Kei Islands

The Kei islands lie in south-east Maluku, and Pasir Panjang on Kei Kecil - Ngurbloat beach - is the reason most people have heard of them: several kilometres of sand of exceptionally fine grain, white, squeaking underfoot, and routinely described in Indonesia as the finest sand in the world, which is unverifiable but not obviously wrong. Beyond the beaches there are caves, a coastal karst, Ohoidertawun's low-tide flats and reef. The islands' other distinction is Larvul Ngabal, the customary law system that governs Kei society across religious lines, and which is widely credited with limiting the spread of the Maluku communal violence of 1999 to 2002 here - communities invoked shared adat obligations that cut across the Muslim-Christian division. Access is by flight or long ferry.

What you actually see

• Ngurbloat's sand - exceptionally fine white grain that squeaks underfoot.
• Karst coast and caves - the limestone shore and inland caves.
• Larvul Ngabal - the customary law that holds across religious lines.
• Reef and low-tide flats - the shallows at Ohoidertawun and elsewhere.

When to go

September to December, between the monsoons. Four days.

Honest expectations

Flights are limited and expensive; ferries from Ambon take a day or more. Accommodation is simple and banking is limited. English is little spoken. The seasons here run differently from western Indonesia.

Nearby

Banda is north-west; Ambon is the Maluku gateway.