As the year-end approaches, let us put aside for a while aggravating political issues and the battered economy. Let us, instead, spend time exploring a vacation agenda, one that is truly unforgettable.
We will not, right from the start, look at the conventional places like Lombok, Bunaken, and the Thousand Islands, but seek the less-traveled path. The Journey may be tiring but the final destination could well take your breath away, a heaven on earth.
In this special issue, we peruse heavenly and sites rarely visited by strangers. As such, many of the well-known places, those that can easily be accessed through the internet or pointed out by travel agencies, are not listed.
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| Rinjani 3726 MDPL, West Nusa Tenggara |
Indonesia 100 Hidden Paradise. We crafted this list of hidden edens with care and attention, separating them into 12 categories: mountains, seashore, lakes, historical sites, unique places for outdoors, and several others. Then we invited experts on the different locales to give us a briefing. They include Amelia Yunita, an expert river rafter annd explorer, wo founded the Arus Liar program; Dody Johanjaya, the first person to climb the Indonesia Seven Summits; Tantyo Bangun, former chief editor of the National Geographic Indonesia and student activist of the University of Indonesia's Nature Lovers; and Cahyo Alkantana, president of the Indonesian Speleology Association. We also asked our correspondents throughout the archipelago to map out new pleasure places in their respective areas.
That's how we located these unknown earthly edens. Among them is the beautiful and romantic Togean Beach in Central Sulawesi. One well-known place that deserves to be listed is Mount Rinjani in West Nusa Tenggara. But we do not recommend Senaru and Sembalun, the mountain's two popularly-used trails. Instead, we chose the rarely-trodden Torean trail, which may be more challenging to montain trekkers, but which promises infinitely more rewarding vistas.
Even in wordl-famous Bali, we discovered canyoning, river crossings, jumping from and climbing waterfalls, activities rarely carried out by tourist, and even locals.
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The downside of going to those places are predictably difficulty of access and non-availability of tourist-friendly facilities. One of them is Kayan Mentarang, a forest in North Kalimantan, which can only be reached by a four-day river journey. Hopefully, our report, which will contain the degrees of difficulties in accessing these selected sites, will motivate the local administrations in question to start improving conditions.
The is no question, however, that all the effort spent is worth the while in the end. Adventurism, according to Amelia Yuanita, "is the trend in world tourism today. A study by George Washington University in the US shows that adventure tourism has risen by 65 percent this year. "People want more than just getting a tan on the beach. Some don't mind getting wet and dirty, if it will take them to an unusual and unforgettable experience," said Amelia.
Dear reader, this special report is intended as an initial guide for your travel plans. It is also a testament that despite problems and thorny issues, our nation evidently possesses and preserves numerous little nirwanas.
