Ujung Pandang (Makassar) is the capital of Sulawesi, the octopus-shaped island of Indonesia.
To get into the park, the road passed under a giant concrete monkey, which was waving with one hand and scratching its head with the other. Maybe it couldn't decide whether to welcome us or not. Apparently this 6m tall statue is of a lutung, which is a black, long-tailed leaf monkey indigenous to Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
Steep steps lead up the side of the tufa waterfall and onto the gorge with the blue river. It reminded me of the Bei Shui river which flows through the Jiuzhaigou Nature Park in Sichuan province in southern China. It must be the tufa which gives the milky blue colour.
Bantimurung is crowded with Indonesians on weekends and holidays, and at other times it's a wonderful retreat from the congestion of Ujung Pandang.
Gua Mimpi is a show cave in the park.
There is a boardwalk through the cave and there is a lot of nice stal.
The Bantimurung Nature Reserve covers 1000 ha. There are many other caves in these cliffs but apart from the scenery the area is also famous for its beautiful butterflies. The naturalist Alfred Wallace collected specimens here in the mid 1800s.
© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission
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