Tana Beru

The pinisi is the Bugis and Makassarese sailing vessel that carried trade across the archipelago and beyond, and Tana Beru on the south-eastern coast of Sulawesi is where they are built - on the beach itself, in the open, with hulls of ironwood and teak rising directly out of the sand. The method is what matters: there are no drawings, no scale model and no measured plan; the master builder, the punggawa, sets the shape from experience and by eye, planks are fitted edge to edge and fastened with wooden dowels before frames are inserted, and ritual observances mark each stage of the work. UNESCO inscribed the art of boatbuilding in South Sulawesi on the intangible heritage list in 2017. Vessels built here still work as cargo carriers and now as liveaboards.

What you actually see

• Hulls rising from the beach - vessels built in the open on the sand.
• Building without plans - the shape set by eye and experience, not drawings.
• Dowelled planking - shell built first, frames inserted afterwards.
• A UNESCO listed craft - South Sulawesi boatbuilding inscribed in 2017.

When to go

May to September; weekdays when the yards are working. Half a day.

Honest expectations

These are working yards, not a display - ask before entering and stay clear of the work. It is a five-hour drive from Makassar. There is little else at Tana Beru.

Nearby

Bira and its beaches are further south-east; Bulukumba is north.