JP/13/Park Bantimurung: A cool respite from city life
A nice-day trip for travelers and a great escape for Makassar City residents, Bantimurung National Recreational Park in South Sulawesi is a beautiful spot to enjoy nature and chill out.
Set in tall, jutting limestone hills, deep hollows, springs and caves, the park boasts pretty views under a cool forest canopy, the sounds of chirping birds and the relaxing splash of waterfalls cascading into swimming holes.
The reserve, located in Maros Regency, some 45 k.m. to the north of South Sulawesi's provincial capital of Makassar, is a short one-hour drive from Makassar and only 30 minutes from Makassar's Hasanuddin International Airport. Buses are also available to take you there from Makassar.
Then there are the butterflies. The park's main attraction, a visitor can easily find these winged critters of all colors, sizes and shapes fluttering in the air, gliding around the waterfalls or in and out of the leafy branches of trees. Once in a while, they alight on flowers near the park's streams.
Many visitors take time to soak in the swimming hole under the main waterfall, enjoying the movement of the water flowing through small spaces between stones as they talk with family members or friends, or taking a refreshing shower under the deluge.
The more adventurous in spirit are likely to be keen to visit two caves locally famous for their unusual stalactites and stalagmites. The Cave of Dreams is located on the path to the left of the park's main waterfall, while to the right one can find the Stone Cave.
The road to the caves is not easy. One must climb a steep, stony track between two lines of trees before getting to the entrance of the Cave of Dreams, which is located about 15 meters above the waterfall. The Stone Cave, meanwhile, starts with a more simple climb up stone-cut stairs to the right of the waterfall and then a walk along a narrow path around the side of the stream. At the end of this path, the entrance to the Stone Cave is plain.
Of these two caves, the Cave of Dreams is the most popular because of its unusual interior, shapes which take strange but identifiable forms. On both sides of the cave you can find various stalactites in the forms of people and animals as well as a splitting image of garlic and a "crystal lamp".
To go further inside the Cave of Dreams, one needs a guide. Just pay one of them Rp 5,000 and he will take you through the one-kilometer-long cave. At the other end is the entrance of the park.
The area also has a nature conservation site where many species of plants and animals are conserved. Some of these animals are protected because they are rare, such as the Sulawesi black monkeys (macaca maura), rangkong birds (rhyticeros cassidix) and boars. The flora include some unique wild orchids.
Around Bantimurung, one can easily see the steep karst topography -- rolling limestone hills and valleys that stretch along the road leading to the Camba and Pangkajene islands in Pangkep regency. In between these hills there are many more caves that have yet to be explored.
One frequently visited by tourists and students for research purposes is Leang-leang Cave, where ancient humans, the ancestors of the South Sulawesi people used to dwell. There you can find drawings of a palm frond and a boar. Also popular are the Pattunuang and Asu Caves.
Andi Hajramurni