only about 7-8 m only. The depth of the lake such as this Limboto does not like the lake is usually shaped like a natural pond. Lake Limboto have the form of a muddy surface. However, in the middle of this lake, visitors can view the fresh water flora that grow in the surface, such as water hyacinth, rush, and lotus flowers. In this lake, visitors can conduct various activities, such as fishing or boating. Limboto located in the Lake District Limboto, Kabupaten Gorontalo, Gorontalo Province, Indonesia. Locations near Lake Limboto with Jalaluddin Airport, therefore making visitors from outside of Gorontalo is not too difficult to achi...

Bunaken is part of the Bunaken National Marine Park, which has some of the highest levels of marine biodiversity in the world. Scuba diving attracts many visitors to the island. Bunaken is located at the north of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs administratively to the municipality of Manado. The Bunaken National Marine Park was formally established in 1991 and is among the first of Indonesia's growing system of marine parks. The park covers a total surface area of 890.65 km², 97% of which is overlain by sparkling clear, warm tropical water. The remaining 3% of the park is terrestrial, including the five islands of Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen. Although each of these islands has a special character, it is the aquatic ecosystem that attracts most naturalists.Bunaken is a part of the Bunaken National Marine Park and it boasts one of the most diverse marine biodiversity in the world. Many tourists come to this beach area to scuba dive or snorkel t...

The Pinisi Boat is synonymous with the Bugis people, a major ethnic group from South Sulawesi. For generations, the Bugis were renowned in the region for their sea-faring exploits. Their voyages played an important role in influencing the course of history in the Malay Archipelago. The spirit of enterprise even led the ancestors of today’s Bugis to places as far as Australia and Madagascar. Credit must somehow go to the hardy and reliable Phinisi. The construction of the Phinisi still lives on among Buginese boat making families, who ply their trade along the white sandy beaches of Kampong Tana Beru, 135 km south of Makassar. Building a Phinisi boat involves dozens of people led by the head boat maker, and is done in several phases. First is to search for strong and water-resistant wood taken from a particular tree. The search is conducted only on certain dates like the fifth or seventh day as the number five means “having luck” and seven means “luck is on the way”. Before choppi...