Indonesia’s Maluku Islands, for a real get-away-from-it-all holiday
One of the largest islands you’ve never heard of, Seram is a paradise for nature lovers, much of it known only to the locals, and full of exotic bird species. Just watch out for the crocodiles
“Away from it all” – everyone’s heard that one, often applied to resorts that are also “within easy reach” of an international airport. The Indonesian resort of Oanain Munina, though, is the real deal.
On the north coast of Seram – which, at 340km long, may be one of the largest islands you’ve never heard of – the property’s wooden buildings perch on stilts above shallow waters alive with colourful fish. On one side is a small village, Sawai; otherwise, this part of the world appears deserted. The sea bounds the horizon; behind rise steep hillsides covered in dense rainforest. The manager is rarely to be seen and the only staff we notice are a couple of women who bring out meals, then disappear again.
Set on its own tectonic microplate in the central Maluku Islands, in the east of Indonesia, Seram is 15 times larger than all of Hong Kong, with a resident population of about 170,000. Much of the interior is unexplored by outsiders, although I’ve read two accounts of climbs to the highest point, 3,027 metres; the author of one of these finished with feet so sore and swollen he spent six days in hospital.
Although the jungle-clad hillsides exude a certain appeal, I am, therefore, content to have experienced them from the road as we travelled from south Seram, stopping at times as my guide, Vinno Soewarian, helped spot birds such as the aptly named rainbow lorikeet and the salmon-crested cockatoo, a close relative of the cockatoos that wheel above Hong Kong’s Central district.