On the way to the Togean Islands

I left the beautiful land of Toraja on a Tuesday morning, ready for about 15 hours of bus (including stops for eating), first step on my way to the Togean Islands. I did not find the road terrible at all, but it was for sure a LONG road, slaloming in the mountains…

Fortunately, the bus was comfy, so comfy that when we reached the town of Tentena on Lake Poso, where I had first planned to spend the night, I decided to stay a few hours more in the bus to reach the city of Poso. There was something really nice with the atmosphere in that bus. Many things made me smile, like this old guy who touched my shoulder to offer me some fruits he just bought, with a wonderful smile. Adorable. But apparently, Indonesians’ stomaches have difficulties to enjoy traveling in the mountains: at some point, three or four people around me including my seat neighbour were sick, all puking in plastic bags. The traveling pills I distributed were a success!

At about 11.30 pm, we finally reached Poso. In the bus, I met a French couple, Guillaume and Lise, with whom I shared a room, sleeping on my yoga mat. The next morning, we took some kind of “public car” to Ampana, from where the boats to the Togean Islands are leaving. We were supposed to travel about 5 hours but reached Ampana in less than 3 hours. Along the road, we witnessed some horrible forest destruction and land fires for farming and palm oil production – some locals told me that it is only allowed to farm near the road and that further up the mountains the forest is protected, but with the important corruption in Indonesia, I have some doubts about it.

 

Deforestation for farming and palm oil plantations on the way to Ampana

 

We arrived in Ampana for lunch time. We knew that public boats for the Togean only leave at 10 am so we had a whole afternoon and evening to spend in Ampana doing nothing – because there is not much to do in Ampana! Well, actually my body was “kidnapped” by Edy, famous tourist guide in the area, who proposed to give me a free reflexology session, which in the end took about 2 and a half hours, and stopped only because I asked him to. I was tired, it was almost 4 pm and my stomach was still empty. I could feel that Edy was skilled in reflexology, but after 2 hours I was seriously wondering whether he just wanted to touch my body or what! In the evening, Lise, Guillaume and I went out for dinner on the beach – some nasi kuning (yellow rice), roasted corn and coconut, yum! I started to talk with a guy eating at the same table, some very basic things in Indonesian, but as Guillaume and Lise were impressed of seeing myself speaking with this guy in Indonesian, I guess my Bahasa was not that bad! After dinner, we tried to find a place to have a drink. The only place around was some outdoor karaoke: imagine a giant screen under the full moon, really loud music and a single lady singing, actually the waitress. At some point, she was even singing while talking on the phone. Big party time in Ampana!

 

Ampana

 

Thursday morning, I was finally on the ferry to the Togean islands. Five hours on the sea and I would be there! Lise, Guillaume and I took place outside on the deck, and of course we became the main attraction for locals crossing all the way from Ampana to Gorontalo, on the north part of Sulawesi. They took many pictures with us and we played cards, some version of the Rami we did not fully get even after several games!

 

Departure from Ampana

 

Playing cards with locals on the way to the islands

 

First sight of the Togean, I was not disappointed at all: many wild islands covered with rainforest, a few fishermen villages built over the water… A place out of the world, without internet and almost no phone signal. The ferry stopped at Wakai, one of the main villages of the Togean. From Wakai we took a last boat and about 40 minutes later reached Kadidiri, the most “social and touristic” island – but there is only three guesthouses, spread along a small beach. I would have loved to go straight to Malenge island, where there is a Bajau (sea gypsies) village, but there was no public ferry to Malenge until Saturday.

 

Wild Togean Islands

 

Overcrowded boat from Wakai to Kadidiri

 

Togean Islands

 

So we reached this little paradise island, where I payed only 100-150k rupiahs (8-12 CHF) for a night in a cottage including three meals a day at Pondok Lestari, hosted by an adorable local family. It felt so good to eat fresh fish cooked on the fire every day! In the end I spent 4 days on Kadidiri, chilling on the beach, walking in the jungle and snorkeling around. There is a beautiful marine diversity in the area, even if a lot of reefs have been destroyed by horrifying bomb and cyanure fishing (practices which are theoretically forbidden now, but can still be found). I also did a few great dives, the best one being a wall dive with HUGE colourful corals. And one of my best memories of the Togean, I had the amazing chance to take a trip to a jellyfish lake, where one can swim with non-stinging jellyfishes – one of the very few places in the world where it is possible to! The jellyfishes are so beautiful and peaceful, it was some meditative experience to swim with them.

 

Kadidiri, I slept in the cottage on the right!

 

Diving around the islands

 

Beach near the jellyfish lake

 

Swimming with jellyfishes!

 

Two days after I arrived in Kadidiri, Chrys joined me. We split one month and a half before in Flores and I was very happy to spend a few days with her again before going back to Switzerland. She brought a great ambiance with her voice and guitar, all the guesthouse gathered for an evening of music and arak (the local alcohol) around a bonfire. I shared some nice moments with the team of Lestari, specially while playing cards: when you lose, you have to hang clothespins to your ear and you cannot remove them until you win a game! Beware if Indonesians ever ask you if you want to play cards 😉

 

Kadidiri, drying bananas

 

Secret beach on Kadidiri island

 

 

After these great and relaxing days on Kadidiri, I said once again goodbye to Chrys and jumped on the boat of my guesthouse to go back to Wakai from where was leaving the public ferry to Malenge island. When we reached Wakai, I saw the boat docked a few hundreds meters away. The moment I jumped off our boat, I saw the ferry to Malenge leaving – it was my last chance to go to Malenge and visit the Bajau so I was very upset, shouting and waving my arms all around! At this moment a fisherman in his speedboat offered to bring me to the ferry, I did not hesitate a second, threw my backpack in his boat and jumped in, followed by an English guy coming from Kadidiri who just decided he also wanted to go to Malenge. The boat was very fast, but so was the ferry ahead of us! After a bit less than 10 minutes, we were close to the ferry and caught in its waves, I almost lost my backpack in the sea! The fisherman and us were making big gestures to the ferry which slowed down when they understood we wanted to join. Fortunately at the bottom of the ferry there was a big open door easily accessible; in the swirl of the waves, we gave our backpacks to some passengers inside, gave money to the fisherman and jumped in the ferry with the help of the passengers. A great little adventure – I wanted to go to Malenge, I would go to Malenge!

 

On the way to Malenge

 

 

Wild Togean

Kadidiri island

View from Kadidiri

Kadidiri beach

Sunset from Kadidiri

The best way to drink coconut!

Beach near the jellyfish lake

Secret beach on Kadidiri

On the way to Malenge

Colored chicks aboard the ferry

Inside the ferry from Wakai to Malenge