Labengki Islands

Limestone Karst Towers Rising From Clear Shallow Water North Of Kendari, With Hidden Lagoons And Giant Clams, Marketed At Home As A Miniature Raja Ampat · Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi

North of KENDARI, LIMESTONE KARST TOWERS RISE STRAIGHT OUT OF SHALLOW GREEN WATER in a scatter of islands and hidden lagoons, and Indonesians call it a MINIATURE RAJA AMPAT - which is fair on the geology and generous on the scale. The comparison is the reason anyone has heard of it and it undersells what is actually here: enclosed lagoons reached through gaps in the rock, viewpoints climbed on sharp limestone for the standard photograph, GIANT CLAMS in the shallows that local conservation work has been built around, and BAJAU STILT SETTLEMENTS built over water with no land under them. SOMBORI, just across the administrative border in Central Sulawesi, is usually visited in the same trip and is often confused with it. THERE IS ALMOST NO INFRASTRUCTURE: trips are two or three day boat charters out of Kendari and back, with almost nobody else on the water when you get there, and no shops, no banking and no signal once you have arrived.

Labengki, North Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

THERE IS NO GATE AND VERY LITTLE ON THE ISLANDS. ACCESS IS BY CHARTERED BOAT FROM KENDARI - roughly three to four hours - or from closer jetties to the north, and TRIPS ARE BOOKED AS TWO OR THREE DAY PACKAGES rather than arranged on arrival; there is no walk-in market. KENDARI HAS FLIGHTS from Makassar, Jakarta and Surabaya. ACCOMMODATION IS A SMALL NUMBER OF SIMPLE GUESTHOUSES AND HOMESTAYS, or camping, and must be arranged with the operator. SOMBORI IS ACROSS THE BORDER IN CENTRAL SULAWESI and is usually included in the same charter - the two are routinely conflated. THE SEA IS CALMEST ROUGHLY MARCH TO NOVEMBER; crossings are cancelled in rough weather. Bring cash and everything else - there are no shops and no banking.

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