Sulawesi

It was love at first sight. Even when we were just reading about this less familiar Indonesian island for the first time, we fall in love with it and started planning our trip there.

It is an island of strangely interested shape North of Borneo. It lies on equator, which we cross by ship when traveling from North to South.

I will remember Sulawesi because of many things. Because of its authenticity, because it´s so primal. Nature is still intact and there are hidden corners, which are not discovered by tourism yet. I´ll remember it because natives are friendly and nice, because of the jungle and volcanoes on the North side, paradise archipelago Togian in the middle and fairytale land of Tana Toraya on South.

Our friends and family will remember our first trip to Indonesia by – unfortunately – hard times. Before arriving to Sulawesi we stopped at Bali and the night before our flight to North Sulawesi, we spent in Kuta – tourist town on Bali.

It was the night of terrorist attack in which many locals and tourists were killed. Thankfully we did not know anything about that – instead we took our flight early next morning, went directly in the jungle area of North Sulawesi, where there was no connection to the outside world. Good for us – and really hard for our family. They heard from us after a few days.

At that time I didn´t understand them. Now I have kids and I understand. When children come, everything changes. And I strongly wish I will never have to wait fearfully for a phone call.

So we all will forever remember Sulawesi. You cannot be indifferent about trip to Sulawesi. It was really adventurous journey and experience of primal nature and life with natives, their plainness and essence.

Photos of Sulawesi that you can see here are less quality. They are scanned – because back then we didn´t use digital cameras, instead we took photos on film or we did slides. I hope that they manage to conjure atmosphere, energy and beauty of less known island and their inhabitants.

I recommend trip to Sulawesi to all travelers who want to go beyond much traveled paths and out of their comfort zone. They will be well paid off with smiles of natives, primal and intact nature, turquoise colors of paradise archipelago, tradition of fairytale land of Tana Toraya, 50 shades of green on picturesque terrace rice fields and views that can thrill even demanding travelers.