Sumatra

The Austronesian language family covers half the planet so who are Austronesians, where do they live and where do they come from?

There are then, as we said, less off-the-beaten-track tours and more off-the-beaten-track tours of Southeast Asia.

the answer to what is the difference between a Komodo Dragon and a monitor lizard is basically about 40 kilos and several hundred dollars and while a day trip to Komodo gets our thumbs down, a combined Flores and Komodo tour deserves a resounding yes!

Going off-the-beaten-track half way round the World with people you don’t know, food you’ve never tried before and what appear to be extreme weather conditions. What can possibly go wrong?

A few tips on how to get the best out of your small group tour to Southeast Asia

Bukit Lawang The small town of Bukit Lawang is the main jumping-off point for nearby Gunung Leuser National Park. Located in north, central Sumatra, the park, along with  Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan National Parks – forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage designated Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.,  The former alone covers an area of 8,000 square kilometres…

Lake Toba Situated in the north-central region of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Lake Toba was formed as the result of a super-eruption some 70-75,000 years ago which, (according to Wiki), is considered to have been the greatest volcanic eruption to have occurred in the last 25 million years! At some 30 kilometres at its widest point and 100 kilometres…

Indonesia World Heritage Sites The vast Indonesian Archipelago is a continent-sized nation in its own right so we’re going to limit this post to areas at present covered in our scheduled tours, namely the islands of Sumatra. Java and Bali. Despite the country’s huge area, UNESCO’s Indonesia World Heritage sites list currently stands at a meagre 5 cultural and 4…

Indonesian food Prior to a recent Java trip, we confess to not having travelled in Indonesia for a long time and last time we did, it was to some further-flung parts of Sumatra, where frankly, the Indonesian food on offer was rather limited. Well, no offence to the friendly residents of the neighbouring island – and apologies to chefs on…