White-soft-sandy Tanjung Bira beach…
Another first timer. My first trip to Makassar. In fact, this is my first trip to this island.
The destination: Tanjung Bira, around 200km or 4 hours driving heading to north-east of Makassar. Rented a car at Makassar for IDR300 thousands per day, and off we went.
The road condition between Makassar and Bira varies widely. In some part it’s very smooth, especially near the cities. But in the other part, such as between Jeneponto and Bantaeng, the road condition is very bad and forcing you to slow down significantly. If the road condition is better, I am sure we can drive from Makassar to Bira for no longer than 3 hours.
But the exhaustion from a long drive soon went away when we arrived at Tanjung Bira. The beach was so beautiful with its white soft sand along the sea shore. Off the beach in front of us, the view of blue sea and Liukang Island at the horizon spoiled us. And when the sun set, the scenery was even more astonishing..
We managed to get a room at Anda Bungalow for 400 thousand rupiah per night to rest and prepare myself for sunrise photo hunting in the next morning. Actually, in a low season like the time we went, it won’t be too difficult to find a room to stay overnight. There are numbers of lodging & motels in the beach complex. Too bad, the local-government-owned motel with best location and view – located right on top of the cliff – is no longer operating…
Sunrise at Tanjung Bira port…
Sunrise was not visible from Bira beach, so before dawn I went to the port at the other side of the cape to catch the sunrise with the silhouette of the boats. Later, we also went to the beach nearby where there were several numbers of phinisi boat makers building the boats based on orders – Bugis people are famous for their expertise in building boats. Lucky, we got a chance to climb aboard to one of the phinisi boats…
Two full days in Tanjung Bira and the surrounding places was very refreshing. Now it really depends on how the local authorities can build and develop the infrastructure, so the tourism business can really grow and attract more people to come and visit. And oh, don’t forget to preserve the beach, the sea and the nature, keep them clean and beautiful…
* Photos taken during this Tanjung Bira trip can be found at:
http://www.ismawanismail.com/gallery/index.php?/category/tanjung-bira
I liked your site http://www.ismawanismail.com. Offtopic: Where better to go for a vacation this summer?
What place better than Indonesia..? 😀
Have to admit that our infrastructure is not perfect yet, but that’s one challenge that will never stop a traveler that always look for a new place to explore.. 🙂