Sengkang, South Sulawesi

Sengkang, a modest town in South Sulawesi, feels a world away from the bustle of Makassar or the tourist-draw of Tana Toraja. It is a place defined by water and weaving, where daily life drifts gently along the banks of the Walanae River and across the vast expanse of Lake Tempe. For travellers, Sengkang offers not spectacle but atmosphere, a glimpse of Sulawesi’s quieter rhythms and enduring traditions.

Lake Tempe is Sengkang’s great stage. Vast and shallow, it swells and contracts with the seasons, its surface dotted with floating houses tethered to bamboo poles. Visiting by boat allows you to step inside these stilted homes, where fishermen live with their families, drawing up freshwater fish from nets cast beneath the floorboards. At dawn and dusk, flocks of herons, cormorants and migratory birds skim across the horizon, turning the lake into a shifting tableau of light and life.

On land, Sengkang is equally rooted in craft, this is the heartland of Buginese silk weaving, a tradition passed down through generations. In small workshops and family homes, looms clatter with the making of sarongs in intricate geometric patterns, the vibrant colours echoing the energy of Sulawesi itself. Watching the process, the dyeing of threads and patient rhythm of the shuttle, is to see a cultural artform that remains as relevant as ever in local ceremonies and daily life.

The town itself is small and unpretentious, with little in the way of modern diversions, but therein lies its charm. It is a place best experienced unhurried, drifting on the lake, wandering through markets, pausing to chat with weavers at their looms.

For most visitors, Sengkang is a stopover between Makassar and Toraja, a convenient pause on a longer journey north. Yet to stay, even briefly, is to encounter a way of life tied closely to water, craft and community. In its quiet, Sengkang offers something increasingly rare, the feeling of connection not through grandeur, but through the simple, enduring patterns of everyday life.

The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.
G. K. Chesterton