To the north of the city of Makassar lies a region called
Maros which features spectacular, forest covered vertical rock formations
jutting out from the otherwise flat landscape.
It really will be difficult to appreciate any natural beauty the UK has
to offer once I get home after witnessing South Sulawesi’s breathtaking
landscapes, which also hide archaeological treasures. I have always been fascinated by caves and
have only recently had the opportunity to visit any. So it was a welcome surprise when after
arriving at Leang-leang national park to explore, a ranger led the way through
an area suited to the set of a fantasy movie and then, unexpectedly, up several
flights of metal stairs (the only blot on otherwise picturesque surroundings)
attached to the side of a rock face and into a cave about a hundred metres up
the side of a mountain. I don’t know why
I find such environments so intriguing, maybe it has something to do with the
excitement most of us felt as children upon finding a secret area outdoors that
can be used a ‘den’; or maybe because such areas are so untouched by humans
that it almost feels like you’re on another planet. We entered a small area which I assumed
represented the total volume of the cave, but then were shown a gap about the
size of an elongated, skinny man, so proceeded through it and found a much
larger area mostly in darkness but with occasional spots of sunlight filtering
down from the cracks in the rock scattered above. There was also what I can only describe as a
natural window in one wall of the cave looking out to the park below. Among my sillier thoughts at this time was
the idea that this would make an awesome place for the typical crowd found in a
Newcastle based hippy’s house party to get the decks fired up and the people
dancing. Shortly after this, our guide
climbed onto a ledge and pointed at the rock above him. Like a fool it took me about twenty seconds
to properly notice what he was pointing at, initially thinking he was simply
showing me an interesting texture of rock, which it was. Then when I did notice the hands, as you can
see in the picture,
I wondered how it had taken me so long to notice them. These hand prints are over 5000 years
old. I find that mind boggling. Whose are these hands, what is the story of
their lives and their people? What was
happening here, thousands of years before the Roman Empire and on the other
side of the world? In another cave not
far from this one, we were also shown shells embedded in the rock, implying
that this place, far above sea level, and inland, had once been
underwater. One can easily experience a
momentary appreciation of just how tiny our lives really are when faced with
relics so old, and when also considering that even such a large amount of time
represents many times less than one percent of the time life has been on earth. This trip was all made possible by a very
kind woman from Makassar called Chicha who had messaged me on couchsurfing, a website for travellers to meet each other after I had posted a request for guidance. I didn’t really know where places like this were, but she picked me up at 6am after I had travelled overnight for ten hours, took me to meet her family who cooked for me, before being my guide, and then dropping me off in the city later that evening. It seems there are good people who just want to help all over the world.
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