Coming to Sulawesi, my main focus was visiting Tana Toraja – fascinating land of death. Thinking what to see in Toraja, I was looking for places connected with culture as well as natural wonders in the region. If you plan on visiting Tana Toraja by yourself, this post will cover all the highlights as well as some useful travel tips.
Above all, this destination is famous for unique tradition of keeping the body after death and the biggest funeral ceremonies in the world that I have already covered in the article about funerals in Toraja. However, apart from the funerals there are stunning natural sites as it’s a mountain area with green rice terraces, caves and sunrise view points. I came to Tana Toraja in the end of April, when was the season of planting rice. The rainy season was ending and rice terraces became lush green. The landscape was so beautiful, and I enjoyed going around, sometimes without destination as the journey itself was simply beautiful.
Is visiting Tana Toraja by yourself possible?
The guides business is huge, as I have already mentioned in the previous post about funerals in Toraja. But don’t listen to what they say, you can go everywhere by yourself, even for the funeral. Some places are hidden, some don’t have a sign but GPS signal is fair and in my opinion you can get everywhere by yourself. The region is not so big and Google Maps or Maps.me app help a lot. Otherwise, you can always ask some locals on the way.
Public transportation in Toraja is not reliable, and you will not get to most of the villages counting on the minibus. Therefore, you will have to rent a motorbike. Most probably, you will stay in Rantepao, the capital town of North Toraja. Near the main square, there are a few spots where you can rent a motorbike for 100 000 rupiah per day. If you give it back before 4 pm, the price can be 80 000, and if your want to rent for a few days, you can also try to make it cheaper. Take your phone with GPS and let’s go to discover Toraja!
What to see in Toraja?
Seeing the highlands of Toraja was memorable. Not only shocking traditions but also beautiful culture and lush green landscape. As I mentioned it’s a mountain area, therefore on the higher attitude you get to feel cool and nice, not like in the exotic parts of Sulawesi, like the paradise islands and beaches. I made a list of what to see in Toraja that includes stunning landscapes as well as places connected with culture such as burial caves or megalith sites.
Boat-shaped houses of Toraja
Houses of Toraja (Tongkanan) are iconic, and I was fascinated about their shape. If you are also wondering why the shape is so particular, here is what I found. According to the anthrolpologists there were people from an island near nowadays China who came to Sulawesi by boat. As they came a long way by primitive boats, associated the boat with their home. That’s why they started to built boat-shaped houses as a sign of their ethnicity.
Traditional houses in Toraja show the direction from the south to the north with the boat-shaped roof. It’s to remember the ancestors which came from the North to South. Houses belong to communities, which would rather built few of them next to each other when the community was growing. On the opposite side of the houses, Torajans built their majestic rice barns which are the icon of Toraja. Rice barn is rich in decorations and put on a cylindric stilts to protect mouses from climbing up. The building is a symbol of prosperity, so each time the community will have money to afford new rice barn, they will build it. The more rice barns the better, as it shows their high status. It doesn’t matter that most of them are empty and they don’t need so much storage.
Every traditional house is covered with carvings, which are not only decoration but also symbols considered to be equal with the holy book for Torajans. The carvings are handmade and originally painted with natural paints. They are not readable as hieroglyphs in Egypt but have symbolic meaning. For instance, the most popular picture is the buffalo symbolising prosperity.
Boat-shaped houses in Toraja have horns nailed to the front stilt, that are memories of all the funerals held in this village.
Interesting fact is that similar boat-shaped houses like in Toraja, were also built by Batak people near Lake Toba, the biggest lake in Indonesia, on Sumatra Island. Some scientists even say that Lake Toba has its name from TO-raja and BA-tak tribes. What’s more, boat-shaped houses can be also found on Borneo Island, that shows how wide the incomers from oversees spreaded.
