Go Gorontalo: A young province stirs for change
Go Gorontalo: A young province stirs for change
Bruce Emond, The Jakarta Post, Gorontalo City
In the parched central square of Gorontalo City, where colonial
resistance fighter Nani Wartabone is immortalized in a towering
granite statue, only the occasional drone of a bentor (motorized
pedicab) breaks the early afternoon silence.
With many of the city's 148,000 residents napping away the
afternoon out of the sweltering heat, offices and businesses
follow suit by shutting up shop until 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.
"This is probably the only place in Indonesia where we have a
proper siesta," said Alex Velberg, the owner of Melati Hotel.
The laid-back small town atmosphere is only to be expected in
a regency town transformed overnight to a provincial capital when
Gorontalo separated from North Sulawesi three years ago.
But there is also no escaping the impression that Gorontaloans
are trying their best to move out of the shadow of their neighbor
to the north.
Gorontalo province is a place where corn is king -- like the
siesta, it's a legacy of 17th century Spanish travelers, and is
one of the few crops able to endure the arid climate that marks
much of the province, except the relatively fertile Marisa
regency.
Its spiraling minarets tell of its majority Muslim population;
while Aceh is known as "Serambi Mecca" (Mecca's threshold),
Gorontaloans call their province "Serambi Medina".
Gorontalo gets few travelers (the tales of double takes and
shouted hellos at every turn for Western visitors are true), with
most using it as a stopover before heading to the secluded
beaches of the nearby Togian islands. In 2001, just over 1,000
foreign tourists visited Gorontalo, but the province's tourism
and culture office estimates that perhaps 500 visited last year,
in the wake of the Bali bombings.
Still striving to improve the welfare of its population, the
Gorontalo government lists improvement of human resources,
agriculture and development of a maritime economy as three
"superior" programs in its mission and vision statement, although
"culture" is included among its 10 general objectives.
Yet its rickety infrastructure is slowly inching toward change
for the better for travelers. Along Jl. A. Yani, the closest
thing to a main street in Gorontalo, a Quality Inn is under
construction, set to be the first "starred" hotel in the
province.
Celebes Air also began linking Gorontalo to major cities in
Java in mid-August, bringing to three the carriers serving the
Jakarta-Gorontalo route.
Granted, it could be a sleepy town anywhere in eastern
Indonesia, and it's definitely no Manado (which a friend quipped
is "heaven's gate" in comparison). Yet its clean streets and
several interesting attractions are a refreshing world away from
the traffic jams, malls and fast-food emporiums of Jakarta for
those with a sense of adventure.
A first trip can be to Benteng Otanaha, a complex of three
16th century forts overlooking Lake Limboto about 10 kilometers
from the city. Take a bentor (about Rp 10,000, and it's advised
to have the driver wait) to the first set of steps leading to
Fort Ulupahu, Fort Otahiya and Fort Otanaha, which is a
breathtaking 353 steps up.
Alternately, for lazier lugs, have the bentor drive you the
back way to Otanaha, which has several tidy gazebos with views
over Lake Limboto. It may have been something a few years ago,
but now the lake is a rather pitiful sight, with most of it being
eaten up by fish farms (the dire prediction is that it will dry
up completely in 10 years from silt and reclamation).
You will be able to get a close-up look at one of Otanaha's
turrets, now covered, which is said to have been made from
crushed eggshells of the maleo bird. Unfortunately, while it's
very clean, there was no guide around or printed information
available on site
There is a hot water public swimming pool at Lombongo (bentor,
Rp 30,000 round-trip), a pleasant 15-kilometer drive through
neatly kept kampongs and leafy countryside.
The swimming pool itself does not have much to offer -- the
water is hot, true, but it's none too clean, although a new
artificial pool for water rides is under construction.
More interesting for the adventurous is a stop at the park
ranger's office a few hundred meters down the road. There you can
find out about visiting three waterfalls a little inside the
300,000-hectare Dumoga Bone National Park, as well as other
excursions to see flora and fauna (the day I visited, the small
wooden Gorontalo-style house was closed as the ranger was taking
a couple of tourists to see a maleo nest).
If you are looking for more of a vacation experience, there is
the new Pentadio resort (about Rp 15,000 by bentor). Opened in
January, it overlooks what is left of Lake Limboto, with swimming
pools, sauna, a water games pool, wooden villas and fishing.
Villas start at Rp 200,000 a night, but the resort still has an
unfinished look to it, with unpaved roads and its otherwise idle
employees glad to see anybody come by.
But it's the diving opportunities off Gorontalo's rugged
coastline that probably hold the greatest tourist potential.
"Our guests have used phrases like 'pristine reefs', 'diving
in a virgin area' and 'no trash to be seen,'" said Rantje Allen,
an American working with Miguel's Diving, which is owned and
operated by Manado-based Pola diving (www.miguelsdiving.com).
At present, with few other visitors, divers have the waters
pretty much to themselves. Because of the strong currents, Rantje
said the best time to dive was from November to April.
"The diving here is quite special, with spectacular coral and
new and undescribed species, plus endemic ones. In addition to
kilometers of dramatic walls, we also have shallow coral gardens,
a mini-mount, a multiple pinnacle dive, muck diving and two
wrecks, including a 1942 Japanese wreck."