Indonesia's answer to the Maldives is one of the best-kept island secrets
Belitung is located on the east coast of Sumatra in the Gaspar Strait where the South China and Java seas meet. Its north-west corner, where I'm staying, has been dubbed the 'Seychelles of Indonesia' and 'Indonesia's Maldives'. I liken this heavenly beach paradise to a mini-Raja Ampat, a white sandy wonderland of gentle translucent waters with tropical fish darting in the shallows, and blooms of staghorn and brain coral sitting quietly in the cooler depths. The coastline's scattering of tiny islands – rocky outcrops sprouting picture-perfect coconut trees – are part of a UNESCO Global Geopark. It is scenery worthy of a fairytale, or a pirate movie. That a shipwreck and its treasure were discovered out on the horizon, just 1.6 kilometres away, is entirely in keeping.
Known for its lucrative deposits of tin, Belitung has a mining history and was once a base for BHP Billiton, Billiton being another name for Belitung. Its population of about 320,000 has traditionally worked in mining, but the depletion of tin in the 1990s has since seen the emphasis on fishing, agriculture and, incrementally, tourism.
My invitation to the island has come from Tanjung Kelayang Reserve, a 350-hectare privately owned nature reserve that fronts Belitung's stunner north-west coastline. Of this land, 200 hectares have been dedicated to rewilding and conservation, with a promise of protecting the island's endemic fauna and flora while supporting local communities.
I arrived earlier this morning on the 45-minute flight (400 kilometres) north of Jakarta. At the one-shed International airport, my host Yuni Kusama points out that I am the only bule, or foreigner, at the airport.
She explains that the reserve's Perth-based Indonesian owner (who requests anonymity) wants Australians and Europeans to visit Belitung 'because they're eco-travellers. They'll understand that we are trying to create a truly sustainable destination'.
From what I'm seeing, the assessment is bang-on. Aussies keen on a low-impact intrepid island adventure will fall for this place. So will those seeking a laid-back beach holiday or an eco-luxury escape.
For the first two nights, I stay at Sheraton Belitung, at the centre of the reserve. It's a lovely, newish, 123-room resort thoughtfully constructed from hand-pressed local kaolin clay bricks, with native renggadai wood ceilings and finishes. The colour palette blends seamlessly with the white sands, dark green tropical garden and expansive natural lagoons, which are connected to the resort's zero-emissions water treatment plant. The resort is luxurious, but casually so, with a peaked-roof, wall-less lobby where my bare feet don't get a second glance, and clean and spacious rooms with comforts including balconies with standalone bathtubs.
On the beachfront, the indoor-outdoor Island Restaurant, serving traditional Bangka Belitung cuisine, ensures long leisurely dining interspersed with kayaking, snorkelling, laps of the Olympic-sized pool, and volleyball jousts over a net whimsically strung between two coconut trees.
Island hopping, in the reserve's characteristic wooden fishing boat, is part of the fun too. Over two days we zigzag around the Geopark to snorkel in the depths around bird-shaped Garuda Island and walk knee-deep in the echoing sea caves of Kelayang Island. We stop by a tiny floating fish market where grouper and napoleon fish are bred in cages sunken into the cobalt blue sea. We motor into a light headwind to Lengkuas Island and are greeted by a vision from a children's book, a 55-metre Dutch colonial lighthouse, built in 1882, with seven porthole windows ascending 12 floors to a domed lamp top. There's talk of turning it into a museum showcasing Belitung's long maritime trade-route history.
On day three, I swap sand and sea for the reserve's Whistle Trail nature walk with guide Akbar Alfarisyi, a former biology teacher who joined the reserve in 2022. 'Now the biology teaches me,' he says as we walk through the cool forest, the island's biodiversity hotspot with more than 150 species of native flora and fauna. Along the path, Alfarisyi points out the reserve's rewilding successes – exquisite native orchids (of which there are 67 species on Belitung), termite nests (food for the reserve's four protected Sunda pangolin), cinnamon (a relatively rare species with a mint scent), and a strong-flavoured white pepper (once the island's chief agricultural export and now critically endangered).
We visit the reserve's trigona beehives, which are cared for by the villagers of Komunitas Pelabo Sijuk, who receive an income from the bottles they sell. Unlike regular hexagonal hives, stingless beehives are a mesh of smallish sacks. I dip a reed straw into one to taste the delicious honey – it has a woody fermented flavour, both sweet and sour, like the aroma of wine barrels.
On night three, I stay at the reserve's Billiton Ekobeach Retreat, accessible via a sandy shoreline walk or a short putt-putt by fishing boat. It has five rustically charming, stilted beach huts spaced along their own stretch of sand. The structures and bespoke furniture are made from beach-sourced driftwood and other natural waste items for a Robinson Crusoe vibe, but they're also comfortably appointed with air-conditioning, ceiling fans and hot showers.
The final day might well be the finest. Once again, I meet Wakhyu Brata, this time to join a Bluemind Experience private island adventure. We skip over the waves to Kera Island, an idyllic oasis covered in a tropical garden with a hidden sandy cove where a picnic lunch is served. Afterwards, Brata, having snorkelled around the shallows with his net, waves me over. He has caught four fresh sea urchins, round, spiky and glistening black, with silver and blue spots that shimmer like crystals.
Loading
We stand knee-deep in water as he cuts the spikes off, then cracks the top off, the shell to reveal slivers of buttery yellow flesh, a delicacy known as uni in the Japanese culinary world. After swishing it clean in the salty water, I scoop the soft, briny, umami-loaded sea-shimi straight into my mouth. It's a taste sensation, yet another of Belitung Island's remarkable underwater treasures.
THE DETAILS
VISIT Belitung and Tanjung Kelayang Reserve are open year-round, with the dry season (April to October) typically offering the best time to visit. See https://tanjungkelayangreserve.com/. Bluemind Experience organises the reserve's island-hopping activities. See https://bluemind.co.id/
FLY Qantas and Garuda Indonesia have direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Jakarta, where it's a one-hour flight to Belitung on domestic airlines, including Citilink and Batik Air. See qantas.com.au; garuda-indonesia.com; citilink.co.id; batikair.com.my
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Sydney Morning Herald
8 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Indonesia's answer to the Maldives is one of the best-kept island secrets
Belitung is located on the east coast of Sumatra in the Gaspar Strait where the South China and Java seas meet. Its north-west corner, where I'm staying, has been dubbed the 'Seychelles of Indonesia' and 'Indonesia's Maldives'. I liken this heavenly beach paradise to a mini-Raja Ampat, a white sandy wonderland of gentle translucent waters with tropical fish darting in the shallows, and blooms of staghorn and brain coral sitting quietly in the cooler depths. The coastline's scattering of tiny islands – rocky outcrops sprouting picture-perfect coconut trees – are part of a UNESCO Global Geopark. It is scenery worthy of a fairytale, or a pirate movie. That a shipwreck and its treasure were discovered out on the horizon, just 1.6 kilometres away, is entirely in keeping. Known for its lucrative deposits of tin, Belitung has a mining history and was once a base for BHP Billiton, Billiton being another name for Belitung. Its population of about 320,000 has traditionally worked in mining, but the depletion of tin in the 1990s has since seen the emphasis on fishing, agriculture and, incrementally, tourism. My invitation to the island has come from Tanjung Kelayang Reserve, a 350-hectare privately owned nature reserve that fronts Belitung's stunner north-west coastline. Of this land, 200 hectares have been dedicated to rewilding and conservation, with a promise of protecting the island's endemic fauna and flora while supporting local communities. I arrived earlier this morning on the 45-minute flight (400 kilometres) north of Jakarta. At the one-shed International airport, my host Yuni Kusama points out that I am the only bule, or foreigner, at the airport. She explains that the reserve's Perth-based Indonesian owner (who requests anonymity) wants Australians and Europeans to visit Belitung 'because they're eco-travellers. They'll understand that we are trying to create a truly sustainable destination'. From what I'm seeing, the assessment is bang-on. Aussies keen on a low-impact intrepid island adventure will fall for this place. So will those seeking a laid-back beach holiday or an eco-luxury escape. For the first two nights, I stay at Sheraton Belitung, at the centre of the reserve. It's a lovely, newish, 123-room resort thoughtfully constructed from hand-pressed local kaolin clay bricks, with native renggadai wood ceilings and finishes. The colour palette blends seamlessly with the white sands, dark green tropical garden and expansive natural lagoons, which are connected to the resort's zero-emissions water treatment plant. The resort is luxurious, but casually so, with a peaked-roof, wall-less lobby where my bare feet don't get a second glance, and clean and spacious rooms with comforts including balconies with standalone bathtubs. On the beachfront, the indoor-outdoor Island Restaurant, serving traditional Bangka Belitung cuisine, ensures long leisurely dining interspersed with kayaking, snorkelling, laps of the Olympic-sized pool, and volleyball jousts over a net whimsically strung between two coconut trees. Island hopping, in the reserve's characteristic wooden fishing boat, is part of the fun too. Over two days we zigzag around the Geopark to snorkel in the depths around bird-shaped Garuda Island and walk knee-deep in the echoing sea caves of Kelayang Island. We stop by a tiny floating fish market where grouper and napoleon fish are bred in cages sunken into the cobalt blue sea. We motor into a light headwind to Lengkuas Island and are greeted by a vision from a children's book, a 55-metre Dutch colonial lighthouse, built in 1882, with seven porthole windows ascending 12 floors to a domed lamp top. There's talk of turning it into a museum showcasing Belitung's long maritime trade-route history. On day three, I swap sand and sea for the reserve's Whistle Trail nature walk with guide Akbar Alfarisyi, a former biology teacher who joined the reserve in 2022. 'Now the biology teaches me,' he says as we walk through the cool forest, the island's biodiversity hotspot with more than 150 species of native flora and fauna. Along the path, Alfarisyi points out the reserve's rewilding successes – exquisite native orchids (of which there are 67 species on Belitung), termite nests (food for the reserve's four protected Sunda pangolin), cinnamon (a relatively rare species with a mint scent), and a strong-flavoured white pepper (once the island's chief agricultural export and now critically endangered). We visit the reserve's trigona beehives, which are cared for by the villagers of Komunitas Pelabo Sijuk, who receive an income from the bottles they sell. Unlike regular hexagonal hives, stingless beehives are a mesh of smallish sacks. I dip a reed straw into one to taste the delicious honey – it has a woody fermented flavour, both sweet and sour, like the aroma of wine barrels. On night three, I stay at the reserve's Billiton Ekobeach Retreat, accessible via a sandy shoreline walk or a short putt-putt by fishing boat. It has five rustically charming, stilted beach huts spaced along their own stretch of sand. The structures and bespoke furniture are made from beach-sourced driftwood and other natural waste items for a Robinson Crusoe vibe, but they're also comfortably appointed with air-conditioning, ceiling fans and hot showers. The final day might well be the finest. Once again, I meet Wakhyu Brata, this time to join a Bluemind Experience private island adventure. We skip over the waves to Kera Island, an idyllic oasis covered in a tropical garden with a hidden sandy cove where a picnic lunch is served. Afterwards, Brata, having snorkelled around the shallows with his net, waves me over. He has caught four fresh sea urchins, round, spiky and glistening black, with silver and blue spots that shimmer like crystals. Loading We stand knee-deep in water as he cuts the spikes off, then cracks the top off, the shell to reveal slivers of buttery yellow flesh, a delicacy known as uni in the Japanese culinary world. After swishing it clean in the salty water, I scoop the soft, briny, umami-loaded sea-shimi straight into my mouth. It's a taste sensation, yet another of Belitung Island's remarkable underwater treasures. THE DETAILS VISIT Belitung and Tanjung Kelayang Reserve are open year-round, with the dry season (April to October) typically offering the best time to visit. See Bluemind Experience organises the reserve's island-hopping activities. See FLY Qantas and Garuda Indonesia have direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Jakarta, where it's a one-hour flight to Belitung on domestic airlines, including Citilink and Batik Air. See
The Age
8 hours ago
- The Age
Indonesia's answer to the Maldives is one of the best-kept island secrets
Belitung is located on the east coast of Sumatra in the Gaspar Strait where the South China and Java seas meet. Its north-west corner, where I'm staying, has been dubbed the 'Seychelles of Indonesia' and 'Indonesia's Maldives'. I liken this heavenly beach paradise to a mini-Raja Ampat, a white sandy wonderland of gentle translucent waters with tropical fish darting in the shallows, and blooms of staghorn and brain coral sitting quietly in the cooler depths. The coastline's scattering of tiny islands – rocky outcrops sprouting picture-perfect coconut trees – are part of a UNESCO Global Geopark. It is scenery worthy of a fairytale, or a pirate movie. That a shipwreck and its treasure were discovered out on the horizon, just 1.6 kilometres away, is entirely in keeping. Known for its lucrative deposits of tin, Belitung has a mining history and was once a base for BHP Billiton, Billiton being another name for Belitung. Its population of about 320,000 has traditionally worked in mining, but the depletion of tin in the 1990s has since seen the emphasis on fishing, agriculture and, incrementally, tourism. My invitation to the island has come from Tanjung Kelayang Reserve, a 350-hectare privately owned nature reserve that fronts Belitung's stunner north-west coastline. Of this land, 200 hectares have been dedicated to rewilding and conservation, with a promise of protecting the island's endemic fauna and flora while supporting local communities. I arrived earlier this morning on the 45-minute flight (400 kilometres) north of Jakarta. At the one-shed International airport, my host Yuni Kusama points out that I am the only bule, or foreigner, at the airport. She explains that the reserve's Perth-based Indonesian owner (who requests anonymity) wants Australians and Europeans to visit Belitung 'because they're eco-travellers. They'll understand that we are trying to create a truly sustainable destination'. From what I'm seeing, the assessment is bang-on. Aussies keen on a low-impact intrepid island adventure will fall for this place. So will those seeking a laid-back beach holiday or an eco-luxury escape. For the first two nights, I stay at Sheraton Belitung, at the centre of the reserve. It's a lovely, newish, 123-room resort thoughtfully constructed from hand-pressed local kaolin clay bricks, with native renggadai wood ceilings and finishes. The colour palette blends seamlessly with the white sands, dark green tropical garden and expansive natural lagoons, which are connected to the resort's zero-emissions water treatment plant. The resort is luxurious, but casually so, with a peaked-roof, wall-less lobby where my bare feet don't get a second glance, and clean and spacious rooms with comforts including balconies with standalone bathtubs. On the beachfront, the indoor-outdoor Island Restaurant, serving traditional Bangka Belitung cuisine, ensures long leisurely dining interspersed with kayaking, snorkelling, laps of the Olympic-sized pool, and volleyball jousts over a net whimsically strung between two coconut trees. Island hopping, in the reserve's characteristic wooden fishing boat, is part of the fun too. Over two days we zigzag around the Geopark to snorkel in the depths around bird-shaped Garuda Island and walk knee-deep in the echoing sea caves of Kelayang Island. We stop by a tiny floating fish market where grouper and napoleon fish are bred in cages sunken into the cobalt blue sea. We motor into a light headwind to Lengkuas Island and are greeted by a vision from a children's book, a 55-metre Dutch colonial lighthouse, built in 1882, with seven porthole windows ascending 12 floors to a domed lamp top. There's talk of turning it into a museum showcasing Belitung's long maritime trade-route history. On day three, I swap sand and sea for the reserve's Whistle Trail nature walk with guide Akbar Alfarisyi, a former biology teacher who joined the reserve in 2022. 'Now the biology teaches me,' he says as we walk through the cool forest, the island's biodiversity hotspot with more than 150 species of native flora and fauna. Along the path, Alfarisyi points out the reserve's rewilding successes – exquisite native orchids (of which there are 67 species on Belitung), termite nests (food for the reserve's four protected Sunda pangolin), cinnamon (a relatively rare species with a mint scent), and a strong-flavoured white pepper (once the island's chief agricultural export and now critically endangered). We visit the reserve's trigona beehives, which are cared for by the villagers of Komunitas Pelabo Sijuk, who receive an income from the bottles they sell. Unlike regular hexagonal hives, stingless beehives are a mesh of smallish sacks. I dip a reed straw into one to taste the delicious honey – it has a woody fermented flavour, both sweet and sour, like the aroma of wine barrels. On night three, I stay at the reserve's Billiton Ekobeach Retreat, accessible via a sandy shoreline walk or a short putt-putt by fishing boat. It has five rustically charming, stilted beach huts spaced along their own stretch of sand. The structures and bespoke furniture are made from beach-sourced driftwood and other natural waste items for a Robinson Crusoe vibe, but they're also comfortably appointed with air-conditioning, ceiling fans and hot showers. The final day might well be the finest. Once again, I meet Wakhyu Brata, this time to join a Bluemind Experience private island adventure. We skip over the waves to Kera Island, an idyllic oasis covered in a tropical garden with a hidden sandy cove where a picnic lunch is served. Afterwards, Brata, having snorkelled around the shallows with his net, waves me over. He has caught four fresh sea urchins, round, spiky and glistening black, with silver and blue spots that shimmer like crystals. Loading We stand knee-deep in water as he cuts the spikes off, then cracks the top off, the shell to reveal slivers of buttery yellow flesh, a delicacy known as uni in the Japanese culinary world. After swishing it clean in the salty water, I scoop the soft, briny, umami-loaded sea-shimi straight into my mouth. It's a taste sensation, yet another of Belitung Island's remarkable underwater treasures. THE DETAILS VISIT Belitung and Tanjung Kelayang Reserve are open year-round, with the dry season (April to October) typically offering the best time to visit. See Bluemind Experience organises the reserve's island-hopping activities. See FLY Qantas and Garuda Indonesia have direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Jakarta, where it's a one-hour flight to Belitung on domestic airlines, including Citilink and Batik Air. See
Sydney Morning Herald
14 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Major airlines cancel flights to Dubai, Doha after US strikes on Iran
British Airways and Singapore Airlines have cancelled flights to the Persian Gulf, increasing aviation disruptions in the region after the US struck three nuclear sites in Iran and Tehran vowed to retaliate. London-based British Airways cancelled several flights to Dubai and diverted two planes bound for the emirate overnight, according to data from Flightradar24. One flight took off from Heathrow Airport on Saturday night but was diverted to Zurich after it reached Saudi Arabia's airspace in the early hours of Sunday. Another Dubai-bound jet returned to Heathrow after going as far as Egypt. The carrier also cancelled flights to Qatar's capital Doha on Sunday and halted routes to Bahrain through to the end of the month due to operational constraints and airspace restrictions. British Airways said it has adjusted its flight schedule as a result of recent events to ensure the safety of customers and crew. Singapore Airlines said on Sunday it had cancelled two flights between Singapore and Dubai, warning in an advisory that other flights between the South-East Asian country and the emirates may be affected 'as the situation remains fluid.' Several American and European airlines paused flights to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last week after Israel started bombarding Iran. The moves highlight growing worries in a part of the Middle East that is typically considered safe and sheltered from regional dislocations. US President Donald Trump said American bombers struck Iran's three main nuclear sites on Sunday and he threatened further action, pulling the US directly into the country's conflict with Israel despite claiming he wanted to avoid new wars under his 'America First' agenda. The state of play in the air AEGEAN AIRLINES: Greece's Aegean Airlines cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv up to and including the early morning flight on July 12, as well as all flights to and from Beirut, Amman, and Erbil through the morning arrivals of June 28. AIRBALTIC: Latvia's airBaltic has cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until September 30. AEROFLOT: Russia's Aeroflot said that it had cancelled flights between Moscow and Tehran, and made changes to other routes in the Middle East after the first round of Israeli strikes on Iran. AIR EUROPA: The Spanish airline has cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until July 31. AIR FRANCE: Air France has suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice. AMERICAN AIRLINES: All flights to Doha have been suspended. ARKIA: The Israeli airline said that it was cancelling all its flights until June 21. AZERBAIJAN AIRLINES: The Azeri airline has suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until June 30. BLUEBIRD AIRWAYS: The Greek airline has cancelled all flights to and from Israel until at least June 30. BRITISH AIRWAYS: The UK flagship has cancelled all Tel Aviv flights until July 31 and all flights to Amman and Bahrain until the end of June. It has also paused flights to Doha and Dubai. DELTA AIR LINES: The US carrier will not guarantee any travel to, from or through Tel Aviv until August 31. EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES: All scheduled flights cancelled or closed to new bookings until at least July 15. ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES: All flights suspended between Addis Ababa and Tel Aviv. ETIHAD AIRWAYS: All flights cancelled between Abu Dhabi and Amman until June 20 and between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv until June 30. EMIRATES: The UAE carrier has suspended flights to and from Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq until at least June 30. FLYDUBAI: The airline has suspended flights to and from Iran, Iraq, Israel and Syria until June 30. IBERIA EXPRESS: The airline has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until June 30. ISRAIR: The Israeli airline has cancelled all flights from and to Israel until June 30. ITA AIRWAYS: The Italian Airline has suspended Tel Aviv flights until August 1. KLM: The Dutch carrier has cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until at least July 1. Some flights to, from or via Beirut until June 29 may be disrupted. LUFTHANSA: The German carrier has suspended all flights to and from Beirut up to and including June 30, and to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran up to and including July 31. Flights to and from Amman and Erbil are cancelled until July 11. PEGASUS: The Turkish airline has cancelled flights to Iran until June 30 and flights to Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan until June 23. QATAR AIRWAYS: The Doha-based airline has temporarily cancelled flights to and from Iraq, Iran and Syria. RYANAIR: The European budget airline has cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until September 30. SINGAPORE AIRLINES: All flights to the Persian Gulf may be affected. TAROM: Romania's flag carrier has suspended all commercial flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut and Amman until at least June 24. TRANSAVIA: KLM's budget airline has cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Amman and Beirut until at least June. TUS AIRWAYS: The Cypriot airline has cancelled all its flights to and from Israel scheduled until June 24 (inclusive). Flights scheduled for departure between June 25 and June 30 are closed for sale. UNITED AIRLINES: The US carrier says all travel to Tel Aviv could be until at least August 1. Flights to Dubai have been suspended.
