Bada Valley

The Bada valley in the highlands of Central Sulawesi, inside and around the Lore Lindu park, holds around thirty large carved stone figures standing in grassland and paddy - human forms with oversized heads, staring eyes and rudimentary bodies, some four metres high, of which Palindo at Sepe is the largest and best known. Alongside them are kalamba, stone cisterns up to two metres across with separate lids. What is not known is nearly everything: no reliable date has been established, estimates ranging over two thousand years; the stone was quarried somewhere other than where the figures stand, and how they were moved is unexplained, though elders at Sepe say Palindo represents their ancestors, the Tosaloge. They stand in working fields, and reaching them means a rough road and a guide.

History

The megaliths, called watu, "stone", in the local Badaic languages, are said to have existed since the 14th century, though the Dutch missionary Albert Christian Kruyt noted that before the Dutch reached Lore in 1908 people still made stone tombs, so the objects may come from several periods. Locals give the statues names such as Palindo, Torompana, Tarae Roe and Loga, and elders in Sepe village say Palindo, "the entertainer", represents their ancestors, the Tosaloge (Wikipedia, Bada Valley).

What's there

• Large stone figures - human forms up to four metres, standing in fields.
• Palindo - the largest of the group, at Sepe.
• Kalamba cisterns - stone vessels with lids, purpose unresolved.
• No accepted explanation - no firm date, makers or reason for them.

When to go

May to September. Two days.

Things to know

The road in is rough and slow from any direction. Figures are widely scattered across farmland and need a guide. There is no interpretation on site and accommodation is village homestays.

Nearby

Lore Lindu park surrounds it; Tentena and Lake Poso are north-east.