Tana Toraja, The Kingdom of Heaven

Tana Toraja is one of the best tourist destination in Indonesia located in south Sulawesi. This place is occupied by the natives called Toraja people which still living by the way and rule of their ancient tradition. Entering their village you'll see lines of traditional houses with unique designs and buffalo horns stack at the front side of every house. In some villages you can even find relics from the megalith era like menhir stones and other stone forms made for a ritual ceremony.



The landscape of Tana Toraja covered by savannas and hills, here you can find so many granit stones and other vulcanical stones which complete the beauty of the scenery in Tana Toraja with mountain view as the background.

The best time to visit Tana Toraja is between the end of June to September after the harvest. During this time there are so many festivals and ceremonies held by the native including the most famous and the most glorious ceremony in Toraja tradition "Rambu Solo" or the funeral ceremony.

Rambu Solo is a ritual to bring the spirit of the dead from human realm to cross to the realm of the dead. This ritual participated by all the natives there and considered to be the most expensive ceremony in Toraja tradition. This ceremony can cost hundreds of million Rupiah to the family of the dead. Therefore, usually when the family haven't got the money yet to held the ritual they will put the corp on a place called tongkanan until they have enough money to held Rambu Solo ceremony. the most unique part of Rambu Solo ceremony is, on the main part of the ceremony the body of the dead is not buried but they just put the body of the dead on a rock inside a cave on a hill.

You don't have to worry about the accommodation in Tana Toraja since this is one of the main tourist destination in Indonesia. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants with various classes. To get to this place you can take a plane to Makasar - the capital of South Sulawesi then you can take another plane or a bus to Rantepao, with a bus it's about 8 hours travel to get to Rantepao.

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