Londa

Londa is a burial cave at the base of a high limestone cliff south of Rantepao, and it is the most confronting thing most visitors do in Toraja. Outside, a balcony of tau-tau effigies stands watching the approach and old coffins hang from the rock face. Inside, there is no lighting of any kind. A local lamp-bearer with a pressure lamp leads you through, and the passages are low enough in places that you duck and turn sideways, past stacked wooden coffins, many of them split open with age, and skulls and long bones arranged on the natural ledges. Cigarettes and small offerings sit beside particular skulls, left by relatives.

The remains are those of local families and nothing has been arranged for effect. The rule everyone repeats, and it is a real rule rather than a courtesy, is that you do not touch or move any bones. Remains that have been disturbed require a specific ritual to put right, which is a burden placed on a family who did not ask for it.

Londa also carries a well-known story, of two young cousins whose relationship was forbidden and who died together, and who are buried in the cave. Versions of it differ and the details are not reliably documented, so treat it as local tradition rather than history. Your lamp-bearer will almost certainly tell you their version, which is part of the experience.

If tight, dark spaces or human remains will distress you, this is not a site to push through out of obligation. The cliff face, the hanging coffins and the effigy balcony are all visible from outside, and that alone is worth the stop.