IO – As the largest island in North Maluku Province, Halmahera Island holds a diversity that is still unknown to many Indonesians and the world. On this island there is a bay that has biodiversity for the life of the coral reef ecosystem, namely, Jailolo Bay. From the perspective of Jailolo’s history is a maritime country that was victorious. The relation between the life of the local community and its nature maintains a very captivating cultural narrative. This charming bay is also one of the main gateways to a natural cluster in West Halmahera.
Tracing Pesona Kahatola,
Loloda
That morning I
headed to Kedi Port on Kahatola Island, a small island in the north of Jailolo
City, by boarding a fast Bahari Ekspres boat. The trip takes approximately 4
hours by boat. The sun is rising higher, accompanied by a clear sky decorated
with clumping clouds. Can’t wait to want to immediately witness the charm of
beauty around Kahatola Island. Accompanied by friends from Jakarta and Ternate,
I immediately began the adventure that day. Access that is still difficult to
reach: it makes the places I will visit this time rarely visited by tourists.
There I and other tourists were welcomed by community leaders, traditional leaders and religious leaders, one of them was the sub-district of tradition council, Yopi Luo, who was also Kapita Juanga. When arriving at Kedi Village, visitors perform a ritual of Joko Kaha or Sigofi Hohu, which is led by Kapita Juanga. Joko Kaha is said to be said in the beliefs of the local community, namely, introducing themselves to visitors who come and enter a place or area so that their journey reaches their destination safely and when they return safely. After arriving at Kedi Village the participants of the fun trip traveled across one of Kahatola and Mariporoco tourist attractions.
After about forty minutes, my ship arrived at a place called Mariporoco. Amazing! That’s the only word that came out of my mouth when I arrived at this place. It seems impossible to have a place as beautiful as this in the middle of the expanse of the sea off Halmahera. The combination of high cliffs towering with blue sea water Tosca, that surrounds the place make Mariporoco seem like heaven. The calm atmosphere also adds to the added value of this place. Because people still rarely visit, Mariporoco still looks natural and clean.
Then my fast boat drove back to the next island, namely Sosota Island. The sea wave began to rise with the gusts of wind which also began to tighten. For about half an hour we finally arrived at Sosota Island. Sosota Island itself is an uninhabited island, so before visiting there, it is expected to be able to bring sufficient supplies and equipment. The topographical condition of this island is a coral island with a stretch of white sand, hilly and only found a few coconut trees there; the rest are stretches of reeds. Sosota Island is surrounded by several coral islands with high cliffs towering around it.
Next I headed to the Kahatola waterfall. This waterfall in the middle of the ocean became the prima donna of my trip that day. This waterfall is hidden between shady trees and immediately juts into the sea.
This water will flow continuously throughout the year; the water is also not from mountains or rivers, but comes from seepage of groundwater collected from rainwater and dew drops. The water then falls as a waterfall that flows throughout the year. Because I visited this Kahatola waterfall in the summer, there was less water flowing into the sea.
Feeling tired during the long journey to the beautiful island group in West Halmahera paid off. Natural panorama like a painting presented as wide as the eye can see. Birds and bats are my one-day friends on Kahatola Island. (Pramitha Hendra)