Other Islands of North Maluku

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None of these islands has any real history of tourism so visits will be often prove something of an adventure.

PULAU HALMAHERA
Maluku’s biggest island is eccentrically shaped with four mountainous peninsulas, several volcanoes and dozens of offshore islands. Sparsely populated and hard to get around, its history has been largely shaped by events over in tiny but dominant Ternate.
Although usually subservient to Ternate, Jailolo would occasionally break away as an independent sultanate, generally ruled by a deposed or renegade branch of the Ternate (or sometimes Tidore) royal family, or by loyalists regrouping to resist European incursions on Ternate. Religiously, the island is predominantly Muslim, although there are Christian majority villages in several areas of the more developed northern peninsula. Halmahera suffered severely from fighting in 1999-2002 and although now peaceful, many shockingly ruined churches remain visible especially in Galela and Sidangoli. Halmahera has few roads but a building programme currently underway, along with several new air routes and various boat links, means there are now several areas where you could be the first foreigner to visit in generations. One such place might be the remote new Aketajawe Lolobata National Park, which offers a slight hope of spotting the exceedingly rare Wallace’s standard-wing bird of paradise, known locally as burung bidadari.

GETTING THERE & AWAY
Merpati has air links to Kao (for Tobelo),  Bacan, the gold-mining town of Buli, Gebe via Weda and Morotai via Galela. Pelni’s Sangiang loops around Halmahera once or twice a month from Ternate and/or Bitung
(Sulawesi). There’s also a weekly Tobelo-Manado boat. But by far the most popular access is by speedboat from Ternate. For the northwestern coast head for Jailolo. For Tobelo, Galela and the east cross initially to Sidangoli. For Weda take a speedboat to Sofifi from either Kota Ternate or from Goto in Tidore (twice daily).

Jailolo
Famed for its fragrant durians, attractive little J ailolo port steams gently amid the mangroves at the base of a lush volcanic cone. Before being incorporated by Ternate, Jailolo was an independent sultanate, though be aware that medieval historians used the term Jailolo (Gilolo) to refer to the whole island of Halmahera. Today, not even a stone remains of Jailolo’s former kraton (palace), abandoned in the 1730s. However with two simple but acceptable hotels, Jailolo is a possible base for exploring some traditional villages in the surrounding area. Penginapan Camar (Jl Gufasa) is clean with shared mandis. The recently renovated Penginapan Nusantara has private bathrooms in some rooms.
Both are just beyond the market, five minutes’ walk from the long jetty where regular morning speedboats arrive from Dufa Dufa in Ternate (one hour).

Around Jailolo
An easy but very pleasant ojek excursion takes you to Merambati, a long black-sand
beach. En route are some distinctive churches and the floral villages of Taboso, Lolori and Gamtala. Each maintains its traditionally thatched rumah adat meeting hall. At the calmer, far-northern end of Merambati beach Susupu is a picturesque volcano-backed village that’s reached via Akelamo on a longer, entirely different road.
Just 3.5km east of Jailolo, Porniti village has another traditional rumah adat. It’s beside the narrow, partly potholed roller-coaster road to Sidangoli (one hour by ojek).

Sidangoli
Speedboats pulling in from Ternate (40 minutes, frequent before 11am) are met by a comical melee of porters and transport touts trying to lure you to their Tobelo-bound Kijangs (three hours). These depart when (nearly)
full from a ‘terminal’ just three minutes’ walk away from the jetty. However, with no queuing system, guessing which car will be first to leave is very hit and miss. Most have finally departed by 11.30am.

You can see Sidangoli’s few vaguely picturesque stilt houses and dramatically ruined church in five minutes. However, if rough water makes speedboat passage back to Ternate unsafe, Penginapan Handayani(Jl Cendani) is quiet and friendly, 300m northwest of the terminal.
In the opposite direction, the bearable Penginapan Sidangoli Indah has tiled floors and a peaceful if viewless terrace.

Tobelo
Surrounded by coconut palms and fronted by a jigsaw of islands, Tobelo is northern Halmahera’s only ‘town’, although it’s little more than the one main Kao-Galela road (Jl Kemakmuran, also called Jl H Simange).
That’s roughly bisected just north of the market/terminal by Jl Pelabuhan (aka Jl Haven) which leads quickly to the main port. In contrast to most of North Maluku, Tobelo is majority Christian, so you can get lunch, and even beer, during Ramadan (Muslim month of fasting). Just don’t drink it in public.

INFORMATION
BNI Bank (Bank Negara Indonesia; Jl Kemakmuran) Opposite the market; 24-hour ATM but no currency exchange.

SLEEPING & EATING
Penginapan Asean Jaya (Jl Pelabuhan) Basic but neat, the delightful English-speaking owner.
Penginapan Alfa Mas (Jl Kemakmuran) Hidden in an off-road garden; cheap rooms are rather rough and the staff are comically camp.
Penginapan Meraksi Flower (Jl Bhayangkara) The best rooms in the new section of this family homestay are Tobelo’s top option. The building is 50m inland from the very over-rated Hotel President.
Villa Hermosa II (Jl Parahyangan) Half of the rooms are excellent and brand new, albeit with screamingly gaudy pink sheets. The peaceful, semi-rural setting is 1.5km southwest of the centre, accessed by a track from near the petrol station.
Wisma Slasabila (Jl Kemakmuran) Lemon-and-lime rooms around a narrow pond. Clean, fresh and friendlier than the next door Penginapan Regina (Jl Kemakmuran).
Rumah Makan Orion (Jl Kemakmuran) Its theatrical kangkung hotplate has subtle tangs of garlic and ginger. It’s diagonally opposite the Hotel President.

GETTING THERE & AWAY
Tobelo has no airport but Merpati (Jl Kemakmuran) flies three times weekly from both Ternate and Manado to Kao, linked with road transfers to/from Tobelo (70 minutes).

The KM Elisabet II sails to Manado (21 hours) on Wednesdays, returning Mondays. Pelni’s Sangiang loops round Halmahera from Bitung (Sulawesi) on a Ternate-Babang (Bacan)-Gebe-Buli-Tobelo-Bitung route, or the same in reverse. The schedule is somewhat variable.
For Morotai there are daily speedboats (two hours) from the main port. On Monday and Wednesday mornings the Inerie ferry (four hours) also serves Morotai from Pelabuhan Penyebangan, 6km north of Tobelo.
Virtually all Kijangs to Sidangoli (three hours) leave antisocially between 3.30am and 4am. Book ahead and they’ll pick you up at your hotel. Bemos are fairly frequent to Galela (one hour) but relatively rare to Kao.

Tobelo’s Offshore Islands
Picturesque and with snorkelling potential, Pulau Kumo is just a 10-minute ride by shared outrigger from Tobelo port. With a chartered boat you can head for an uninhabited coral-fringed island all of your own. Most have golden sandy beaches, but you’ll need your own drinking water. Don’t steal the coconuts! Sandy Pulau Bobale Island, accessed from Daru, is reputed to have great snorkeling and diving. Tobelo’s Villa Hermosa II lends snorkels without charge, but only to guests.

Galela Area
With a lush volcanic backdrop, plenty of bullock carts and fishermen on bamboo rafts, Danau Galela (Danau Duma) is the main attraction of the gently attractive Galela area. It’s 25km north of Tobelo, 1.5km beyond Soasio (aka Galela town).
The Galela district suffered especially during the 1999-2002 troubles, but today the road blocks have mostly gone and quick-growing tropical foliage has softened the ruins of burnt out churches and mosques.
A 16km loop of asphalt road goes right around the lake but the best views are along the 4km of north-bank road nearest Soasio.
On the south bank, Penginapan Talaga Maloha (Jl Raya Soakonora) is a three-room family homestay behind the Wartel Dua Putera 150m east of the oddly bulbous domed Igobul Mosque. Its narrow rear terrace looks directly out over the lake.
There’s also acceptable accommodation in central Soasio, where Penginapan Daloha is the unmarked pink house opposite Sumber Baru shop.
Galela has its own language in which daloha means ‘good’, sukur dala dala means ‘thank you’ and to-tagi tagi rather than jalan jalan is the ideal answer to the eternal question, ‘Where are you going?’.
Merpati has bargain Wednesday flights to Morotai and Ternate from Galala’s airfield. The Merpati lady lives in a totally unmarked house in central Soasio, just off the main road where it swings inland towards the lake.

PULAU MOROTAI
Off Halmahera’s northern tip, this sparsely populated island became a minor Japanese base during WWII. It leapt to importance when it was captured by the Allies and used to bomb Manila to bits - the sad fulfilment of General MacArthur’s ‘I will return’ pledge to retake the Philippines. Among the Japanese defenders that retreated to Morotai’s crumpled mountain hinterland was the famous Private Nakamura: only in 1973 did he discover that the war was over. Bunkers and rusty bullet-cases are visible at overgrown WWII battle sites near Trans Dua. That’s 35 muddy minutes by ojek from Morotai’s village capital Daruba where a rusting US amphibious lander (amfibi) lies hidden in a coconut plantation. Daruba fishing smacks can take you to Pulau Sum Sum, a beautiful desert island that was MacArthur’s temporary WWII command base. It has delightful spongy, white sand and is littered with giant clam shells and the odd WWII bullet.
Berebere, famous for its lobsters, has surfing potential but there’s no road from Daruba and boats from Tobelo are sporadic.
Daruba has two simple penginapan and six sometimes-open rumah makan. Tourists are very rare.

Getting There & Away
Merpati (Daruba) operates flights between Ternate and Daruba via Galela.
Otherwise access is by ferry or speedboat from Tobelo. Ferries to Tobelo (four hours) depart Tuesday and Thursday. Twice a day, overloaded minibuses stagger along the rough roads to Mira and Wayabula but ojeks are much more comfortable for exploring.

PULAU MAKIAN
Moored off Halmahera’s west coast, spiky-topped Pulau Makian is an impressive, 1357m volcano with a photogenically huge gash in the cone’s northern flank. Its eruptions are rare but deadly, killing over 2000 people in 1760 and causing a full-scale evacuation in 1988. Although now resettled, Pulau Makian has no formal accommodation and many Makian islanders remain in Kota Ternate, where they’re reckoned to be disproportionately powerful in the administration. Speedboats leave daily to Bastiong in Ternate (two hours), returning the next morning.

PULAU KAYOA & PULAU GURAICI
The low-slung, reptilian ridge of Pulau Kayoa is not especially impressive above water. However it reportedly has some of North Maluku’s best s norkelling, notably off the small islet of Pulau Guraici where the kepala desa reputedly maintains two basic cottages in case visitors show up.

PULAU BACAN
Pleasant Pulau Bacan, whose laid-back capital Labuha curls almost imperceptibly around a languid west-facing bay, is a sleepy getaway from Ternate. It has a selection of modest guesthouses and features a small, exaggeratedly fortified Portuguese-Dutch fort, Benteng Barnevald, lying overgrown behind a stagnant moat.
The island’s sights are fairly pitiful, but offer excuses to go wandering. Air Panas is a patch of ferric-orange pebbles discoloured by volcanic bubbling. The site is in sea shallows off Kupal village, in an achingly beautiful bay of fishing boats and swaying palms.
It’s 15 minutes by ojek from Labuha. The best place for a swim is the pebble beach off picturesque Sawadai village, 35 minutes by bemo from Labuha. Locals reckon Air Belanda (Dutch Water) is a tourist attraction. However viewing this small ‘waterfall’ is about as exciting as watching your mandi overflow.

Sleeping & Eating
Penginapan Borero Indah (Jl Pasar 2) Near Labuha’s central market, this clean, bright place has an orchid garden and staff so obliging they compete to bring you tea. Some of the doubles have air-con.
Pondok Indah (Jl Oesman Syah) In a family home, this is also pleasant, if slightly more dingy.
Half a dozen miniature rumah makan serve simple rice-and-fish dinners.

Getting There & Away
Labuha’s airport is 4km east of town. Merpati has weekly flights to Ternate.
Overnight boats (eight hours) run daily from Bastiong (Ternate) to Babang, 16km east of Labuha. These arrive antisocially early (around 4am) but bemos await. Although boats continue to Jikotamu (near Laiwui, Obi Islands) there is no regular onward connection to Ambon without backtracking to Ternate.

SULA ISLANDS
Southwest of the Bacan Islands, the Sula Islands are remote, forested and sparsely populated. Sanana has a basic penginapan and a decrepit Dutch fort near the port. Twice-weekly flights or boats from Ternate to Sanana could be combined with the slow Sanana-Ambon boat as an adventurous way to link north and central Maluku. But seas are rough, boats very slow and the area is infamous for treacherous whirlpools.

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