Far-flung Indonesia
Far-flung Indonesia
Indonesia, the world's fourth largest country and one of the most culturally diverse, is sprawled across 18,000 islands with over 300 different ethnicities and dialects. Most tourists flock to the Hindu island of Bali, which is truly an unrivalled tropical paradise, but there is so much more to this vast country. Travel off the beaten pah to Sumba Island, Sulawesi, and the wilds of Papua before luxuriating back in civilization on central Java.
Day 1 - Sumba Island
Fly to Sumba Island and stay at Nihiwatu. Tiny Nihiwatu has just seven bungalows and three villas–and one of the three best beaches on earth according to Condé Nast Traveler magazine, as well as world-class diving, snorkeling, fishing and surfing. Sumba was "discovered" by a Western couple who spent several years looking for "the perfect island" – this is it!
Have dinner at Nihiwatu. If they are available, have dinner with Claude and Petra Graves, the couple that owns Nihiwatu and started the Sumba Foundation, a remarkable not-for-profit organization that has helped the Sumbanese people in many immeasurable ways. The Graves' are revered all over the island, and with good reason. The foundation has built health care clinics, taught locals how to spot malaria, a serious problem on much of the island, funded cataract surgeries, started schools and dug water wells in villages where once locals had to walk up to 30 miles to find a clean water source. In trumpeting true eco-tourism and sustainability on the island they call home, the Graves' have created jobs for the locals and emancipated them from the crushing cycle of high infant mortality and poverty that malaria and the island's lack of natural resources have created. Hear the Graves' inspiring stories, which are sure to stay with you long after your Indonesian journey ends.
Day 2 - Sumba Island
If Claude is at Nihiwatu, shadow him or one of his colleagues this morning on visits to clinics or schools that the Sumba Foundation has set up, and see first-hand the lasting effects of the Foundation's work. On the ride there, you will likely encounter children running alongside the car, as many of them have never seen a car, and the only car that the others have seen is Claude's. When you get to the clinic or school, you are welcome and encouraged to interact with the Sumbanese, who would love to hear more about where you are from and enjoy a short English lesson if there is time and it is appropriate.
Drive to a village in Sumba famed for ikat weaving. This type of weaving is specific only to certain parts of Indonesia and it is so intricate that a single piece can take two years to complete and the finished product can be equivalent in value to a buffalo. The process is particularly lengthy because the highest quality blankets are still made entirely from scratch — the women spin the yarn on a traditional wheel and spindle upon receiving a commission, boil it with various natural substances to strengthen it and dye it and dry it multiple times before the yarn even touches the loom. Pre-spun yarn and chemical dyes can speed up the process, but of course the traditional weaves are still the most prized and valued. Chat with the women who practice this fine, traditional craft and if you like, you can also commission a specific design here, which can be sent to you when it is completed.
Relax in your villa for the remainder of the day.
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 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, Papuat
Take a chartered flight to nearby Timika, home of the world's largest gold-mine. Check into the Sheraton Timika.
Day 14 - Borobudur, Java
Fly to Yogyakarta. Check into Amanjiwo, which has wonderful views of the Kedu Plain and the temples of Borobudur. You may experience a bit of culture shock with the extremely sharp contrast between the creature comforts of Java and the wilds of Papua. Relax!
Day 15 - Borobudur, Java
Rise around 05:00 to visit Borobudur and arrive just before sunrise (just before 06:00). The park opens at 06:00 but you will arrive at 05:30, before most of the tourists and have a viewing of this architectural masterpiece.
Though it is the largest Buddhist monument in the world, the 9th-century Borobudur was nearly reclaimed by the jungle after the people of Java abandoned Buddhism in favor of Islam in the 15th century. In the 19th century it was uncovered by British and Dutch colonial leaders and restored to its former glory through a series of excavations and renovations that lasted up until 1973. Since that time it has reclaimed its place as the central Buddhist shrine in Indonesia, and is the country's most famous site and a UNESCO World Heritage-protected monument.
Return to your hotel for a rest.
In the afternoon, visit Prambanan, one of the most beautiful Hindu temple sites in the world and the largest complex of Hindu temples in Central Java. This UNESCO site was built in the 10th century and has three main temples in the primary area (known as the Loro Jonggrang complex), namely Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva temples, which all face the east and have accompanying temples facing the west as well: Nandini for Shiva, Angsa for Brahma, and Garuda for Vishnu. In addition to depicting Hindu deities, there are also bas reliefs of the Ramayana, an epic tale of Hindu teachings told through the life story of Prince Rama. This iconic, ancient story was composed around 750-800 BC and passed down through oral tradition.
Toast the end of your journey with a private dinner in a gubuk sawah, which in Javanese means "small house in the rice fields." Nestled in a galangal plantation, this rustic bale is where you will enjoy a unique village-style dinner. Romantic, relaxing and traditional, gubuk sawah offers a glimpse into rural Java, with spectacular views of Mount Merapi, weather permitting.
Day 16
Depart Java for home.