Mamasa Valley

Mamasa sits in a highland valley in West Sulawesi and its people are related to the Sa'dan Toraja over the mountains, sharing the tongkonan house form - boat-shaped roofs on carved posts - along with buffalo sacrifice at funerals and burial in rock faces, but with their own dialect, carving style and variations in practice. The valley is Christian, as Toraja is, following early twentieth-century mission work. What it does not have is Toraja's visitor economy: the road in from Polewali is long and rough, the notorious direct route from Toraja is worse and periodically impassable, and the valley receives a small fraction of the numbers. Walking between villages over several days, staying in homes, is the way people see it, with hot springs at Kole and hanging graves at several sites.

What you actually see

• Tongkonan-form houses - boat-shaped roofs on carved posts, in the Mamasa style.
• Rock-face burials - graves cut into cliffs with effigies, as in Toraja.
• Funeral practice - buffalo sacrifice and multi-day rites in the valley villages.
• Very few visitors - the roads keep numbers a fraction of Toraja's.

When to go

May to September; funerals cluster in the dry season. Three days.

Honest expectations

Roads in are genuinely rough and the Toraja route can be impassable. Facilities are village homestays. Funerals are family events - attend only if invited, bring a gift, and follow the guide.

Nearby

Polewali is south-west; Tana Toraja is over the mountains east.