One of the best destinations in the world to see orangutans is Tanjung Puting National Park. In a beautiful setting in a wooden boat, called “Klotok”, you cruise through the jungle for several days.
The park has 3 regions with different levels of accessibility. The Nucleus Zone is the most inner part of the park where most animals are and the most unique plants grow. This area is only accessible for research activities.
The Buffer Zone is basically the transition area from the inner Nucleus Zone to the outer Utilization Zone, in which only selected paths are accessible for common visitors, for which supervision by a ranger from the National Park is mandatory. We provide long jungle treks with rangers in this part of the park with our 5D4N Orangutan Tour.
The Utilization Zone is the outer area of Tanjung Puting National Park that visitors can access. Although almost all visitors only see this part of the National Park in their multi-day visit, the Utilization Zone only covers a tiny part of the National Park. The most famous sites of this zone are described below.
Burial Sites in Tana Toraja
Lemo. Perhaps the best known and most crowded burial site in Toraja. The sheer rock face has a series of balconies with tau tau, wooden statues of the dead persons inside the graves.
Kambira Baby Graves. The most famous baby grave site in Tana Toraja. Torajans from Kambira would carve a hole into the trunk of a Jackfruit tree and place the baby in it. Over time the living tree would grow around the hole sealing the baby into the trunk. Unfortunately, the trees have died by now. This somewhat dark site holds around 20 deceased infants.
Kete Kesu’. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this is perhaps the best known traditional Torajan village with Tongkanan houses. Visit the rice barns, hanging graves, or start a scenic trek from here.
Suaya. Seven royal families from Sangalla are buried at this famous and relatively quite burial site. The wooden effigies tau tau are in balconies that are cut in the large rock face.
Tampang Allo. Perhaps the least known of the fabulous must-sees in the Southern area: A beautiful, natural cave that has been used in the past as burial site, and where you find tau tau and some human bones.
Lampio. Lampio is a traditional weaving village in Toraja. It is the authentic equivalent to the touristic and commercial Sa’dan village.
Bebo and Karuaya. Traditional villages, where the villagers still have a traditional, animistic belief. The walk from Bebo to Karuaya takes around 45 minutes, during which you see both traditional Torajan houses and beautiful nature.
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