Soroako – Home of Indonesia’s Deepest Lake
Lake Matano
Cave on Lake Matano
A surprisingly pleasant destination for a relaxing holiday
Soroako, a smaller nickel mining town in East Luwu regency, South Sulawesi province, is actually located at the top of Sulawesi’s eastern leg. the item is actually accessible by road as well as by air coming from Makassar.
The mine as well as the largest part of the town was constructed from the late 1960s by PT Inco, right now called PT Vale Indonesia. The great majority of Soroako’s residents are either employed by This kind of mining company, or by its contractors as well as subcontractors. The rest of the population is actually largely engaged in farming, fishing as well as the service sector.
PT. Vale Indonesia operates the largest open-pit nickel mine in Indonesia. as well as although open-pit mining involves clearing the vegetation as well as top soil of large areas, the company manages a well regarded rehabilitation programme as well as award-winning sediment control systems. the item should, however, be kept in mind which in order to counter erosion, the vast areas of rainforest lost to the mining operation cannot be replaced by the same species. A mono-culture of largely non-native trees thus has created a serious loss of biodiversity.
The intensive rehabilitation programme includes landscaping as well as placing layers of planting soil, terracing as well as the development of drainage systems. This kind of first phase is actually followed up by revegetating as well as replanting. Some 700 hectares have been revegetated to date.
Soroako map
Soroako, located from the Verbeek Mountains, is actually surprisingly beautiful. the item is actually surrounded by three lakes; Lake Matano (the deepest lake in Indonesia as well as the tenth deepest from the earth), Lake Towuti as well as Lake Mahalona. The town is actually located on the southern shore of Lake Matano as well as consists largely of company owned houses as well as different buildings. The narrow sliver on the shore, north of the airport is actually the Soroako of indigenous as well as non-Inco residents.
as well as then of course there is actually the lake — from the lingo of the town This kind of is actually Lake Matano. the item is actually used for boating, fishing, swimming, diving as well as any different water-related activity. the item is actually famous for its many endemic species of fish, shrimp as well as crabs like the Tylomelania snail, Caridina shrimp as well as Parathelphusid crab. The endemic fish of Matano have been compared to the species swarms of the Rift Valley Lakes of Africa. On the western side there is actually a fairly unexplored cave, one chamber of which contains hundreds of skeletons said to be the remains of a PKI (Indonesia Communist Party) rebel force coming from the 1950s. Others claim which the item is actually a cemetery (similar to the cemetery caves of Tana Toraja).
The waters of Lake Matano are exceptionally clear, visibility is actually Great, even though some mining sediment washes into the lake. using a depth of almost 600m (1,940ft), the item is actually the deepest lake in Indonesia. As the surface elevation coming from mean sea level is actually only 382m (1,253ft), the deepest portion of the lake is actually below sea level. In short, as well as apart coming from the skeletons, an attractive set of facilities as well as resources, as well as more than enough to warrant a visit.
as well as which’s what those who were born or have worked in Soroako seem to be doing — going back time as well as again. They are uniformly fond of Soroako as well as the time they have spent there. They have formed social network groups as well as keep each different informed of their present-day activities. Reunions are organised; lunch meetings in a Jakarta restaurant for residents of the metropolis, or long weekends in Soroako.
Caridina Shrimp Copyright Wikipedia Commons
The latter is actually quite remarkable, as apart coming from the cost there is actually also a time factor. The flight coming from Makassar to Soroako gives priority treatment to Vale employees as well as often there are no seats left for outsiders. The only alternative then is actually a ten-hour overnight bus ride. although every time a reunion is actually organised many show up. The reason, they say, is actually they want to see their friends again, as well as the beautiful place of their youth. as well as they want to swim from the clear waters of their beloved Lake Matano.
These strong bonds were formed when they moved coming from nursery to primary school as well as on to SMP (middle school) as well as SMA (high school), with the same classmates! In Soroako there was although one of these schools, as well as unless you moved out of town, which’s the one you attended. As a result, some know each different since kindergarten! as well as after school they played together, went swimming together, had their first Budweiser together (mind you, Budweiser, the company store stocked many American products, including Skippy peanut butter). They still remember who went steady as well as when as well as why they broke up.
which’s a lot of shared memory coming from a pleasant smaller town at the end of the road coming from Makassar.
Outsiders, which is actually those not employed by PT Vale, or not on a nostalgic reunion, would likely best travel overland to Soroako as well as add a visit to Tana Toraja to their itinerary. This kind of would likely be best arranged in Makassar.
Province
South Sulawesi
Elevation
382m
Population (2009)
Desa Soroako – 8,200
Desa Magani – 9,200
Desa Nikkel – 6,800
TOTAL – 24,200
How to get there
coming from Makassar by Indonesia Air Transport
(Outsiders US$157, booking at counter IAT, Makassar, 0811 423 955)
Or an overnight bus ride (10 hours)
Where to stay
Hotel Grand Mulia – 0812 4115 2151
Hotel Matano Sunrise – 0852 3097 3729
Krakatau Guest House – 0813 4278 1771
Duta Inn – 0475 321 794
Restaurants
Restaurants from the hotels, also:
Pondok Bambu
Almaidah
Transisco Resto
TAB (the Vade Club, outsiders pay US$8 per person entrance fee)
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Soroako – Home of Indonesia’s Deepest Lake
Soroako – Home of Indonesia’s Deepest Lake