Sulawesi encompasses several long peninsulas shining from a mountainous center. The massive island’s coastline is drawn with beautiful sandy beaches and spectacular underwater flora, fauna and coral reefs, which can be seen in places such as Bunaken National Park, Wakatobi National Park and the Togian Islands.

Historically, the ancestors of the people who live in the island were some of the earliest inhabitants in Indonesia.  The dominant groups are the Makassarese and Bugis in the southwestern peninsula and the Christian Minahasans of the far north. Minorities, such as Bajau sea nomads, used to play an essential role in the rise of Gowa kingdom as the Bajau were among Gowa’s main trading alliances providing valuable sea produce. Meanwhile, the Toraja who live in the mountains of South Sulawesi are famous for their wood carvings and their peculiar traditional, ancestral houses with huge, pointed roofs that shape like a boat, which are known as tongkonan.  They are also renowned for its culture of death with elaborate ancestral sculptures, funeral rites and burial sites, often making Sulawesi referred as the Island of the Walking Dead.

In perspective, these unique traditions, architecture and ceremonies create a fascinating burst of culture and art that reflect the people’s long-standing family heritage.