AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Lake Towuti is a vast, glassy inland sea in the highlands of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The largest lake in the province and the second-largest freshwater lake in the country after Lake Toba, it spreads across roughly 56,000 hectares at about 293 metres above sea level, its deep-blue water ringed by green hills and the distant Verbeek Mountains. Visitors come for a rare combination of scenery, solitude and science — a place where a single boat ride can take you past limestone cliffs, jungle-fringed islets and villages whose livelihoods are tied to the water.↗↗↗

What makes Towuti exceptional is its age. Born from tectonic faulting during the Pleistocene some one to four million years ago, it belongs to the ancient Malili lake system and is counted among the oldest lakes on Earth. That long, isolated history turned the lake into a living evolutionary laboratory — a 'Galapagos of Indonesia' — where dozens of fish, shrimp and snails evolved that exist nowhere else. Set against its dramatic sunset views over Loeha Island, the result is one of eastern Indonesia's most rewarding destinations for travellers willing to venture off the beaten path.