Napabale Lake, the salty lake in Southeast Sulawesi

Napabale lake is salt water lake formed by the intrusion of sea water from Buton Strait trough into the cup-shaped crack rocks. The lake is located in the Village Wabintinggi and Lohia, about fifteen kilometers south of the city of Raha, the capital of Muna Regency, South Sulawesi. The lake is adjacent to the sea and connected by nature tunnels. This is make the water in Napabale lake taste salty. The amount of lake water level is very dependent on the ebb and flow of sea water. If tides, the surface of the lake go up and connecting tunnel will be closed by water. However, if tide is low, then part of the lake water reduced. Not every time we can pass through this tunnel. When the sea water run to low, this is the best time to explore the tunnel which has 30 meters length and 9 meters wide.

Napabale lake scenery

You can browse through the tunnel by boat wich is commonly called pincara. In some parts of the tunnel there are various types of stalactites. In addition, tourists can also watch a variety of painting beautiful corals that form due to natural processes.

Travel boat in the lake

Visiting the salty Lake of Napabale, tourists can enjoy two charm of nature as well as lake and beaches. The most fun activities to enjoying Lake Napabale is by sail or dive. Tourists who come to sail using a canoe or boat which can be rented by fishermen around the lake. Enough to pay Rp 50,000, you can enjoy the natural beauty of Lake Napabale from canoe. For you who like to dive, do not miss the opportunity to see the amazing underwater scenes of Lake Napabale.

Satisfied with the atmosphere of the lake, you can cross through the tunnel to the beach. If you can not paddle the canoe alone, you can enlist help from fishermen to take the canoe down to the middle of the lake, where there is a coral island covered with verdant trees was so look beautiful to explore. If you want to spend the night around this salt water lake, suggested to bring your own bedding, such as tents, sleeping bags, jackets, and completion of cooking. In Lake Napabale there are no lodging facilities, hotels, inns and homestay. But if you need a cozy inn with more complete facilities, you can get it at Raha city (Muna Capital).

The tunnel between sea and lake

As notes, in addition to salt water lake of Napabale, there are other attractions located only few kilometers from Napabale. This tourist attraction is a cave, an ancient site tourism named Layang - layang. In the cave that resembles a niche store paintings works of man in prehistoric times. Besides paintings, a few meters above the cave there is a map engraved in stone gray. The stone map illustrates for another path to multiple locations around Layang - layang cave.

How to get there

There are two alternative way to reach salt lake of Napabale which is located in the village Lohia, District Lohia, Muna regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. You can use ships/boat or pioneers airplane as your transportation.

1. If using a boat, the journey starts from the Port Nusantara located in the city of Kendari to the port Raha in Raha City (the capital of Muna), it takes about 4 hours. From the Port of Raha, the tourists can go on using katinting (motorized boat) to the Muna Gulf adjacent to Lake Napabale and takes about 15 minutes.

2. If using pioneers airplane, the journey starts from Wolter Monginsidi Airport which is located in Kendari, then fly to Sugimanuru airport located in Muna city, or 25 km from the city of Raha. After arriving at the airport Sugimanuru, proceed to the city of Raha trip using public transportation takes about 30 minutes. Further from the city of Raha proceed to the lakes attractions by taxi or rental car takes about 20 minutes.

Written by : Javabackpacker ~ Information blog for tourist destinations and culture in Indonesia

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