SULAWESI SENSATIONS

There are worlds within worlds and marvels untold waiting to be experienced on Indonesia's remote islands.

- LIZ GINIS

I COUNT 10 as we motor towards Tana Beru, a tiny village on the south-eastern tip of Sulawesi’s western lobe. That’s 10 hulking hulls of magnificent phinisi. These traditional wooden boats are maritime icons of South Sulawesi. Our expedition leader, Dawn, explains that they were used for centuries by the Bugis, a race of seafarers who plied these waters as both merchants and pirates. “They also regularly made the 1500km journey south to trade with First Nations people in the Kimberley and Arnhem Land,” she says, “until British colonial rule banned the practice.”

As we approach the village, the timber monoliths loom large, and as we alight from Explorer 1 (one of two vessels that transfer us from ship to shore), we’re dwarfed. Measuring up to 50m in length, each boat has two towering masts that wield seven billowing sails.

The towering traditional phinisi (boats) of Tana Beru are built from local hardwood. For centuries, the boats plied the trade routes of Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Today, they are used primarily for tourism. Image credit: Liz Ginis

It’s Day 1 of our two-week Indonesian island odyssey and local guide Zulkarnain greets us on the sand and explains that the phinisi here are all designed by Tana Beru’s master boatbuilder (Panritta Lopi in Bahasa Indonesian, the local language).

We find him, Haji Abdullah, at the end of our walking tour of the village, which is home to 1100 people. They’re fishing families mostly, which is reflected in the racks of salted and drying fish beside almost every house, and the throngs of wonderfully joyful children, each as curious about us as we are of them.