Culture Tours

Here you will enjoy a collection of menhir that standing neatly and charming to be seen. Although the distance is not too far from the center of North Toraja capital, the place is somewhat not too crowd to be visited by tourists. This site is located about 5 km from the city of Rantepao, and it located on Jl. Bori, District Sesean in North Toraja. To get to this megalith site, the road that can be taken is quite a lot, with terrain that is not too good, but after reaching the site you will just be enchanted. Bori Kalimbuang is the place of ancient Menhir. There are around 102 menhirs those magnificently standing firms. All these different sizes of composition and placement looks very beautiful and lovely. There are 24 stones in large size, 24 medium size and other 54 is small-sized. This megalith site is one of the nine sites that been clasified as tourism object from UNESCO world cultural heritage in North Toraja.

Various interesting activities are held during the ceremony of Rambu Solo are : Mapasilaga tedong (buffalo fighting). Competed buffalo in Toraja has unique characteristics horns curved down or crusted striped called tedong bonga. This type of water buffalo (babalus bubalis: mud buffalo) is endemic species in Tana Toraja. Dances ritus of Rambu Solo, namely ma'badong, ma'dondi, ma'randing, ma'katia, ma'papanggan, and massailo. On ma'badong, guests were standing around while holding onto hands. Then they sing and dance together. Strain of their song describes the sadness. Instrumental music called pa'pompang, pa'dalidali and unnosong. Matinggoro tedong (slaughter the buffalo). How to slaughter the buffalo on this ceremony is unique, cut the neck with a single swing of chopper. Buffalo is first tethered on a stone called simbuang batu. Buffalo butcher (patinggoro tedong) swing the chopper in a moment.

We can Tradional market and buffalos Market here

Many tourists come to Tana Toraja to explore the unique burial culture of Toraja people, and the graveyard in the cliff in Suaya is one of the most indigenous and authentic places to witness the traditional practices of local people. Different from other funeral sites in the region, Suaya is the burial site of the Sangalla kings and their royal families. The last king of Toraja’s burial took place here in 1972, drawing attention of National Geographic TV. This famous graveyard lies on a hillside, and on the massive rock surface, you can see several stone graves and balconies of wooden effigies Tau-Tau hollowed out of the rock. There is also a single grave at the foot of the cliff that was believed as the Islamic grave of a Torajan nobleman.

whether it's the tau tau, the cave itself, or the peaceful rice paddy setting squeezed between a maze of cliffs, this is one our favourite sites in Tana Toraja. The graves reportedly belong to the chiefs of Sangalla, descendants of the mythical divine being Tamborolangiq who introduced the caste system and death rituals into Torajan society. Their skulls all look the same as any commoner's, however.

Averitable village of tau tau stare down with unblinking eyes and outstretched arms from this impressive burial cliff riddled with tombs. The sheer rock face has a whole series of balconies for statues of the deceased who feel as much a part of the community as their living relatives. The site is located at the head of a terraced valley making the whole scene hauntingly beautiful, especially in the early morning. According to local legend, these graves are for descendants of a Toraja chief who built his house on top of the cliff into which the graves are now cut. The tombs cost around 40,000,000Rp to hollow out of the rock, and can take several months of labor. Nearby, expert craftsmen carve new tau tau for funerals throughout the region. They also have a few for sale (in convenient carry-on sizes) if you wish to take one home.

The four stately tongkonan and many granaries that make up Ke'te Kesu' were moved to this picturesque site in 1927 when the savvy family head noticed the Dutch government largely ignored anyone too far from their administrative centres. Later, to share their heritage with the world while demonstrating the value of preserving traditions, Kesu'ers got their village designated as the first official obyek wisata (tourism site) in Toraja, and lobbied hard (with some success) for Unesco World Heritage attention. On the cliff face behind the village there are cave graves and very old hanging graves – some reportedly 500 years old or more. Deteriorating coffins are suspended on wooden beams under an overhang, while others have fallen into jumbles below full of bones and skulls.

orajans traditionally inter deceased babies, who have not yet teethed, in trees, believing that these infants are more pure than adults, and that their bodies and spirits will be absorbed into the tree and continue to grow with it. This is one of the bigger arboreal graves in the region, holding around 20 deceased infants, though the tree itself is now deceased as well. The site is a shady, tranquil spot and there's a superbly ornate tongkonan nearby.

we will do the trekking from rantepao to Batutumonga