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TRAVEL
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April15
Some tips
• Don’tvisitSulawesi ifyouneed luxury.Theaccommodation
in Bunaken Island is comfortable and on a small scale;
other areas are less developed.
• If you’re going to Tangkoko, bring mosquito repellent
and long sleeves and pants.
• The resort has limited kids’ snorkelling equipment.
Bring your own good quality equipment; it will make it
easier for your beginners! A pool noodle to hold onto
for support while they snorkel can help.
• Some old sandshoes will help kids wade out to the boat,
as potentially dangerous shellfish can found in the reef
flat. Booties are supplied in adult sizes.
• Bunaken Cha Cha has interconnecting rooms available,
although these require climbing some steep stairs.
Choose the rooms closest to the beach.
• SilkAir flies direct to Manado. We visited off-peak in June
and paid around US$2,200 for five nights at Bunaken
Cha Cha. This included all meals for our family of five,
airport and boat transfers and our two rooms. The
snorkelling and diving boats are at additional cost, but
reasonably priced. Snorkelling from the beach with
your own equipment is free and truly world-class. Visit
bunakenchacha.com
for more information.
Land adventures
We had two nights left in Sulawesi, so we decided to head to
Tangkoko National Park. Here we took a guided walk at dusk
into the forest to see one of the world’s smallest monkeys, the
tarsier. Wewere rewardedwith half an hour’s close-up viewing
of the furry, gremlin-like animals before the wild called them
and they leapt off into the forest to do what tarsiers do.
Black-crested macaques are found only in Sulawesi, and
our dawn trek to see them was equally satisfying. A troupe
of about 30 monkeys went about their business, feeding,
grooming and bickering, ignoring our family in their midst.
Our final stop was the Minahasan highlands town of
Tomohon. Apart from its volcanic beauty, Tomohon is
famous for its market, selling bush foods such as cooked
fruit bats, whole bush rat kebab, and, disturbingly, dogs. I
struggled with my cultural prejudices as I politely observed
the fare and tried to suppress my nausea.
This holiday had certainly satisfied its brief. We had found
breathtaking snorkelling, it had been easy to get to, and
we had managed some family adventure, too. Exhausted
on the flight home, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
Images scrolled through my mind one after the other:
frolicking black monkeys; local kids in their frangipani tree;
our son duck-diving down to a spectacular reef. When I
dozed, I dreamed contentedly of an unspoilt paradise on
my doorstep and my family that loved it.