Indonesia

The more than 300 ethnic groups living in Indonesia have inspired the national motto of “Unity in Diversity”.

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Bali is one of the more than 17,000 islands forming the Indonesian archipelago (the largest in the world) and probably its best tourist destination. The island is rightfully famous for its culture, people and landscapes. Bali enchants with its dramatic dances, colorful ceremonies, artefacts and architecture. Is also dotted with intricately carved Hindu temples. Located at 8 degrees south of the equator, the island has one of the most idyllic climates on earth, with a light raining season between November and March and a cool and sunny dry season between April and October. In the Island of the Gods, one may trek and climb its numerous mountains and volcanos, dive into the underwater biodiversity of its reefs, cycle around the terraced rice-fields and plunge into the intimate life of the Balinese villages people, their way of life and spirituality.

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In the most western part of Indonesia is the island of Sumatra, home to the Batak a mountain Cristian population. The island preservers some of the most astonishing tropical wilderness, mountains, lakes, sanctuaries for orang-utans and a string of coral islands off its western shore. Easley reached by sea or air from Malaysia or Singapore it is an ideal destination for the nature lovers.

Between Sumatra and Bali stretches the island of Jawa, the most populous of them all, with its bustling cities, Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and the historical ones, Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Solo). Landmarks witnessing the Hindu and Buddhist roots of the region, Prambanan and Borobudur, now UNESCO world sites stand majestic in the tropical landscape.

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Further north are the islands of Sulawesi, home to the Toraja, an ethnic group with peculiar funerary rituals, and the legendary islands of Moluccas, kingdom of the spices.

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East of Bali, across the Wallace line parting two dramatically opposite climates and landscapes, hot and tropical and hot and arid, are the islands of Nusa Tenggara with Lombok and its famous beaches and atolls, Komodo and its Dragons, Sumbawa, Flores and Timor. To the most Eastern part is the Indonesian side of Papua with its immense forests, high peaks and tribal groups of hunters and gatherers.