SULAWESI – THE LAND OF THE DEAD

THE SPIRIT OF SULAWESI

Previously known as Celebes, Sulawesi is one of the first eye-catching islands on the map of Indonesia. Its bizarre and scorpion-like island shape, large mountain ranges, volcanic cones, mysterious village names, regions, and neighbouring seas – all of that stirs one’s imagination and encourages venturing a bit further into this intriguing land.

The history of the Sulawesi Island is inevitably linked with colonialism and the brutal fighting that ensued between European powers over the control of trade routes and accessibility to valuable spice plantations. Sulawesi Island still to this day remains one of the world’s main producers of clove, nutmeg, coconut, copra, cacao, vanilla and coffee, although it’s not only tropical spices that make Sulawesi such an interesting travel destination. Breathtaking mountain landscapes, vastly covered jungles, savannahs, and rice field plateaus, unique flora and fauna, and above all the fascinating mysterious culture of the inhabitants are responsible for Sulawesi’s promise of an authentic adventure.

Tana Toraja is Sulawesi’s most famous cultural region. The people of this mountainous land have developed extremely complicated and spectacular burial customs in which the body of the dead is treated as if they were still alive. Corpses are put inside caves with small burial chambers carved in limestone cliffs and guarded with “tau tau” – wooden statues of the dead. If you add the rest of the region’s living animistic culture – the cult of white buffalo, boat-shaped houses, shamanism, and the belief in spirits – you will understand that an expedition to Tana Toraja is the same as plunging into a completely different lost world.