WIRA Tours and Travel

Some 315 km north of Makassar, a steep wall of mountains marks the limits of Bugis territory and the entrance into the highlands of Tanah Toraja , a gorgeous spread of hills and valleys where fat buffalo wallow beside lush green paddy-fields and where the people enjoy one of Indonesia's most confident and vivid cultures. Toraja is an ethnic group who believes that their forefathers descended from heaven onto a mountain some twenty generations ago, the Torajas have a unique culture based on animistic beliefs.

Known for their grand burial ceremonies on cliffs or hanging graves, they practice an ancestral cult even today where death and afterlife ceremonies are great feasts when buffaloes are sacrificed in the final death ceremony, after which the deceased's remains are placed in a coffin and interred in caves hollowed out in high cliffs. Lifelike statues, looking out from a "balcony", guard the mouth of the cave. As death has such an "important meaning" when the souls are released, burials are elaborate and follow feasting days. Rock graves are also a form of burial. A strict hierarchy is followed in the villages.

"Tongkonan" (family houses) are built on stilts with roofs on each end rising like the prows of a ship, representing the cosmos. The mountains offer a fantastic panorama of natural beauty, including the long drive from Ujung Pandang to Tana Toraja.