Highland Tour
The highland tour departs from Gangga’s jetty at 7.30am with a tour guide from the resort. The boat to Serei jetty takes around 20 minutes and there will be an air conditioned car waiting at the jetty.
Our first destination is the Traditional food market in Airmadidi. Pick up some traditional snacks for breakfast and have a look around the traditional market. This is a great photo opportunity for a peek into local life so bring your camera.Then it is off to see the largest collection of ancient sarcophagi in the province dating back to as early as the 9th century. The cemetery you will visit contains 144 stone graves or waruga in the local language.
The waruga are rectangular stone burial chambers placed above ground. The deceased was arranged inside, sitting upright on a porcelain bowl. The pre-Christian belief was that babies were born in a sitting position in the mother’s womb, thus it is in this position that human must also end their life.Each persons was supplied with clothing, utensils, and money for the afterlife, and each waruga is decorated with carvings denoting the occupation, cause of death or characteristics of the owner.
Around 3 kilometres from Tondano is Lake Linow; the word Linow is taken from the Minahasa that refer to Lilinowan which means the gathering place of water. The incredible feature of this lake is the changing colors of the water from green, blue and amber due to the sulfur buried in the lake.The Tour continues toward Woloan, where you can see the Minahasa style houses being built, knock down style, ready for delivery and assembly elsewhere. These houses are built completely from wood and generally stand around 3 metres off the ground on stilts. Orders for these houses from all over the world are made in Woloan.
Back on the road, we come to the huge volcanic crater lake at Tondano, where fish of many colors are bred. Here you can admire the spectacular countryside and the traditional stilt houses of local fisherman.Then we glide down towards Tomohon, for a visit to the Buddhist temple. Then we take a short walk past rice fields to Gardenia Restaurant, where we’ll have lunch. The restaurant is at the foot of the active volcano Mount Lokon, and is surrounded by wonderful gardens.
Our tour ends in towards Tomohon with some souvenir shopping or more fashionable shops at a local mall if you prefer. The aim is to return to Gangga around 6pm.