Travel | North Halmahera
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© Mark Eveleigh ; © SergeUWPhoto / Shutterstock
North Halmahera boasts several beautiful waterfalls , but Sapoli is one of the most enchanting and , thanks to its relatively inaccessible position , still retains the feeling of a jungle hideaway .
1 Halmahera is renowned as being home to colourful bird species that are not found in more well-known Western Indonesia .
2 Yusferglius ‘ Yus ’ Tjingaisa is one of Halmahera ’ s most experienced guides .
the first European galleon ever anchored in these waters . The local trade in nutmeg , cloves and copra ( a preliminary stage in the production of coconut oil ) was already ancient when Europeans first heard tales of these fabled Spice Islands .
In 1510 the Portuguese arrived in search of the land the Arabs called Jazirat-Al-Maluk ( the Land of Many Kings ). They were followed by the Dutch and then the British , who broke the Spice Island monopoly by transporting precious seedlings to Malaysia , Sri Lanka , India and eventually to the Caribbean island of Grenada ( which now even has a nutmeg on its national flag ). The last invading force to take control of North Halmahera was the Japanese , whose Second World War artillery and bunkers remain after falling to US forces from Morotai ( just 50km away ), from where Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed .
Later , back on the mainland , Yus and I trek through such forests on the trail to Sapoli waterfall . The hot afternoon air seems to be laden with the heady scent of nutmeg and clove . Harvesters get almost US $ 6 / kg for nutmeg in Halmahera , but in the West ground nutmeg sells for more than US $ 45 / kg on the internet . Even so , the crop is so plentiful that we are literally treading upon dark-brown nuts which – with their supposed power to cure bubonic plague – would have been considered more precious than diamonds in medieval times .
In the shimmering afternoon sun the double cascades of Sapoli waterfall also seem to glint like diamonds . North Halmahera boasts several beautiful waterfalls , but Sapoli is one of the most enchanting and , thanks to its relatively inaccessible position , still retains the feeling of a jungle hideaway .
There are said to be 122 villages in North Halmahera and the little dirt-track hamlet of Roko ( not far from Sapoli ) is surely one of the prettiest . Adrianus Pali lives in one of the pastel-coloured houses that line Roko ’ s main ( i . e . only ) street and it is here that he practises one of the crafts that perhaps predate even the spice trade . Despite the arrival of imported plastic containers ,
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5 Senses – Touch UNDERWATER VOLCANO
Such violent days seem a world away today , and it ’ s hard to imagine that these timeless islands once provoked an international superpower race : not so much a gold-rush as a ‘ nut-rush ’. While the streets of London were once believed by a gullible few to be ‘ paved with gold ’, the forests of the Spice Islands were , quite literally , sprinkled with a nut that was worth more than its weight in gold .
Feel the heat from an underwater volcano as bubbles rise like diamonds from the black volcanic rock . North Halmahera offers some unique diving experiences . Along with wreck-diving on several sunken Japanese Second World War destroyers , Halmahera Tour also offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dive a submarine volcano and a night-dive among ‘ walking sharks ’.
Rasakan panas dari gunung berapi di bawah laut saat gelembungnya keluar dari batu vulkanik hitam . Halmahera Utara menawarkan pengalaman menyelam yang unik , karena di tempat ini banyak bangkai kapal perusak PD II Jepang yang tenggelam . Halmahera Tour menawarkan kesempatan langka untuk menyelam di gunung berapi bawah laut dan menyelam malam hari di antara ‘ hiu berjalan ’.
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