Photo Essay: Kadidiri of the Togian Islands, Indonesia
[Editor's note: You can meet the coolest folks through Couchsurfing: A couple of months ago I hosted a German couple, Sebastian and his wife, Marina. It turned out Sebastian is a hell of a photographer. He was nice enough to share some images from his recent trip to the Togian Islands, an archipelago formed by volcanic activity off the coast of Central Sulawesi in Indonesia. The photos below are from Kadidiri, one of these islands.]
1. This small wooden ferry took us to Kadidiri (16 hours overnight). Here we made a short stop at a small island to unload supplies for the locals. It takes about three days to go to the mainland, buy the goods, and return.
2. This is the village at the harbour, photographed from the deck of the ship. Today was “market day” on main street.
3. The two girls next to our “bed” on the ferry had fun looking at us and laughing at our “long” noses.
4. Finally, after 18 hours we arrived at Kadidiri. This was the view out of our bungalow. The coral reef started two meters out.
5. We had great sunsets with awesome colours and tones in the sky and on the water.
6. A daily ritual: hunting for lunch and dinner. The “head” of the family we stayed with made his own spear gun with pushbike-tubes, bamboo, coconut wood, and “metalstick”. His goggles were homemade too.
7. Three boys from a small village on the next island passed by in their small boat to catch some nemos for fun (“because they look so nice”, they said). After some time in a plastic bowl they set them free.
8. A fisherman village on a neighbouring island, where the school is also. We made a trip there to visit the family’s youngest son and to watch a soccer game.
9. GOOAALL!! The kids celebrated like superstars when they scored a goal while the girls watching from the sidelines screamed and cheered. They take the game very seriously…they totally ignored us.
10. A shy little boy peeking out with a skeptical eye at the “long nosed” white strangers.
11. When the game was over we were surrounded by the kids. Not many tourists come to the “school island.” They wanted to be photographed and to practice their few English words on us. It was a great time with a lot of laughing and smiling.
12. Postcard moment — enjoying the shade of a palm tree and reflecting on our visit to this beautiful part of the world.
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For a different Indonesian experience, read Budget Travel in Indonesia: A Revelatory Night on a Ship.
If you’re into islands, you’ll also want to read Tim Patterson’s Top 6 Most Enchanting Undeveloped Islands in the World.
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8 Comments... join the discussion!
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They sure have learned how to celebrate a goal, haven’t they?!
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Sebastian- Welcome to Matador and thanks for sharing the photos! I’d never even heard of the Togian islands… now, off to find a map!
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Indonesia is full of hidden gems like this.
Many people go to the touristy island of Bali (which is good fun), but there is so much more to Indonesia than Bali, and this photo essay proves it.
I travelled through Sumatra and Java and stayed with local blogging communities during October 2009 (as part of the Pesta Blogger Conference, at http://www.pestablogger.com). They showed me some awesome parts of the country that I had never heard of before, and tried all sorts of food combinations that I thought were impossible, and I loved every second of it!
The people really make the country. They are all so friendly, and I did have many people stopping me in the street so they could practice their English with me!
Anyway, you can view the feed of this trip at my website here:
http://www.thetraveltart.com/category/special-events/pestablogger-2009/Cheers
Anthony↵ -
Love that little dude in #9!
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I love the beach, so calm, so beautiful! I almost been there Dec last year, but ended up at Gorontalo for a diving trip. I’ll go to Togean sometimes next year. For you who love diving, Togean underwater is amazing too…
Cheers,
Adri↵ -
Great photos Sebastian. I love the moments you captured in these photos. My favorites are 3, 7, 9 , 10 and 11.
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That is one great photo essay. It makes me want to head there right now. But alas, It’ll just have to go on the list for the moment. Thanks for sharing them on Matador.
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