Tana Toraja out to win UNESCO award, and visitors

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi

The rainy season comes early in Tana Toraja, but it does not dampen the generous beauty of the mountain panoramas, or its exotic culture, blessed with traditional burial sites and architecture.

The face of Tana Toraja regent JA Situru beamed with hope as he explained the area's attractions for both domestic and foreign tourists compared to other parts of the country.

"Tana Toraja has all of the potential to become a global tourist destination because of its unique culture and sites. The international community has recognized our sites from many years ago," Situru told The Jakarta Post.

It was not the empty exaggeration of an official selling his area; tourism sites abound in this area nestled in the mountains of South Sulawesi, from burial places carved out of cliffs and rocky crags, traditional houses, megalithic tombs and fantastic mountain views.

Although there are hundreds of potential tourism sites in Tana Toraja, only about 30 tourism sites are accessible to tourists because of infrastructure and transportation problems.

The Toraja Festival, a cultural celebration on Dec. 28-Dec. 29, is expected to help bring attention to the unique culture and customs.

Getting around Toraja is not difficult as there are plenty of tour operators. But getting there is not so easy; visitors have no option but to take overland transportation from Makassar as flights from the provincial capital were closed in 2001 due to the decreasing numbers of passengers and high operational costs.

But that long overland drive, taking about seven to eight hours, offers spectacular views of mountains, steep terraced slopes and tall bamboo forests along the way.

Upon first entering Tana Toraja, visitors pass through Makale, the regency capital. There are several hotels and motels here if tourists prefer to stay in the administrative and commercial hub.

Those wishing to be closer to the sites should head 15 kilometers north to Rantepao, the cultural center of Tana Toraja.

There are two four-star hotels in Rantepao: Marante Hotel provides excellent services in traditional building, fantastic views and swimming pool located along the main road, while the remoter Toraja Heritage Hotel has views of mountains and rice fields.

Many other hotels of three and two stars and motels are easily located around Rantepao.

On the way from Makale to Rantepao, there is Lemo, one of the most popular traditional graveyards in the area. Here is a balcony full of local wooden or bamboo statues called tau-tau, mixed up together in the steep coral stone museum in the open air. Most of the graves are hundreds of years old.

Halfway on the trip to Rantepao, Londa, another famous grave site, is found. Here, visitors are greeted by a wide balcony filled with tau-tau at the entrance to the cave. Ancient as well as more recent graves are inside a long, big cave in the side of a mountain.

It is divided into three parts: Laymen and common people are buried on the lowest level of the mountain while middle-class people are buried on the second. The top part of the mountain, accessed by climbing up bamboo ladders, is reserved for nobles.

Visitors need to rent a strong flashlight or a kerosene lamp to venture inside the cave, where coffins, bones and skulls are scattered. Many locals provide the service at the entrance of the cave for Rp 10,000 (a little over US$1).

Moving north, two different but culturally connected sites are found in Buntu Pune and Karassik. Buntu Pune is a traditional village consisting of Tongkonan, the Torajan traditional house, and several rice storage barns of a similar size and shape of the houses.

About two kilometers away in Karassik is a yard filled with menhir (megalithic stones) to commemorate the dead members of Buntu Pune family. The higher the stone, the greater the status of the deceased.

Similar grave sites and a menhir yard are also found in Bori' Parinding on the northern side of Rantepao.

Two native Torajans were busy carving rock with iron chisels to create a grave for someone who had died recently.

"It belongs to the member of a noble, wealthy family. It has taken almost two years to complete the grave. We charge Rp 12 million for each grave," one of the craftsmen told the Post.

Eli Bernard of the Tana Toraja Tourism Agency explained that the family would fill the grave with jewelry, gold and other personal belongings to enable the dead to enjoy the same amenities they had during life.

"Torajans believe that dead people still need those precious belongings to enjoy their journey in the after life," he said.

Kete' Kesu, a similar site but more extensive, is located at the southeastern side of Rantepao. Here, all aspects of Torajan ceremonies and daily life, including architecture, bamboo forests, traditional rice fields and burials, can be found.

Two other traditional housings compounds are found in Pallawa and Rante Kande Api. Pallawa, which is one of the oldest original traditional housing sites in the area, consists of Tangkonan and 14 rice storage barns located in front of the traditional houses, which all face north, the place where heaven, according to Torajan folklore, is located.

There are seven traditional houses at the site of Rante Kande Api. The traditional houses are constructed with wooden components full of ornaments. There are also 10 rice storage barns at the site.

All of the traditional complexes have beautiful, picture- postcard views.

There are many more fascinating places in Toraja, including the baby cemetery in Sangalla, the traditional houses in Marante, the King of Suaya grave in Suaya and the megaliths of Batutumongga.

As Situru said, the beauty and extant cultural heritage are internationally recognized. Since 2001, UNESCO has nominated Tana Toraja as a designated cultural heritage site, to join the ranks of Borobudur temple in Central Java and the Great Wall of China.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik said that Toraja held a good chance of winning the designation -- which would make it more attractive to foreign visitors.

"However, it depends on us to preserve and take care of the heritage if we want UNESCO to soon announce Tana Toraja as a world cultural heritage site. We have to work hard to meet UNESCO's requirements and thus convince them that the land is worthy of the award," he said recently in Jakarta.

Despite its venerated beauty and recognition, the number of visitors to Tana Toraja has shown a sharp downturn in recent years. In 2001, about 72,000 tourists came to the area, but the number plummeted to 43,000 in 2003. As of September 2004, the number of visitors for the year was only 20,000.

Situru complained that the decreasing trend was partly caused by the discontinuation of the flight from Makassar to Toraja.

"The long overland journey makes many tourists reluctant to come. All local and international tourists said to me that Toraja has among the most unique and beautiful attractions in the world, but it is useless because of the long and tiring journey. A tourist once told me that he needed to visit Toraja only once because of the tiring journey."

He hoped the government would renovate Pongtiku Airport to enable larger aircraft to land in Toraja, and shorten the journey to the area.