The Cliff (Togian)

The next accommodation of our stay in the Togian Islands National Park was called The Cliff and is located on Malenge Island.

Early in the morning, we set off with a taxi boat and were already curious about what awaited us in Malenge.

Why?

Because here you couldn't comfortably browse all accommodations on Booking.com in advance like in Europe.The Togian Islands are a bit different. Since there is hardly any cell phone reception here, accommodation bookings are handled by an agent on the mainland via WhatsApp and transmitted to the operator families. So our selection was based solely on the location on GoogleMaps with 10 reviews.

One thing is for sure, we were not disappointed! We walked into a beautifully located palm-fringed sandy bay, known as Sera Beach. In "The Cliff" there are only 4 bungalows, which are managed by the very nice Sifa and her family. The view from the dining area and our bungalow was simply incredible. Right by the sea with a view of this bay, which almost reminds a bit of the South Seas.

We were able to enjoy 3 nights here. Relax, read, snorkel, enjoy good food, what more could you want?

Now I almost forgot about our other two activities here:

1. We visited the research station in the neighboring bay. Here, a doctor and his wife settled down to study the behavior of animals in the jungle on the island. Luckily, we were able to observe a group of macaques with him, who happened to visit his garden. In addition, he and his wife are raising a baby monkey whose mother was killed. They are trying to reintroduce him into the wild after the rearing process.
2. A visit to Pulau Papan was also a must. This sea nomad village is connected to Malenge Island by a 1 km long wooden bridge. This was built more than 10 years ago so that the children no longer have to swim to school, but can walk. However, the paths in the nomad village were challenging. The houses of the locals were built on stilts in the water and are connected to each other by walkways, which are about 2 meters above sea level. We balanced through the village, which is more appropriate because the planks or bamboo sticks were sometimes only 1-2 boards wide - so not for the faint-hearted. Also memorable were the beautiful colorful corals and a snorkeling stop at Reef 5 on the way back.

These 3 wonderful days were rounded off with a bonfire by the sea, where the operator family sang some Indonesian songs especially for us. We also met a nice couple from Canada, with whom we had good conversations during meals.