How important is tourism for your country?

Tourism in Indonesia is an important component of the Indonesian economy as well as a significant source of foreign exchange revenues. With a vast archipelago of more than 17.000 islands, the second longest shoreline in the world, 300 different ethnic groups and 250 distinct languages, and tropical climate throughout the year, nature and culture are two major components of Indonesian tourism.

Tourism in Indonesia is currently overseen by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. International tourist campaigns have been focusing largely on tropical destination with white sand beaches and blue sky imagery. Beach resorts and hotels were developed in some Indonesia islands, with Bali island as the primary destination. Cultural tourism is also an important part of Indonesia tourism industry. Toraja, Prambanan and Borobudur temples, Yogyakarta and Minangkabau are popular destinations for cultural tourism, apart from many Hindu festivities in Bali. About 5 million foreign tourists have visited Indonesia annually since 2000.

Have you seen this postcard?

This postcard taken at Togians Island, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Hearing the word Togean initially not that familiar to Belitong, Lombok, Flores, Weh, and Raja Ampat. But for the explorers of island, Togean become happening when entered into the list of the world's coolest spot in Tempo magazine.

On Oct 19th 2004, the government established the Togean 

Islands as a national park area. It covers 292.000 hectares of sea and 70.000 hectares of land, 10.659 hectares of which are designated areas for forest preservation and mangrove conservation.

The Togean Islands offer a variety of activities for fun and relaxation. Take a stroll along peaceful white sandy beaches, go snorkeling and diving to check out the coral reefs and underwater wildlife, explore the islands and all of their natural wonders, and enjoy the Togean Island's seafood.

Kadidi Island

Kadidiri, not far from the Togeans’ central city of Wakai, is the most popular among the islands, which are scattered across a 90-square-kilometer area.

For those of you who wants to spend the holiday on the Kadidiri island, no need to worry because in here provided a lot of resorts and accommodation of various types. Rates of each inn and cottages is also different, depens of facilities on offer.

Among tourists, Kadidiri island often referred to as virgin island with hidden beauty. The island was more often visited by foreign tourists than domestic tourists. Even to foreign tourists who settled on the island until a dozen years, and this time chose to work as a dive master.

Because of this unspoiled island, you can even enjoy the coral reefs here with the naked eye, without having snorkeling or diving, you can simply walk as far as five meters from the seaside to enjoy the beauty of underwater with the naked eye. The sea water here is crystal clear with soft white sand. In addition to a coral reef, you can also see a variety of colors chasing each other fish, turtles, sharks, and other marine life.

One of the diving spot you must visit is the wreckage B 24, which is a former World War II aircraft. To find this spot, you can drive with the speedboat as far as 16 km to the northeast of the Kadidiri island. Wreckage is the home to a variety of coral reefs old decades. it will be a memorable experience for you.

For those of you who wants to do fishing, you can ask for a guide to accompany you to your fishing location, in the Kundurang area. Kundurang was a site known as the best sea trout fishing spots on the island. While fishing, you can enjoy a wonderful view of the rocks in the clear sea. The spot is also famous for its beautiful shades of sea water lure.

And for anyone who prefers green landscape of forests, can do tracking or walking around the tropical forest on the island. Tracking in Kadidiri tropical forests would be fun, because the plants are very diverse. Be sure to bring a camera while doing these activities, because in addition to a diverse flora, you'll find lots of beautiful species of birds perched on the end of the branches of trees.

What are the difficulties&challenges to get there?

Kadidiri Island is located at the National Park Togean Islands, located in the Gulf of Tomini, Central Sulawesi. The location of the island is very far from the big city. You need a travel time of about 3-6 hours journey by ship from Ampana City, followed by another trip about 30 minutes from Wakai to Kadidiri Island. 

To reach the Kadidiri island, you have to travel by boat through the route from the pier in Ampana, Tojo Una-Una capital towards Wakai Island - Bomba - Kadidiri. The rates you have to pay between Rp30000-50000 thousand amount each person and it takes about 5-6 hours.

Or from the pier in Ampana, you can also ride the ferry with the aim of Gorontalo, then transit at the Wakai island. From Gorontalo to Wakai Island it takes about eight hours. When arrives at the Wakai island, you can rent a boat or speedboat to reach the Kadidiri island, this trip takes one hour. Unfortunately, these ferries will operate on Wednesdays only. So it's kind of hard to get there especially on  this island there is no shops so you must bring your own supply of fresh water to drink and snacks or wet wipes and personal medicines.

Remoteness makes electrical facilities are very limited. The use of electricity here is limited to 21.00. So you are expected to bring a flashlight or a personal emergency lamp as lighting equipment at night. 

You can walk around to the small islands with a rented boat , canoing , snorkeling , or even diving .

Boat rental fee is quite varied. For boats with a capacity of 8 people , you can rent it about Rp550 thousand per day route Kadidiri Island , Katupat , Malenge , and Waleakodi . If you want to see the volcanoes in Togean , you can extend the route to the Una - una Island with an additional cost of approximately Rp200 thousand .

Although it's a long journey and quite expensive but it'll be worth it with what will you get in there.