Saturday, 2022-07-23
Last December 2021, I was involved in a project with the largest open-pit nickel mine with an integrated nickel processing facility in Indonesia. The location is in a small town called Sorowako (also spelled Soroako) by Lake Matano. Almost 70% of the population in Sorowako are immigrants from all provinces in Indonesia and many expats.
To get to Sorowako I first had to fly from Jakarta to Makassar. The flight took around 1 hour and 25 minutes. Makassar, also known as Ujungpandang is the capital city of the province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the Eastern Indonesia region, and the fifth largest city in the country.
Sorowako is approximately 600 km from Makassar, and to get there we can opt for the road or air. Traveling by air would take about 1 hour, but it is almost impossible to get a seat for a once-per-week flight during the pandemic. I was lucky because my arrival timing coincided with 3 other contractors who happened to be driving a double cabin truck so I tagged along.
From the airport, we took an online taxi first to the seaport which was about 1 hour away from the airport. We had to pick up the double cabin truck, which had been sent a few days before from the contractor's main head office in Surabaya (the capital of East Java province on Java island).
We skipped lunch and left Makassar around 15:00, and it took us about 15 hours long drive to reach Sorowako with 4 stops for a meal, rest, and coffee breaks. The 2-way inter-city roads with 1-lane each were quite winding and the conditions in some parts were quite bad. The number of motorbikes driven by residents carrying goods and agricultural products was one of the main causes of the slowing down of traffic. If you are not familiar with road conditions and local driving habits, I can guarantee you will be anxious and tense all the way.
Around 5:30 am we entered the town of Wawondula, the closest and slightly bigger town, about 30 minutes from Sorowako. The roads were starting to get busy with people in factory uniforms going to work on motorbikes, buses, and pick-up cars. Crowds of people in factory uniforms gathered at designated points waiting for pick-up. That was the busiest time in the morning when people were getting ready for the 6:00 shift.
The beautiful view of the houses on stilt, the quiet neighborhood, the fresh air, and the cool temperature are perfect for a morning walk and jog
I spent 56 days on-site for the first part of the project. There were 4 of us, and we shared a house provided by the company in the housing complex by Lake Matano. During the first few weeks, while waiting for clearance for our badges, work permits, safety induction classes, and general health checks, we had the opportunity to explore Sorowako and its surroundings. Every morning I would wake up at 5:45 and have a morning walk along Lake Matano for 3 km and have breakfast on my way back. This was my routine and favorite time of the day when the neighborhood was still quiet, with fresh air, and an outside temperature of about 23C, it was just perfect for a walk/jog along the lake.
Tethered pontoon boat, access to Matano yacht club, and the outer dining area of the cafeteria.
Our house was only about 100 meters away from the lake. We could see the beautiful lake from our front porch. We experienced a couple of heavy thunderstorms as we were in the middle of the wet season. It was amazing how in the morning we could very clearly see the horizon on the other end of the lake, and in the afternoon during the thunderstorm, heavy fog completely covered the whole lake.
This photo was taken during the morning shift change in front of the processing plant when the whole town was engulfed by heavy fog.
Ide beach, access from the residential area.
Ide beach early in the morning.
Lake Matano (Indonesian: Danau Matano), also known as Matana, is a natural lake in East Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia. With a depth of 590 m (1,940 ft), it is the deepest lake in Indonesia (ranked by maximum depth), the 10th deepest lake in the world, and the deepest lake on an island by maximum depth. The surface elevation from mean sea level is only 382 m (1,253 ft), which means that the deepest portion of the lake is below sea level. – Source: wikipedia
Inside the housing complex, there was an area by the lake called Ide beach. Before the pandemic, this beach was normally crowded with residents during the weekend. All food stalls have been closed throughout this area. There was also a wooden jetty built on Ide beach, and on a few parts of the jetty, there were stairs leading to the water. The deepest point of the water at the farthest end of the jetty was about 3 meters, and the bottom of the lake was still clearly visible. The water was crystal clear. We could see the bottom of the lake with various kinds of small fish. The water temperature was quite cold, but refreshing. We took a dip in the water a couple of times, and indeed it was refreshing!
Lake Matano supplies clean water for all housing in Sorowako and surrounding villages as well as industrial water needs. Out of curiosity, I checked on the Internet about this lake Matano and here's what I found from Wikipedia.
Top Left: Front view of the entrance to Double F Resto & Cafe.
Bottom Left: The main entrance gate from second floor of the resto.
Right: Pepper fields surrounding the resto.
The water slides, children's playground, tethered boat and jetty by the lakeside.
Ide beach is located in the company's housing complex and is not open to the public. However, there is a good resto and cafe called "Double F" also by the lakeside open to the public about 3 km from our house. This resto has a function hall and is surrounded by pepper fields. They have a decent menu at a reasonable price. The lake is behind the resto. There's also a jetty with a 2 meter diving board at the end. There's also a playground and water slides for children and a big boat that you can rent tethered by the lakeside. Unfortunately, during the pandemic all recreational and tourist destinations were all closed to avoid crowds.
The long journey bus... apologies for blurry photo
The first phase of the project finished on Friday, February 6th and I decided to go back to Jakarta the following day. This time I decided to try to take the bus to go to the airport in Makassar to catch a flight back to Jakarta. These long journey buses only have 20 full reclining seats and very comfortable. Some models even come with sleeper compartment. The bus left the terminal at 19:00 and dropped me off at the airport at 8:00 the next morning. The trip was slightly faster. It took 13 hours, with 1 stop around midnight for about 30 minutes for a meal break. The bus also made a couple more toilet stops on the way as there's no toilet in the bus. Had I known that the bus ride was much more comfortable I would have chosen it over the double cabin truck.
Well, that was how and where I spent my time at the end of 2021 and started the year 2022 away from the family for 56 days. Thank you for stopping by and for your support. Hive on!
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