Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2018 | Page 106

Travel | North Halmahera
the cone-shaped bamboo baskets known as
saloi are still preferred for collecting produce
in the jungle and plantations. Yet 58-year-old
Adrianus didn’t start making saloi until he
was already 30, and today he is the only
person in the area who makes them.
1
“There’s clearly still a business here for
saloi producers,” he says. “I have orders
for 11 new ones... but no time to make
them since I now have a job at the gold
mine. It’s such a shame that young
people are not interested in the old crafts
because when I’m gone I don’t think
there will be any more saloi.”
1 Pawole island is surrounded by a perfect fringe of crisp,
white sand and dramatic rock outcrops sculpted by the sea.
Over in Paca village Ibu Susana Muluka tells
a similar story. She weaves traditional tikar
mats from pandanus leaves: “It might take
as much as a month to produce a really fine
tikar because I can only work on it in my spare
time,” she says, “but they are still in demand
and I can sell them for about US$90.”
The best secrets are hard to keep, and maybe this peaceful
corner of the fabled Spice Islands is ready for the next
instalment in its colourful history.
Even today, beautifully woven tikar mats are
used at weddings and in burial rites, to be
placed like a blanket over the corpse. In an
ancient tradition that dates back to tribal
kings, visiting dignitaries are still often
greeted with a row of 10 mats, laid out
in a local version of the red carpet that
traditionally welcomes VIPs in the West.
These days tikar are usually decorated
in luminous colours using shop-bought
dyes rather than the natural vegetable
dyes of yesteryear.
“They’re not difficult to make,” says Ibu
Susana modestly as I admire one of her
beautiful designs. “I learnt simply by
watching an older woman, but young girls
today are not interested in the old crafts.
Perhaps they need to see more international
visitors arriving and showing a real interest
in our local culture.”
For the time being, however, it’s unusual
to see a foreign face in North Halmahera.
Among Indonesia’s 17,508 islands there will
always be a hidden corner – a delightful
secret spot still waiting to be ‘discovered’
by pioneering travellers. But the word is out.
The best secrets are hard to keep, and maybe
this peaceful corner of the fabled Spice
Islands is ready for the next instalment
in its colourful history.
View from the crater of Dukono volcano.
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