Remote Lands

Indonesia

Overview | Hotels | Photos | Facts

Suggested Itinerary

Day 1 – Bali

VIP arrival at Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, Indonesia's magnificent Shangri-la. Bali has it all: lovely people, incredibly rich culture, astonishing natural beauty, and more than 20,000 temples and palaces. Check into the Four Seasons or one of the famed Amanresorts, and settle into your fabulous villa with your own private swimming pool.

Enjoy a traditional Balinese massage and body scrub, and relax in a bath of lavender flower petals.

Unwind with poolside cocktails and barbecue dinner in your villa prepared by your private chef and servers.

Day 2 – Bali

Take a helicopter over the large and diverse island of Bali, with its picturesque beaches, sheer cliffs, spectacular volcanoes, emerald rice terraces, steep gorges and exotic wildlife.

Land in a remote village and participate in a private family ceremony or religious ritual, such as a tooth filing (to rid the body of the weaknesses such as lust, greed, anger, drunkenness, confusion and jealousy), a wedding, or a funeral (a joyous celebration where the dead person is released into the afterlife).

In the evening have a traditional Balinese dinner at the private home of a top government leader or businessman, followed by a Sanghyang fire dance performance (on hot coals, where the entranced dancer feels no pain) and a Kecak dance traditionally performed as an exorcism to promote peace and health within a village.

Day 3 – Toraja Highland, Sulawesi

Fly to Makassar airport in South Sulawesi, and then by chartered plane into the breathtaking mountains of the Toraja Highland, where the tribesmen are famous for their dramatic arch-shaped roofs and their elaborate death ceremony.

The Toraja funeral ritual, the most prestigious in the tribe's ancestor-focused tradition, is a festive and joyful week of round-the-clock feasting, dancing and chanting intended to safely conduct the soul into the afterworld. Dead bodies, considered full members of society, are kept and offered food and drink for months or even years until their funerals are finally held. Animal sacrifice is an important element, and dozens or even hundreds of buffalo are slaughtered depending on the rank of the deceased. On the last day of the funeral, the coffin is not buried in the ground, but is instead hauled up the mountain with great excitement to a remarkable stone grave carved into a steep rock cliff.

Spend the afternoon and the evening taking part in this astonishing event, meeting, dining and dancing with the delightful Toraja people.

Day 4 – Toraja Highland, Sulawesi

Visit the royal family tombs in Lemo, with stone graves built into sheer rock faces and wooden effigies of the deceased standing out on the "balconies".

At the Londa caves see hanging coffins and human skulls and bones left behind inside, and the tombs of babies' carved into a huge tree in Kambira.

Visit the orphanage in Tagari, Rantapao where 75 children age 4-18 live. Draw straws, and treat the winners to lunch at a local restaurant.

Afterwards, visit a remote Toraja village and have tea in the private home of a local family. Torajanese architecture is quite extraordinary - the visually striking roofs of the houses resemble one side of a buffalo horn.

Have an entertaining dinner at the home of a local Toraja nobleman along with other high-ranking community leaders.

Day 5 – Jayapura, Papua

Fly back to Makassar airport, and then on to Jayapura on the far eastern border of the former Irian Jaya (now divided into two provinces: West Papua and Papua). New Guinea, the second largest island in the world after Greenland, is part of two different countries - Indonesia in the west and Papua New Guinea in the east. Its human habitation dates back 60,000 years, and it still has indigenous tribes living in the Stone Age, who eat maggots, use pigs as currency, and are the last people to practice ritual cannibalism. It is one of the least visited and least developed areas of Asia - and is therefore one of the most mysterious and intriguing places in the world to the adventurous traveler.

In the coastal town of Jayapura, check in to the comfortable Sentani Indah hotel.

Visit nearby Lake Sentani and travel across its waters by motorized canoe to a fishing village where the locals live in stilted houses over the water. Stop by the home of a village family and learn about their lives and traditions, including the woodcarvings and other handicrafts for which the area is famed.

Back in slightly more cosmopolitan Jayapura, the chef of a favorite local restaurant will give you a cooking demonstration in Indonesian cuisine and prepare a meal specially for you.

Day 6 – Wamena, Papua

Take a private chartered plane to Wamena, the capital of the Baliem Valley, and check in to the Baliem Valley Resort.

Drive one hour to Jiwika to meet the Dani people, famously fierce headhunters who wear boar tusks in their noses and no clothes except long penis gourds called kotekas. They are known for their decorative headdresses, their ancient mummies and their custom that when someone in the village dies, each of his female relatives has a segment of her finger cut off (mutilated hands are de rigeur).

Participate in a festive pig roast with the colorful and kind Dani tribesmen.

Day 7– Anguruk, Papua

Fly by chartered missionary plane to Angguruk to meet the Yali tribesmen who are pygmies and former cannibals, and are even less visited and less influenced by the outside world than the Dani. They had no contact with the modern world until 1976, and even today few outsiders go there because the only access is by foot or by chartered plane. Yali tools have not changed in a thousand years, and they still use stone axes and bows and arrows. Men and women live in separate quarters.

Spend an absolutely unforgettable day with these wonderful people, having lunch with them and helping them with their daily activities including hunting, gathering, cooking, and tending their pigs.

Stay at a local missionary house, which has only very basic facilities.

Day 8 – Dayo Village, Papua

For the VERY INTREPID and fit traveler only: Take the missionary plane south, cross the river by canoe and then trek into the dense swampy lowland tropical rainforest. Spend the night in tents and shelters in Dayo Village. Your private chef will prepare your western or Asian meals to your liking.

Day 9 – Korowai Village, Papua

Explore the area to find the extremely remote Korowai people who live scattered around the area in tree houses soaring high above ground, and are naked except for a leaf or nut tied to the genitalia.

These tribesmen, the world's last remaining cannibals, kill and eat male witches called khakua who come disguised as friends or relatives of the targeted victim. Just before the person dies, he tells his loved ones who the responsible khakua is. As part of the Korowai system of justice, the family must seek revenge on that evil spirit — whom they don't consider human at all — by killing and eating that individual. All the flesh (said to taste like pork) is consumed except the penis, and the brains are considered the most delicious.

Spend one of the most memorable days of your life with these extraordinary people, who had no contact with the outside world until the 1970s.

Spend the night in a tree house or in a tent on the ground.

Day 10 – Yaniruma, Papua

Spend the day trekking back through the lush jungle to Yaniruma, where you will spend the night at a missionary house.

Day 11 – Casuarina Coast

Fly south to the Casuarina Coast, home of the Asmats, former headhunting cannibals known for eating their enemies' brains straight from their skulls, and using human skulls as pillows. In 1961, Michael Rockefeller, son of then New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller, died mysteriously and without a trace in Asmat territory. The Asmat diet staple is the sago palm, but they also survive on seafood and insect larvae from the Capricorn beetle. Asmat woodcarvings - boats, statues, drums, shields - are central to the tribe's mythology and rituals, and enable the people to make direct contact with their deceased ancestors. The abstract carvings have great modern appeal and are highly prized around the world.

Take a long wooden motor boat to Agats, and spend the night at a small, basic hotel.

Day 12 – Wus Village, Papua

Take a boat to nearby Wus village where you spend the day with the tribesmen taking part in their usual activities of fishing, collecting crab and making sago starch.

Spend a second night in Agats.

Day 13 – Timika, Papua

Take a chartered flight to nearby Timika, home of the world's largest gold-mine. Check into the Sheraton Timika.

Day 14 – Bali

Fly to Bali. Check back into the Four Seasons or the Amanresort, and experience a bit of culture shock with the extremely sharp contrast between the creature comforts of Bali and the wilds of Papua. Relax!

Day 15 – Bali

Go snorkeling in crystal clear waters of the Java Sea.

Visit the private home of a local chef where you will learn to prepare Balinese cuisine and enjoy a delicious home-cooked lunch with a local family.

Take a sunset horseback ride along the beach and finish your journey with a celebratory gourmet barbecue by the ocean.

Day 16

Depart Bali for home.

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