Kendari The Ever-growing City ~ Exploring Indonesia

This city that surrounds Kendari Bay has a unique panorama. Every part of the city offers a different experience and unforgettable impressions.

The sky was still cloudy when I landed at Wolter Monginsidi Airport in Kendari. The weather in Kendari has been quite variable recently – sometimes suddenly going cloudy and rainy, and then clear and hot a few moments later. Hoping it would stay clear, I started to explore Kendari as evening began to set in.

It's about 50 kilometers from the airport to the center of town, where I arrived after an hour's journey; the streets were lined on both sides with shop houses and restaurants.
Following a friend's recommendation, I had dinner at the Medulu restaurant on Jalan Ahmad Yani. Local specialties of Kendari such as sinonggi, tawaoloho ayam and kambatu tinomisi were my introduction to the local cuisine; it was very much to my liking, and I fell in love with these dishes straightaway.

After dinner, I got ready to explore the town by night. My first destination was Kendari Beach. You would imagine from the name that Kendari Beach is a sandy area by the seashore, with pounding waves, but not at all; Kendari Beach lies along the shores of Kendari Bay and is crowded with small food tents where you can hang out, enjoy the evening breezes, and snack on pisang epe with a glass of sarraba to warm you up. From these food tents, I could see the lights of ships sailing or docking in Kendari Bay. The night became even more enchanting when the cloud cover cleared and the sky filled with stars, making it a perfect evening.

The next morning, in a corner of the Old City of Kendari Bay, I saw the bustling fish market. Fishermen, fish vendors, and housewives were all busily engaged in transactions. One unusual thing I noticed is that nearly all the women here cover their faces with a thick layer of bedak dingin, literally "cold powder", which is made from rice flour and protects their skin from the cruel rays of the sun.

From the fish market, I explored the city with my friends from WWF Indonesia in Kendari. Kendari, with an area of 295.89 square kilometers, lies along the bay, stretching in a long arc along the coast and its green mangrove forests, with roads running right next to the bay. Fishing boats of all colors created an exotic morning scene. From the old city, where many of the residents are ethnic Chinese, to the traditional markets and on to the inter-island harbor, we saw a lot that morning. The roads were still fairly quiet; the cool morning air and the warm smiles of the local people made me happy to be alive.

An odd tower-shaped building with a round room at the top attracted my attention. From a distance, it looked like a space ship ready to blast off. This monument is actually the Unity Tower, located in the former MTQ arena in Korumba Subdistrict, Kendara District. The tower was built for the 21st National Qur'an Reading Contest (Musabaqah Tilawatil Qur'an, MTQ) in June 2006. It's a lofty structure, on the same level as the "Tower of Elegance" in Gorontalo province. If the shape of the tower in Gorontalo is reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Unity Tower in Kendari resembles the tower in Shanghai.

It's named the Unity Tower because the multi-ethnic community of Kendari lives together in such harmony: the Tolaki, Muna, Buton and many other ethnic groups, each with their own language. The Unity Tower, with its futuristic architecture, is an icon for the people of Southeast Sulawesi. Everywhere I went – Kendari Bay, the city center, and even the dense mangrove forests – the tower could be seen, rising nobly above it all. Unfortunately, despite its enchanting architecture, the ex-MTQ arena is not very well maintained; parts of the buildings are peeling off, damaged and abandoned.

Kendari has much more to offer than just the beautiful coastal panorama with its lovely deep blue sea; there are other natural enchantments even more challenging to explore. So my next stop was Rawa Aopa National Park.

Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park (TNRAW), with an area of 105,194 hectares, comprises many of the ecosystem types found in Sulawesi: low mountain rain forest, mangrove forest, coastal forest, savanna, and fresh-water marsh forest. Rawa Aopa is around 120 km from Kendari, a two-hour drive. Sad to say, the road to the national park is a challenge in itself, as many stretches are badly damaged.

In the national park, I enjoyed some extraordinary natural beauty. I explored a 30,000-hectare marsh in a small wooden boat, or katingting. A vast expanse of white and red lotus flowers (Victoria spp.) stretched along much of the marsh; other vegetation included many ferns and woody plants such as uti (Bacchia frutescen), waru (hibiscus, Planchonia valia), and betao (Calophyllum soulatn), among many others.

Now and then waterfowl would emerge from the dense thickets of Aopa Marsh, looking for fish; up in the sky, a flock of teal (belibis) flew by in a charming formation. There was even a tense moment when I saw a freshwater crocodile swimming by, not far from my little boat in the middle of the marsh. My journey through the marsh was most impressive when I was right in the middle; I felt a great sense of peace, an inevitable unity with nature. Truly extraordinary.

My adventure didn't end at Rawa Aopa; the next stop was the Moramo waterfalls in the Tanjung Peropa Wildlife Refuge. This is around 70 km south of Kendari, a two-hour drive. The Moramo waterfall is a 100-meter-high cascade with seven main levels. Each level forms a pool, and in the pool at the second level, you can swim. The cliffs that form the various levels are unusual, in that the rocks are not slippery; visitors can climb up the levels all the way to the top without fear of falling. These pools of cold, clean, clear water, surrounded by forests of ebony, teak and banyan, are an ideal habitat for birds and other creatures. I had another moment of enchantment when the wind blew and leaves fell off the trees near the waterfall; it felt like a slice of paradise in the midst of the great forest.

On the way back, I stopped off at beautiful Nambo Beach, just 12 km from Kendari. You can also get to this beach by traditional boat (kole-kole); it's just a 15-minute trip along Kendari Bay from Kendari harbor.

This beach is quite popular with the local people, because it's fairly near the city, very calm, with gentle slopes of white sand. The weather is cool and the panorama spectacular, so it's a favorite spot for the people of Kendari to go on the weekends and try to forget their daily grind. I savored a fresh coconut drink while enjoying the sunset at this peaceful beach.

Another thing I noticed in Kendari is cashew plantations along the roads. There are currently around 91,700 hectares of productive land producing cashews in Southeast Sulawesi, yielding 400 kg/hectare. It's no surprise that Southeast Sulawesi is famous for producing the best cashews in Eastern Indonesia, as well as cocoa beans (cacao). Cashew production areas are found in the regencies of Muna, Buton, Konawe, and South Konawe.

No visit to Kendari is complete without a stop at Dekranas, on Jl. A. Yani, your one-stop shop for Southeast Sulawesi handicrafts. This is the place to pick up all kinds of local handicrafts – silver crafts, pearl jewelry, woven products, and so on. You can also watch craftspersons producing souvenirs from silver, traditional woven fabrics, and wicker handbags.

Gembol handicraft production provides a livelihood for one community here; they gather teak and sandalwood burls and roots from the forests, and then skillfully craft these into works of art. Their village is on Jalan Chairil Anwar, around two kilometers from Kendari; you can get there by public transport or private vehicle. In this complex, the craftspersons produce items such as wall clocks, tables and chairs, ashtrays, and other household goods.

Southeast Sulawesi regularly plays host to international-level events. From 11 to 14 August is the Muna International Kite Festival 2009, presenting a huge variety of kites, especially kites made from leaves (kagati), the specialty of Muna, and attracting participants from abroad.

Early this year, the local government and people of Kendari won the 2009 Adipura Trophy; this award is given to a clean, beautiful city each year. This was the greatest honor for the people and government of Kendari since the autonomous region was established in 1995.

Kendari, the provincial capital of Southeast Sulawesi, is preparing development in all sectors. The city is constantly growing and expanding, growing more beautiful so it can stand on the same level as other provincial capitals.

Text by Virgina Veryastuti Photos by Jan Dekker