Diverse Culture, Rich Biodiversity

North Sulawesi is an incredible place with diverse culture and an incredibly rich biodiversity, both in the water and on land. Take a day or two to immerse yourselves in this marvelous environment and have more stories to tell after your trip!

Some information about Lembeh, Tangkoko and Tomohon is provided below for your reading pleasure. If you like further information, or would like to arrange for some day tours, contact us and we will make the arrangements for you.

Near to home

Lembeh Island

Lembeh Island is rich in agriculture, the main crop being coconuts (or "kelapa" in Indonesian). There are also a variety of spices being grown here, notably nutmeg ("pala") and cloves ("cengkih").

Village Cultural Tour

Nutmeg ("pala") gives us 2 spices; mace is the the protective coating of the seed, the spice nutmeg, is the seed itself. The flesh is usually served as preserved fruit.

Local economy in a large part is based on coconut - the flesh is processed here and then sent to factories to extract the oil.

K2 Lembeh Dive Resort organizes Village Culture Tour on request - to provide an insight to village life, the economy, role of spices, etc to our guests.

Lembeh Island Tour

Jesus the Redeemer statue, facing the southern side of Lembeh Island.

Babydoll - the top of Lembeh, over-seeing the mainland where you can see the Dua Saudara (two brothers) mountain.

Update June 2024 - the statue was damaged significantly during a storm in March 2024. We will update this when repair is completed, which we expect will take some time.

To tour the island, we will need to use a chartered mini pickup (usually used as public transport within the island). While it is possible to rent a motorcycle to do the tour, we do discourage it as the road are hilly, with sudden turns often occurring at the top before a steep descent! Talk to our staff, and we will arrange for it.

The Final Refuge for A Number of Critically Endangered Species

Tangkoko Nature Park

Tarsier Spectral Tarsius spectrum 230604_1398_Tangkoko.jpg

Tarsiers at Tangkoko Nature Park. This is an endangered species, and Tangkoko Nature Park is one of the last places where they can be seen in the wild. No bigger than a mouse, they are nocturnal creatures that hunt in the night.

Crested Black Macque, also known as Celebes Crested Macaque, is listed on the IUCN Critically Endangered list. It is a small terrestrial macque, spending much of its day on the ground foraging for food and socialising. Endemic to Sulawesi, this macque is only found here and in a few neighbouring islands. Take a day trip after diving to Tangkoko to see this and other magnificent wild life!

A researcher studying the Crested Black Macque. There is an active on-going conservation programme, called Selamatkan Yaki (Save the Yaki), a cooperation between local university and conservation groups from Germany, the US and Thailand.

The Tarsiers and the Crested Black Macque are but only 2 of hundreds of species that are endemic to North Sulawesi, and Tangkoko is one of the last sanctuaries for these magnificent creatures. Come and do a day trip here, and we will do our best to locate these, and other exotic creatures, e.g. Knobbed Hornbill, Cuscus bear, and hundreds of species of wildlife.

Tomohon Highlands

Tomohon Highlands offer a cooler surrounding, dropping to about 18 deg C in the night, and depending on the time of year, could be 22-30 deg C in the day. The mountain in the back is Mount Lokon, an active volcano. We can arrange for a guide to trek with you to the crater.

There are many interesting places to visit at Tomohon Highlands, e.g. Lake Tondanao, Linow Lake, Minahasa house building, a Japanese era cave, extreme market (not recommended for animal lovers), etc.

For further details see our write-up on Tomohon Highlands.