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Maluku Travel Information - Buru |
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| Buru: Maluku's Third Largest island |
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Rugged and rarely visited, the island of Buru is best known in Indonesia as a place where "communist" political prisoners used to be exiled in the Suharto era. The island was off-limits to outsiders back then, and though it is no longer the case, visitors are still very rare. Buru has some fine beaches and trekking possibilities through its mountainous interior centred on Danau Rana, though apart from a decent range of accommodation in Namlea, it offers almost no visitor facilities as such.
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Danau Rana
This remote, large mountain lake high up in the very centre of Buru looks very intriguing on any map of the island. It requires a bit of an effort and determination to reach though. Once there, I found it a bit disappointing. Its shores were swampy, far from ideal from walking around. The surrounding villages were not particularly interesting either, and most forests in the surrounding area had been logged.
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Unlike other large (and many small) islands Maluku, Buru is almost totally homogenous ethnically, with the native Burunese speaking the same language, even if with dialect differences, throughout the island. As far as religion is concerned, Muslims are concentrated in the north, Christians down south and in the interior, where some communities even stick to their traditional religion. Of course there are also migrants living on Buru, notably those from the Sula Islands who settled mostly in northwest Buru. |
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By air
Two weekly flights are scheduled from Ambon to Namlea in North, and Namrole in South Buru - keep your fingers crossed!
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By sea
Two Pelni ship stops at Namlea between Ambon, Ternate and Bitung (in North Sulawesi) about 4 times a month in total. Be prepared that the ships drop anchor out in the bay in front of Namlea, and passengers have to disembark into small longboats that will take them to the shore! Smaller local boats also go from both Ambon and Sanana (in the Sula Islands) to Namlea, and from Ambon to Leksula passing other villages in the South. There is even a daily hydrofoil from Ambon to Namlea taking less than 2 hours. Boats are the only way of getting around South Buru.
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By road
There is a fairly long road on the North coast of Buru, with a bus service heading west from Namlea along it.
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Buru's main town Namlea has a couple of decent hotels catering to locals. Outside Namlea you may not find formal accommodation. |
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Basic choice
There are a few basic warungs in Namlea, and probably also in a few other settlements on Buru.
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