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Lake
Poso and Region |
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| CONTENTS Bancea Orchid Park Need A Reliable, Trustworthy English-Speaking Guide to Lake Poso? |
Located somewhat between Toraja in
South Sulawesi and Poso in Central Sulawesi, Lake Poso is a quiet
and cool location to spend a few days. It's often compared to Lake Toba in Sumatra, but
it's a lot less developed or crowded. Tentena is a quiet town on the north end of the
lake...there's a few good places to stay, but not so many good places to eat. Pendolo is at the south end of the lake and is smaller
(and quieter!) than Tentena. Close to Tentena
you can find two very good waterfalls. Salopa is
located only a few short kilometres from Tentena on the road to Poso, but
it's not a good place to swim if that's what you are looking for. Close to the Christian
college in Tentena there is a burial cave (Pamona Cave) which used to
contain many skulls but the place has been ransacked in recent years. The caves are still
pretty interesting though, just beware of snakes! The lake itself is quite nice, and
filled with eels. In both these towns, at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, fresh seguer
(palm wine) begins to arrive from the surrounding hills. Buy a bottle if you have acquired
the taste, and enjoy the sunset. Not much to do at night here, particularly in Pendolo,
where you may have trouble finding even an interesting restaurant. Sometimes a tourist
group comes through and local teenagers perform dances of the region. The music here
(Karambangan) is female vocals accompanied by guitar and sometimes drums. Very calming.
Tapes can be purchased from the restaurant in front of the water in Tentena
(Pamona Indah). I'm sure you'll eat there eventually. You can get to Tentana
from Palu by overnight bus, or from Poso by bemo or bus. It's two
hours from Pendolo to Tentena, but there are many interesting places to stop along the
way. The Bancea Orchid Park (Taman Anggrek) is close to a beautiful and clean beach. There is also a basic government guesthouse with rooms located at the Bancea Orchid Park. You are welcome to stay there for a small fee, but don't expect much in the way of food etc. It's worth a trip from Pendolo, especially if you have nothing else to do. Besides another half dozen or so isolated beaches along the route, you can find the other waterfalls called Siliwana about 8 km from Tentena. Worth the short hike to get to, and also a great place to have a picnic and bath! |
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View of the north side of Lake Poso, near Tentena | |||
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| copyright 1999 by D. Fournier. Please contact me at [email protected] to copy information found here or to share something about Central Sulawesi. |
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