Toraja Camp
The Year 7 students met early at the airport for the flight to Makassar (Sulawesi) where we were greeted with flowers and a welcome banner before boarding the bus for the drive to Tana Toraja. We tucked into a late lunch at a delightful beach restaurant before being chased back onto the bus by rain. The rain was heavy for the rest of the journey causing power failures for the locals and making the trip slow but steady. On arrival at the Heritage Hotel, we enjoyed a late dinner and a performance by the children from the Bamboo Music Village.
Tuesday was a perfect day to explore the unique culture of Toraja. We visited the unique burial places of Lemo and Londa and the traditional village of Kete Kesu. An unexpected sight came our way, we saw part of a traditional funeral – very startling indeed!!
Wednesday was the day of the big walk. We drove to the top of Batutomonga where we had spectacular views of the area. Our walk down was a challenging 10km with several stops to see the metal workers, fields of rice, coffee and cocoa, more graves and local village life. Lunch was at a restaurant overlooking a rice paddy before going into town and seeing coffee being roasted and women weaving using traditional looms.
Thursday was another walk – this time to a farmer’s rice paddy where we helped him plant his crop. Plenty of mud but a great river to clean up in and of course, a water fight. A visit to the traditional Bolu market completed our daytime activities.
Our return to Jakarta began very early on Friday morning. It was all quite uneventful with the exception of the traffic jam back in Jakarta. A very big "thank you" to Miss Natalie and Mr Aan for their enthusiasm and hard work and to the students for their positive attitude and willingness to try everything.
Please click on the thumbnails to see the enlarged picture.
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