North Halmahera

Where is that ? It is on the up tip of Halmahera Island, an island in Eastern of Indonesia. With exotic beauty of white sand beaches, crystal ocean water, mountains, lake, underwater adventures and  cultural life, North Halmahera have some great things to offer.

Slideshow ini membutuhkan JavaScript.

 

How to get there :

You can landed in Halmahera through three alternatives route of flight  :

1. From Jakarta-Manado-Kao (the flight available every day, flight hours : 6 hours with one hour transit)
2. From Jakarta-Manado-Galela (the flight available three times a week, flight hours: 8 hours with 2 hours transit)
3. From Jakarta-Ternate-(by speead boat) to Halmahera (the flight available every day, but this route is the longest route it takes at least 8 hours to arrive in Tobelo.

Life in North Halmahera :

The people are friendly though they speak loud, doesn’t mean they are angry. They love to interact with new people and are very helpful and don’t mind to be asked for favour. Unfortunately, most of the local people, can not speak English, so trying to learn some Indonesian words would give much help. Words such as: Apa kabar?, terima kasih, nama saya…, berapa harganya?, bagaimana pergi ke sana?, etc.

People woke up early here, since five o’clock in the morning the traditional market already alive. But for doing traveling, you can start at 08.00 am, and prepare sun glasses and sunblock since the heat of noon day quite hot.

What are best to do in North Halmahera :

Snorkeling and diving

If you love underwater adventure, then North Halmahera will excite you with more than 30 spots of diving. There is a diving centre  in Kakara Island where you can rent diving equipment. You also can find underwater volcanoes and historic site of   Japan’s ship form World Ward II.

Mountain Hiking

If you are not kind of enjoy water adventure, and more likely to do hiking. Then hike to Mount Dukono will be one choice that you can try. Since the track is still in its very natural condition, you are required to be guided by local people who really understand the track.

Try the food

Trying local food like Ikan Bakar (grilled fish served with special sauce called dabu-dabu ) with Kelapa muda (a drink from Coconut) and at night as a late drink try to drink Aer Goraka (ginger tea served with canary) or you can  try traditional cookies, there are  plenty of choices like lalampa, pisang coe (banana pie or tart), lamet (cassava pie), etc.

Try the local dance

People here love to sing and dancing. They have kinds of dances, most are grouped dances. It’s not too difficult yet its entertaining.

Interact with local people

You don’t need to make appointment to come to somebody’s house here. Anytime and you are always be welcome. For local people, guests are king, so they won’t mind to have guess at any time.

There are more you can explore, as you visit Halmahera.

Photo copyright #Manyawa #Great Halmahera