Nias, Exotic Island and Surfers Paradise

Nias is an exotic island located to the west of Sumatra. It has beautiful scenery with tropical forest, mountain and a clean beach view.


But the most prominent about Nias is the customs and ancient traditions which still strongly held from hundreds of generation by the natives. It's shown clearly as we enter their villages, we can see their traditional wooden houses and typical traditional society's way of life. We can also find rock formations which are the heritage of the megalithic era.

From all the villages in Nias, the most special is the one on the south of the island called Bawamataluo Village. Entering this village you'll feel like going through a time machine that takes you to the megalith era. compared to other villages in Nias, Bawomataluo is the one that preserves the genuity of their ancient traditions and this is the only villae that has the most famous attraction in Nias called "hombo batu" or stone jumping.

Hombo batu is a tradition that's been held by the people from many centuries. In the past, hombo batu is a way to train and test ancient warriors and young people in order to prepare themselves for a tribal war, but today hombo batu is held just for sport or tourist attraction. It's a little like high jump in athletic only they don't use pole and matras and the jumping technique is a bit unique. these young "warriors" must jump over a 2 meters high formation of stone shaped like a monument. The jumper runs from about 15 m away approaching the stone and then jump, while in the air before stepping his feet on the ground he will turn his body so that when he land on his feet he shall face the stone again.

Beside this attraction, you can also watch so many prehistorical artifacts from the megalithic era that some of them are still being used by the villagers in their rituals and traditional events.

As for those whose not very interested in local customs, just take your surfing board and go straight to the shore. Nias is one of the best spot to surf in Indonesia, there are several spots that you can choose to surf, some of the most famous spots for surfing are Lagundri bay and Sibaranun island. Here you will find 7-9 seconds tubes and waves that operates from 2-15 feet.

To get to Nias you can take a plane from Medan-the capital of North Sumatra straight to Nias. Nias is a perfect place if you want a complete tour with educational, cultural, attraction, sightseeing, and action packages all in one. Nias is an exotic island and surfers paradise.

* If you wish to visit Indonesia, please go to Indonesia travel tips page.