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Indonesia

latest picture: December 9, 2017

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            Halmahera

280  Our LandCruiser stands on 11/23/2017

together with 12 heavily loaded trucks bumper to

bumper in the hull of the aged ferry vessel “KMP

Baronang” that sails from the island of Ternate

in 1½ hours to Sofifi, the main town of the North

Moluccas on Halmahera, our 3rd Moluccan island

281  We glance back to the spice

islands of Ternate and Tidore …..

282  ..... and forward to Halmahera which

with its 6'860 sq. mi. [17’780km²] is the

biggest island of North Moluccas

283  Behind a garbage strewn little coastal

settlement near the Sofifi ferry terminal, the

backdrop of the 5'676 ft. [1'730m] high

Kiematabu volcano of Tidore pops up

284  An attractive catamaran

is moored at Sofifi pier

285  View from the roof top of Hotel Bolote

in Sofifi to the tropical west coast of

Halmahera and the 3'710 ft. [1'130m] high

volcano Jailolo, about 25 miles [40km]

away - 40 mi. [65km] by road

286  A little spot at Sofifi’s coastal road,

where locals hang around. Sofifi is with barely

40'000 people the provincial capital of the

North Moluccas, although neighborly

Ternate is about 5 times bigger

287  At Sofifi’s main square fresh fruits, biscuits

and soft drinks are sold. The stalls are the only

attraction at this otherwise unattractive place

288  Emil is sitting a full hour at Telkomsel

in Sofifi until our mobile internet access of

the laptop works. The language barrier is a

huge problem, lack of knowledge is another

but likewise big one

289  White clouds reflect in a quiet inlet at the

Guraping mangroves northeast of Sofifi, the

scattered provincial capital of the North Moluccas

290  Two colorful boats are inviting to an

excursion in the Guraping mangrove

forests of Sofifi

291  The dark volcanic cones of (left)

Tidore and Ternate (right) rise against

Sofifi’s red colored sunset sky

292  The new 112 miles [180km] long roller

coaster ride from Sofifi to Tobelo in the North

reveals wonderful views into intense green

tropical vegetation

293  A quaint typical wooden homestead

along the tar road to Tobelo. A big part of

these homes is made from wood planks

294  One of the murky brown jungle rivers

that criss-cross the tropical scenery

295  Church at the outskirts of Tobelo towards

Galela to the North. Tobelo is a mostly Christian

oriented town and an export hub for copra

(= dried coconut flesh)

296  Salak fruits (left), also called snake fruits,

and peanuts (right) are waiting to be sold at

Tobelo’s market

297  A banana seller is waiting with her son

for customers at a street corner of Tobelo

298  “Garuda Pancasila” Monument in Igobula,

South Galela with the “Al Istiqomah” Mosque

in the background

299  Remnant of a church ruin in Galela on the

south side of Duma Galela Lake, 17 miles [27km]

north of Tobelo. It was destroyed by religious

violence between Muslim and Christian

communities between 1999 and 2003,

which caused many fatalities

300  Cheerful encounter with a local family

who gathers around our LandCruiser to make

a selfie. Off the beaten track, our LandCruiser

belongs always to the “exotic species”

301  The Duma Galela Lake, 17 miles [27km]

north of Tobelo, enchants with its magnificent

mountain and coconut tree backdrop

302  Good-humored ladies are selling

their catch of the day at the wayside

303  Pavilions are built on the shore of Duma

Galela Lake north of Tobelo. It looks that

they will be used for a fish farm

Mobile salesmen with all kind of household stuff supply the people in remoter areas

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307  Kupakupa Beach, 10 miles [10km] south

of Tobelo is almost empty during the week, but on

weekends crowded to the brim by local tourists

308  Women are tapping and scrubbing laundry

at a calm river with a picturesque little waterfall

309  On the almost empty island road – called

“Trans Halmahera Highway” – our LandCruiser

runs leisurely from North to South of the island.

The fascinating denseness of this tropical

landscape accompanies us for many miles

310  A pretty little village church of the Canaan

Church Community in Pale, about 5 miles [8km]

south of Tobelo

311  School kids are moving at a

smart pace along the road. A boy

carries a girl. What happened?

312  Our LandCruiser stops near the village

mosque of Tabobo, about 75 miles [120km]

south of Tobelo. No matter how unattractive

a village is, the mosque is always stunning

313  Tropical vegetation pure: View over a part

of North Halmahera's east coast  in its perfect

natural beauty between Tobelo and Sofifi

314  Deforested grassland, sprinkled

with bushes, in the interior of the island

315  Idyll pure in exuberant nature:

Two fishing boats at the opposing

shore and a makeshift shelter

316  Wild long-stemmed moth orchids of

the genus Phalaenopsis grow wild along road

slopes and enhance the tropical feeling

317  A lush vegetation that can only

be found in the tropics

318  A dash of color to the greenery:

A butterfly feasting on a flower

319  Sweeping view during the descent to

Sidangoli over the deeply forested west coast of

Halmahera. In the background the 2'070 ft. [630m]

high volcanic island of Hiri north of Ternate

320  Then road that leads over two

mountain passes to Jailolo opens a lovely

view to the plain and the sea

321  Coconut plantations extend up to the

hills – a view that doesn't cease to impress us

322  View towards Jailolo – a former Sultanate –

at the foot of the same named, 3'710 ft. [1'130m]

high volcano on the west coast of Halmahera

323  Arriving by sea, Jailolo is greeting with

big letters. This can be seen incidentally at many

harbors in northeastern Indonesia

324  A fisherman in Jailolo is preparing

his boat for his next fish catch

325  At our brief encounter, the lovely

girl is looking shyly to the ground

326  A typical coastal village in Halmahera:

Villages look almost all the same: Modest

houses on both sides of the road with

flowerpots on side ways

327  Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

hangs heavily from its tree. They can weigh up

to 80 lb. [35kg] and are edible. A jack fruit

tree can produce 100 - 200 fruits a year

328  A shed and a pile of coconuts at a

coconut plantation to be processed to dry copra,

from which coconut oil is afterwards produced

329  Laundry day at the river: The huge

boulders are handy to lay down the clothes

330  A modest home from wood. This

building style is common in remote areas

Simply captivating beautiful: A carpet of blooming lilac water hyacinths (Eichhornia crassipes)

in a fairytale forest a few miles short of Weda at the eastern coast of Central Halmahera

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334  Our Landcruiser is driving on the narrow

island road through a tropical wonderland

335  Four volcano peaks of neighboring

Moluccan islands greet from far: (f.l.t.r.)

Makian, Moti, Tidore and Ternate.

In the foreground the village of Tobaru

336  Dense jungle and coconut plantations

merge seamlessly into one another

337  Just marked by a stone, this road rainwash

can become dangerous for a distracted driver.

Liliana wants to have a closer look

338  A picnic amidst a gigantic tropical scenery.

How small our LandCruiser looks!

339  Coconut palm trees as far as the eye reaches.

Halmahera produces every month hundreds of tons

of copra (dried coconut flesh) for export

Lovely decorated trucks with festively dressed-up people cross us in cheerful mood

340

341

342

343  Only a few meters away from the coastal

road and hidden by trees lies this beach with

view to the Makian volcano (4'452 ft. [1'357m])

344  A boat is steering towards the

ferry terminal of Weda in eastern

Halmahera to greet arriving friends

345  A father is cruising with his two kids

the waters around the ferry terminal of Weda

346  Jerrycans and barrels filled with fuel,

ready to be transported, at the gasoline station

in Weda. Locals often drain a gasoline station

completely to resell afterwards the fuel privately

at a higher price. B.t.w.: 1 Gallon Regular costs

here (Borneo/Sulawesi/Moluccas/Papua)

Rupees 29'145 (=US$2.154) [1lt= €0.48];

Diesel Rp.19'493 (=US$1.442) [1lt=€0.32]

347  Emil argues with the gas station

attendant in Weda. We are lucky to

still get 4x4 gallons [4x15 lt.] of gasoline

from this nostalgic filling station

348  Spectators at a car trouble in Weda: The

starter doesn't work anymore and the petrol

pumps ran at idle. Emil needs to shortcut the

starter with a screw driver and to suck fuel –

an attraction if done by a Bule

(in Indonesian = westerner)

349  The town of Weda is celebrating

“Maulid Nabi”, birthday of Prophet Muhammad,

with self-made masks. It's one of the larger

Islamic celebrations in Indonesia

350  A typical Indonesian kiosk with non-

alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and sweets

351  Fruits are sold at the ferry terminal

in Weda, like the sweet-sour Salak -

a palm fruit (left), dragonfruit (middle)

and mandarins (right)

352  Our LandCruiser drives through the

harbor gate of Weda – its last yards on

North Maluku soil

353  Our ferry “KMP Arar” arrives, which will

carry us from Weda in the North Moluccas with

stopovers at Patani and the islands of Gebe and

Gag in 30 hours to Sorong in West Papua …..

354  ….. the ferry is mooring just at the

embankment and passengers are

waiting to disembark

355  The quaint little coastal fishermen

settlement right beside Weda’s

landing ferry point

356  Calves are trucked into the ferry. At the

end there are one dozen of them, which will

start their long sea journey to Patani and

Gebe together with about 40 goats

357  The skies at the ferry landing in

Weda surprise us with a beautiful cloud

formation before embarking to West Papua

358  Our LandCruiser is waiting at Weda’s

ferry terminal for the order to embark.

A crowd of locals is bidding good bye

359  Our LandCruiser is finally also

in the hull of the ferry. There it's busy

like in a bee house …..

360  ….. it is good not to suffer from claustro-

phobia – that's now for two nights – we got

also some entertainment offered for our ticket

money of Rp. 6'044'000 (=US$447 all-in)

361  Lit by the ferry floodlights, activities

outside of the ferry still continue until our

departure at 1am

362  If one manages to grab one of the few

sleeping mats one belongs to the lucky ones.

On the floor there is room only for 12, the

others have to sit or have to sleep elsewhere

363  We dock in Patani in the eastern tip of

Halmahera, where a big crowd is disembarking

and boarding. Due to the lack of a road, the ferry

is the only connection to the outside world

364  Little stalls under mango trees in the nickel

mining island of Gebe, where ferry passengers

can get some food during the stopover. We buy

boiled eggs and fried bananas. Shortly before

berthing at Gebe, we crossed the equator for

the 23rd time from North to South

365  Two small boats are moored in the

sheltered waters of the Gebe bay. All these

islands that belong already to the Raja Ampat

group have a lot of mangroves. It is our

last view of the North Maluku province –

next is the province of West Papua

366  Flaming red sunset on high sea between

the islands of Gebe and Gag. On this leg we

cross the provincial border between

North Moluccas and West-Papua,

our 23rd province in Indonesia (out of 34)

More websites from the "Borneo-Sulawesi-Moluccas-Papua" trip:

Part 1: Pictures from Sarawak-Kalimantan-North Sulawesi – Miri/Malaysia via Kuching and Balikpapan to North Sulawesi from Aug. to Oct. 2017

Part 2: Pictures from the second part of North Sulawesi – Tomohon and surroundings, Tangkoko NP in October 2017

Part 3: Pictures from the North Moluccas Part 1 – Ternate and Tidore in November/December 2017

Part 5: Pictures from West Papua Part 1 (Irian Jaya) – Sorong and westerly ‘Trans Papua Road’ in December 2017-February 2018

Part 6: Pictures from the Moluccas Part 1 (Central) – Seram in February 2018

Part 7: Pictures from the Moluccas Part 2 (Central) – Ambon in February/March 2018

Part 8: Pictures from Papua Part 1 – Yapen in March 2018

Part 9: Pictures from Papua Part 2 – Biak in April 2018

Part 10: Pictures from West Papua Part 2 (Irian Jaya) – Manokwari and easterly ‘Trans Papua Road’ in April 2018

Part 11: Pictures from South Sulawesi-Kalimantan-Sarawak Part 2 – South Sulawesi via Kalimantan to Kuching and Miri/Malaysia from May to July 2018

More websites from Indonesia and Timor-Leste:

• Pictures and report from the first part of our Indonesian trip in Java and Sumatra from November to December 2006
• Pictures from the second part of our Indonesian trip in Bali from January to March 2007
• Pictures from the third part of our Indonesian trip in Lombok, Sumbawa and Flores in April 2007
• Pictures from the fourth part of our Indonesian trip in Sumba and West-Timor in May and June 2007
• Report and pictures from Timor-Leste (Oecussi and Mainland) in May 2007
• Pictures from the fifth part of our Indonesian trip in Southern Sulawesi before and after Toraja Land in June and July 2007
• Pictures from Tana Toraja (Toraja-Land) in South-Sulawesi in June and July 2007
• Pictures of the sixth part of our Indonesia trip in Kalimantan (Borneo) in July 2007
• Pictures and report from our 2010-Indonesian trip in North Sumatra from March to April 2010
• Pictures and report from our 2010-Indonesian trip in West Sumatra in May and June 2010
• Pictures and report from our 2010-Indonesian trip in Southern Sumatra in June 2010

More websites from East Malaysia und Brunei:

• Report from Brunei in September 2006
• Report from Sabah in October 2006
• Report from Sarawak, Part 1: Northeast (Miri) from June to August 2006
• Report from Sarawak, Part 2: South (Kuching) in November 2006
• Pictures from our Borneo trip through Sarawak, Brunei, Sabah and Kalimantan from August to November 2006
• 1st Rejuvenation of our LandCruiser in Miri/Sarawak/East Malaysia from 6/15/2006 - 8/26/2006 + 9/17/2007 - 9/24/2007
• 2nd Rejuvenation of our LandCruiser at the same place from 7/30/2012 - 10/4/2012
• 3rd Rejuvenation of our LandCruiser at the same place from 2/6/2017 - 5/3/2017 + 7/16/2018 -