A Makasar Story

Posted by Aufar August 10, 2021

A Makasar Story

Juanda, Surabaya

In 2019, I went to Makassar as I was going to attend a symposium with my father. We took direct flight from Surabaya. I've been living in Jogja for 6 years and actually I was quite surprised when I visited Surabaya again after some times. There wasn't any major changes but it was some kind of deja vu/flashback moment.

Hot af.

Still hot.

We took Lion Air and surprisingly the flight wasn't delayed at all. Good sign.

Since I'm writing this on 2021, don't you just miss this scenery.

Juanda flight crew

peooopleeee

yeah I miss this scenery.

Makassar

The flight took about 2 hours. We arrived at the airport at around 3 pm and we directly went to hotel. I can't remember the name of the hotel but we can see the Losari beach from there.

bonus pic: sunset.

I don't plan to share photos from the symposium because, you know, it's a symposium. It's boring. What did you expect. I'll share some more interesting places that I visited.

Rammang-Rammang, Maros, Makassar

We were recommended this place by some dude at the hotel (which turned out to be the receptionist). This place is supposed to be one of the famous tourist attraction in Makassar. The one which people label as 'mandatory visit' or 'hidden gem' or 'instagrammable'. You get the idea.

camera check

My first impression of this place was, hot. It was hot. The heat was similar with when I was in Bangka. It is the one that kinda sting your skin. If you ever have the chance to visit this place, wear sunblock. Or long sleeves. My mother didn't have her hat and we didn't prepare any umbrellas but fortunately there was hat rental. Quite convenience.

my mom trying some hats.

my mom ready with her rented hat.

So Rammang-rammang is basically river with enormous rocks called karst. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. The location of the massive rocks is accessible via river. It's 15 minutes ride with a traditional boat. Which of course, made my parents pretty excited. Sadly I can't remember how much for a boat ride. It's a tourism object so always have some cash with you.

Kid on boat

Man on boat

another man on boat
sorry I'm not really good with captions.

The boat was equipped with motors. Honestly it was quite a joyful ride especially for my parents. They took a lot of photos. In turn. And they made me take a lot of their photos. There was almost no photo of me. Still happy though.

my father, having time of his life.

He's soo happy

Oh look a another boat. Boat race!
We lost.

We arrived on some kind of docks and directly could see the so-called massive rocks which is called 'karst'.

Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves.^[1]^[2] It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions.^[3] Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes. However, in regions where the dissolved bedrock is covered (perhaps by debris) or confined by one or more superimposed non-soluble rock strata, distinctive karst features may occur only at subsurface levels and can be totally missing above ground.^[4]

-Wikipedia

To give perspective, here's a pic of how massive it is:

big rocks.
don't read that wrong.

just showing off my photography skill

even though I hate the fact that I only bring my fixed lens.

I wasn't prepared for a scenic places so I only bring my fixed Fujifilm lens (XF 35mm f2) along with my Fujifilm X-A2. As you already guessed, it was not suitable at all for this place. I needed wide lens.

Leang-leang, Maros, Makassar

Still in Maros area, this was the second place we visited. Leang-leang is translated as 'cave' so normally you'd expect, a cave. The cave was located in another big rocks (I'm guessing it's also karst) and there were some archeological sites of ancient Bugis people. Hand paintings on the wall, stalactite, stalagmite, and stuffs. We were accompanied by official tour guide from the local government tourism office.

Lots of stairs. My parents hate stairs lol

The tour guide was really helpful

haandss

my father, is still having time of his life

Taman Nasional Bantimurung, Maros, Makassar

This was the third and last stop at Maros. It was a supposed to be good since the names suggest national conservation for butterflies (there was even a large butterfly statue on the entrance) but you have to take stairs to get to the said place and we were too tired (especially my parents). So we only visited the 'playground' before the actual conservation spot. There was a waterfall, river, and swimming pool which I don't understand why it exist on the first place. Sadly the place was not really well-maintained. The swimming pool looked totally abandoned.

the abandoned swimming pool. come on local govt do something

The river

The waterfall.
I think it was called Bantimurung Waterfall.

Pantai Losari & Masjid 99 Kubah

Last day in Makassar. My parents and I took a morning walk near the Losari Beach. The famous Masjid 99 Kubah also can be seen from the beach walk. The 99 kubah/dome is said to represent the 99 asmaul husna (99 names of Allah).