TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Togean Islands in Central Sulawesi is barely touched by the Indonesian tourist crowds. The islands of heaven have a wide diversity of corals and sea urchins beneath its ocean.
Togean Islands is located on the Wallace and Weber zone -- the lines that delineates Australian and Southeast Asian fauna -- making its sea and forest the most diverse in the world. Its ocean is the home for corals triangle that reach out from Australia, Java Sea, up to the Philippines water in the Pacific.
Underwater volcanoes made Togean have four types of reefs that can never be found in any other seas in the world; which are: atoll, barrier reefs, fringing reefs, and patch reefs. The reefs are home to various tropical and subtropical fish. In Batu Lemboto, you can find a group of reefs that look like a giant turtle swimming at the bottom of the sea.
Among 66 small islands in Togean water, Kadidiri is the most popular. Two hours trip by motor boat from Kadidiri, you will arrive at Malenge, where colorful atoll in only ten-meter depth can be seen from the boat. The reefs are circled by ring reef of which the peaks sticking out to the sea surface when the tide is low.
Not far from Malenge, a salt water lake named Mariona embraces many colorful jelly fish. You can swim with them without having to worry about getting stung as the jellyfish is not poisonous.
The lower reef wall in Malenge separates the shallow water from the deep water zone creates a captivating blue-green gradation as seen from above.
Even though the trip to reach Togean Islands is relatively difficult, the price is considered affordable by many travelers. If you are departing from Jakarta, you need to spend the minimum of Rp5 million for transportations, one-week accommodation, and snorkel rent, approximately.
TIM TEMPO | SUTJI